2017 Insanity Hits Our Campsite
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
Canada
September 13, 2017 7:35am CST
We named our camp “Camp Insanity” the year the bears were everywhere, this year Insanity arrived in the form of Rain.
My sister and I are getting older so we bought a Porta-Potty for our tent and because of the huge rain storms during the night we used it instead of steeping out of the tent to pee in the bush...
We were awake to hear a huge crash out side of our tent...
Hindsight – a quote – after the ship has sunk, everyone knows how she might have been saved...
The above quote is what we were thinking as we looked out our tent and saw a huge mess of metal and pop ups that crashed because of water that amassed in between two of our four pop-ups.
We used 4 pop ups, one for the kitchen and the three for protection from the weather – all four attached to each other.
For some reason the rain amassed between two of the pop-ups that we put a tarp over and the weight pulled the whole set up...down. We figured that bag of water weighed between 100 and 200 pounds or more.
Had we not used our porta-potty, we would have noticed the bag of water growing and would have stabbed it to let the water run freely... (Our hindsight)
The crash photos were take when we heard the noise, it was not quite light so the photos are a bit off... The top photo shows what life usually looked while we camp but after the crash it was a big mess.
We carefully undid what we could and we did manage to save two of the pop ups and got them to stand for the rest of the camp. All four at the end had to be taken apart and taken to the dump.
Our lavender that we bought the day before was hanging on one of the pop ups to dry and it landed in the mud. We kept it for the two weeks but spread it around the camp when we left, it still had a beautiful scent but was in no shape to take home.
We still had a good time because the insanity is something we as campers are used too.
Just another memory for our journal...
15 people like this
15 responses
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
13 Sep 17
I love to camp as you know but rain can sure spoil a good time.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
Usually the rain never bother us but we learned a good lesson, never attache then all together, we actually have gutters but the kids put up the tents with the tarp so we didn't bother with the gutters, silly us, that won't happen again...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
31 Oct 17
@fishtiger58 This past summer was off and on, way too much rain for just about everyone, makes you wonder how nasty the winter will be. (Via Global Warming)
1 person likes this
@fishtiger58 (29823)
• Momence, Illinois
24 Oct 17
@PainsOnSlate We can sit home for weeks and no rain. Seems as soon as we set up camp it rains. Our luck is not ideal lol.
1 person likes this
@TiarasOceanView (70035)
• United States
13 Sep 17
Oh oh sorry to hear this Paints..yes hindsight is great isn´t it? Shame about the lovely lavender though too.
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
Once we cleaned up the site we were happy again just to be out in the woods next to a river...
@shaggin (71673)
• United States
26 Oct 17
I bet there is something different every year that just adds to all the memories. This one will definitely be remembered. To bad all the pop up tents had to be thrown away but in the photos I can understand why. At least you were able to use them for the remainder of camping. I was worried I was going to read that the port-a-john had tipped over too what an awful mess that would have been!
1 person likes this
@shaggin (71673)
• United States
1 Nov 17
@PainsOnSlate Is this a port-a-potty you have made? I have never heard of one like that.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
6 Nov 17
@shaggin I did a post a while about the one you can make. We bought a Coleman, its small, you put a bag in it with kitty-litter, it has a toilet seat and a tight cover, and we just pee in it. Number two gets to the public bathrooms at the camp. I'll look and see which post I mentioned it in
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
1 Nov 17
Thanks for the laugh, the porta-potty is a good one that will not tip over (fingers crossed) . We use kitty litter in the bottom and like the cat box, the pee disappears and makes the kitty litter grow...and it smells nice too..
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111312)
• El Paso, Texas
13 Sep 17
Hindsite, too bad it isn't foresight.
Well, it sounds like you still had fun all things considered.
If I did go camping I'd at least want a vehicle like those campers with the extension flaps to create dining areas or what not but even that would not be of much interest to me.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (111312)
• El Paso, Texas
21 Oct 17
Camping isn't for everyone @PainsOnSlate I for one have no interest in bugs crawling into my sleeping bag with me ..... do you ever get them in yours?
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
We see people with campers all the time, they don't interest us because we like sleeping in a tent, on our cots. But to do that you have to like camping...and we do.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
22 Oct 17
@rebelann Never had bugs in our tent. Our tent is well made and bug free if we keep the zippers zipped and we do that. Where we camp we rarely see bugs, no fly's, no mosquitoes, none except this who wandered into our camp this past summer. Have no clue what it is but it was interesting and walked through our camp, I urged him to go into the woods and he did...
1 person likes this
@Marilynda1225 (80023)
• United States
13 Sep 17
It looks like hurricane Irma hit your campground. Gee what a mess and a shame that you'll have to replace some of your tents. At least you were able to finish your camping trip and did you and your sister laugh about it at some point?
2 people like this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
13 Sep 17
Laughter is a big part of our camping, thankfully our tent we sleep in is a really good one, The pop ups are not very strong. Not sure if we will replace them or go with a large tarp next summer.
1 person likes this
@Shellyann36 (11385)
• United States
17 Nov 17
Well you know, it could have been worse. Luckily, it was just the tents that were gathering points and not individual tents where everyone was sleeping.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Nov 17
You got that right, we were still dry at night and that is important.
@BelleStarr (61047)
• United States
14 Sep 17
Well, that was not fun but we have had similar things happen in the many years that we camped. It makes for great story telling after its over lol not so great when it is going on
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
We just added it to our journal, we got over it as soon as we took apart the broken ones and in the end we had to destroy the last two because they wouldn't fold... Next summer will be all new...
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (48497)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
@PainsOnSlate You and your sister should write a how to camp efficiently book, I'll be that it would sell!!!
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
22 Oct 17
@Juliaacv we have a journal that some day may become a story in book form.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
We survived, and got over it, now we need to thing what to do next year, I have a tent I used for craft shows so will probably bring that and we always have that huge tarp we used to use...but its hard to get it high enough but it can be done
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
20 Oct 17
The event was not pleasant and it was hard work to get the two that could stand to stand up...the other two we took apart and sent them home with E's husband who came for a day with the grands at camp. We learned a lesson and we are talking about next summer and deciding how to stay dry if it rains. We will have to buy new pop-ups or use our tarp that we used for years...We still enjoyed the rest of the vacation...
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (73861)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
13 Sep 17
That certainly sounds like insanity. Glad no one was hurt and that you survived it all.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
21 Oct 17
We love camping and can deal with the "stuff" that happens, but this was a learning event, never attach all the tents together.
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
22 Sep 17
We wrote it into our journal, a memorable camp but they all are...
1 person likes this
@PainsOnSlate (21854)
• Canada
1 Oct 17
What do you mean we are already saying that....it was an event, hopefully it will not happen again.
1 person likes this
