Back in June I took Rowan on his first camping trip. We were joined by Paw Paw Butch, my brother Andy, and his son Lucas for the 3rd Annual Camp Turner. We once again camped at Village Creek State Park in Arkansas.
Rowan did amazingly well on this trip. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about taking Rowan. Not only was this his first camping trip it was also the first time I traveled alone with him. Momma T has traveled alone with Rowan a few times but not me. I wanted to wait until he was done nursing before taking him on a “guys only” trip.
The flight from BOS to ATL was uneventful. Rowan slept through most of the flight. On the other hand, ATL to MEM was rather exciting. We almost didn’t make the flight. The plane was full and we were flying stand-by. After a bit of chaos we were finally able to board but the excitement didn’t end there.
After a round or two of music chairs we finally settled in. I could tell the folks sitting around us knew each other. Everyone was very friendly and we even joked around with them. Turns out the friendly folks were none other then K. C. and the Sunshine Band. Yep, we were flying with celebs. They were heading to Memphis for a gig at one of the area casinos.
We finally made it to Memphis and headed down to Olive Branch, Mississippi where we met up with my Dad, brother and nephew. We loaded the gear into the U-haul trailer - did I mention this is an annual car camping trip, not a throw on the pack and head to the backcountry camping trip. Camping with a U-haul trailer is great because you can bring tons of stuff and that’s exactly what we did.
All loaded up, we jumped into the car and headed to Arkansas. Unfortunately storms were heading towards Memphis. High winds, rain, thunder, and lighting. (Was Mr. Brown around making sounds?) We learned after the trip that the storm left many in the Memphis area without power and I believe a few tornados even touched down.
We drove through the storm. We were greeted with down trees and lots of rain when we arrived at Village Creek State Park. We setup camp as quickly as possible and as luck would have it as soon as we finished the rain stopped. Oh well.
Rowan spent the rest of the evening playing in the wet grass. This was another first. Up until that evening Rowan didn’t like to touch the grass. I was afraid going into the trip that he wouldn’t play much at all and instead expect me to hold him. But he surprised me by rolling, falling, and enjoying the wet grass. He was finally over his hang up with grass and for the rest of the weekend he played in the open field as much as he could.
Saturday was a beautiful but very hot day. We played around the camp site. Went swimming in the lake. Hiked and walked around the park. You know, the normal camping in a state park kind of activities.
Both Friday and Saturday nights Rowan slept in the tent, yet another first for him. I brought our large family size tent and a pack-in-play for him to sleep in. He had no troubles falling asleep and he slept through the night. I wish he slept this good on all of our trips.
Early Sunday morning we were greeted with another major storm. More high winds, thunder, lighting, and heavy rains. At one point the floor of our tent raised about an inch and a half to two inches off the ground with rushing water flowing under the tent. Lucky for Rowan and me, we stayed dry. I can’t say the same for the other Turners who were wet and not happy.
We also had one easy up tent destroyed by the winds and rain. With all that was going on the rest of the Turners decided it was time to pack up and head out. Even though Rowan and I were having a fun, dry time in the tent we broke down camp the same way we setup, in the rain.
Despite the storms Rowan really enjoyed the trip. He got to spend lots of time playing outside. He got wet. He slept well at night. And he wasn’t bothered one bit by the storms. Not only did Rowan do great on his first ever camping trip, he seemed to really love the experience.
Pictures? Of course there are pictures.