By Mike Melton

In the beginning, I started talking to Bob Pitney after I responded to a newsgroup post he had about the anode rod in his water heater firing out at him. It seems that even if you let the pressure off the faucet, some valve in the water heater maintains pressure and I found this out personally when I wondered why the thing was so tight all the way to the end of the threads and then it shot like a bullet at my fence and I got to wear about two gallons of water in less than a second. Thats when I discovered the pressure relief valve and no longer get shot.
After a little email discussion we both finally decided that neither of us was likely to be an internet serial killer so we agreed to a campout together at Fort Parker State Park on the weekend before Halloween. Can you say RAIN? Well this was our first long rain while camping. That big pop-up with the 12' foot box is really much smaller in the rain. You discover that you really don't want to be this close this long to anyone, even your family. So you spend a lot of time under your awning.

So we have a nice evening the first night(Fri before the rain) and then the rain starts Sat morning and we began to wonder if it would ever stop. Now this isn't just an average camping trip. We are with a new couple that we are hoping will turn out to be camping buddies. Being an engineer and wanting this to go well, I smell Murphy all over the situation. I am referring to Murphy's Law for those unfamiliar with the term. It suggests that whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. And I wasn't disappointed. Shortly after breakfast and cleanup we discovered that the windows on our van had been open the whole time! So while we feverishly try to squeeze water out of soaked seats, Bob goes to run a quick errand and discovers that his car is having trouble staying running. So he decides to try to take it into a strange town in the rain to get it looked at on a Saturday. I suggest that we follow him in and somehow I allow him to talk me out of it. Later I realize I should have followed him anyway. Not to complain at all about Bob's car trouble, which is a unavoidable occurrence at some point for everyone. However, the overall situation started to worry me.

So here we are. Bob's wife and two young daughters are stranded in a park. Bob is off in town with a car that keeps dying. Rain is pouring with no stop in sight. At this point I am wondering if Murphy has had enough or if I should tighten my seat belt.

 
As the morning wears on we wave at each other across the large puddle that is our campsites and occasionally visit each others awning. Bob had said he would talk to the ranger and get an idea of where to go so I could talk to the ranger to find out where he went and he would call there if he needed to leave us a message. Well I went to the ranger station and no one there had ever seen him. At this point I would have been surprised otherwise.
Well noon rolled around and we were just about ready to go into town and look for him and Bob rolled up. The shop had fixed him up with a way to limp it home. So now we decide we will not be deterred by rain so we go see Fort Parker. Well I got my memory jogged about what it was like to be 12 again. Most people would be miserable in a pouring cold rain. The boy scout troop at this fort was 20 - 30 mud covered soaked 12 yr old boys having the time of their lives. Mud, water, and boys. I had forgotten the magic of that combination. So all in all the visit was interesting not withstanding wet butts for the front seat passengers. The acting company at the fort was undaunted by the rain and had their regular gunfights for our entertainment. Black powder (primative gun powder) does not like moisture so one shot in five actually went off. But the adult actors had joined the boy scouts in maturity and were having just as much fun.

When we got back to the camp, it was, of course, still raining. We visited each others awnings some more. Often the rain would act like it might stop and we would verbally speculate that it might actually stop. Each and every time we did the thunder would clap, the lightening would strike and the rain would come back with a fury. It was really quite biblical and scary. After the third time we stopped making such remarks and resolved that it would rain until we were home.

Magically, around 5PM the rain began to ebb. No one dared to say anything. We tried to actually ignore it fearing we were only being teased again. However, when the sun actually came out we felt safe to acknowledge it. But we would not have been particularly surprised if it had immediately clouded back in and poured rain.
Well, we were like kids on Christmas morning. We flew into action setting up to cook dinner and actually have a campout even if it was only going to be from 5PM till bed time. We had the best fajitas I have ever had and a lot of good company. We watched the kids carve the pumpkins we had brought and then put them out next to the campers. And we watched Maggie the toddler(Bob's youngest daughter) show us why her parents have no weight problem. They don't sit still much when she is awake. But no one cares. She immediately steals your heart and keeps it.

 
In short we had a real good time! It was certainly one of the better trips we have had and in part because of the rain and other difficulties. Despite it all our spirits never fell. We got lemons and made lemonade.

We have camped a few dozen times since. Most have gone off without a hitch anymore serious than forgetting something trivial. I remember one trip when the raccoons were particularly active. They stole a few eggs from a latched cooler! We were amazed! Now with more experience, I am surprised they don't steal my car. We later found out others had been far less fortunate. A family nearby had left a box of pancake mix in there minivan with a velour interior and the windows cracked. Raccoons visited that minivan. I don't know what the interior color of that van was before but I bet it's never that color again after the raccoons had a party with that pancake mix. Now that we own a van with a velour interior. You can bet you will never find pancake mix in it!
Perhaps it is the more difficult trips that standout and make you realize why you are camping. The trips I have described here are some of the very best. We took whatever Mother Nature had in store for us.  And we had a blast!

 
These trips are why we started the North Texas Camping Association. Hopefully this doesn't make anyone wonder about my sanity. I hope camping provides you with many uneventful and restful experiences. But also don't forget to enjoy the adventures as well. A few twists and turns and you'll find yourself making the memories that you re-tell again and again.

We hope you will join our adventures!!

Welcome to the:

North Texas Camping Association!

Mike & Kelly Melton
North Texas Camping Association