Weekend Camping

Friday was the day to load up and head out. We hadn't used the travel trailer since we came back in late February. Much of the freezable stuff had been loaded out, and had to be gathered and reloaded.

It rained almost all day. So there wasn't any time that was good to get the rig. Since I had never been to this park before, I went out with the truck to look it over and get the sites. I picked three in a row and paid for them.

After placing the green cards on the posts, I headed back for the camper. It never did stop the nasty drizzle. We set up in the rain, and the temperature was never above 42 degrees. Why are we doing this?

Saturday brought sunny weather, but still too cool for no jacket. But then I had the Hamfest radio show to attend. I left the campground about 7:15 and encountered about 6 hens and one tom, turkeys. I slowed and drove right thru the flock. The tom was skittish, but the hens seemed not to see the truck as any danger. They live too close to town and are more used to people.

The radio show included folks from all over the KC area as well as people from Iowa, that I hadn't seen is several weeks. So a good time was in the making. I also ran into one of the folks that we met at Rockport Texas last winter. We went to dinner with them the night before we left for Kansas City. Alex came walking up and inquired how I was, and completely surprised me.

It is amazing how small our world is. And I do remember him telling me he went to this hamfest each year, as it gave his wife a chance to see relatives in the suburbs to the South of town.

Once back at the campground, I encountered a kite club that was having a festival of kite flying. Huge kites the size of cars were flying on the college grounds. When I went to take pictures of these, I found my battery was dead in the camera. Bummer!

The size and bright colors of the kites, made for quite a spectacle. The kites are too large to actually fly by themselves. Rather, they inflate like giant wind socks. On a line that stretches above, they have a parachute style wing that provides the lift to keep them aloft. So they are truly huge.

The kites attracted hundreds of cars, and folks were dragging their kids to the grounds in front of the Community College. Traffic in the streets was at a standstill. Parking was non existent.

Back at the campground, internet was not to be found. I tried to see what might be available, Saturday afternoon. I set up the repeater router on top of the rig, and scanned the area. I did see several wifi access points but none were open. Since cracking wep codes is none too legal, we refrained from that activity, and went without. Two days without any internet at all! A record for me in the last several years I'm sure.

We had the campfire on Saturday night, and Sunday morning biscuits and gravy with pancakes and eggs. Always seems to be better at the picnic table in a campground. Especially when it is still too cold for the flies or mosquitoes.

So tonight, everything is washed up and back in the storage lot for another week. But......the 2008 camping season has officially been opened for the Ivers clan......