Okay, so I was gone all last weekend with my family on our annual camping trip to Leadore, Idaho....aka middle of nowhere! (Actually it's about an hour away from Salmon.)
Friday: We got there to see my uncle and his boys, who immediately sucked Cam up into their hunting fervor. Uh, not that I WANT him to not ever hunt, but get him so excited NOW?!
Saturday: Our annual shopping trip to Salmon where we hit up Kings and Alco. Sadly, none of the stores had out their Halloween stuff yet....that's our ENTERTAINMENT! UGH!!
That night I heard hundreds of coyotes howling ALL night long. Thank goodness I was safe in my tent, right?
Sunday: (Here's where it gets good....) We went to church where I had a HUGE fight with Cameron. He did NOT want to go to Primary, so I let him throw his tantrum all over the church...not on purpose....when he FINALLY, after 30 minutes of screaming, went to class. Jake decided he needed to eat every hour on the hour....so I got to know the mother's lounge pretty well.
The day started hot and eventually got super windy and cold. The wind was so bad that the fly from my tent nearly blew away. My little brother helped me peg it down with better pegs and we spent the majority of the day in my parents' motor home.
That night the wind was still howling, but we decided to go to bed early (well, early for camping...10 pm) I took the boys with me (Steve had to work) and I attempted to zip up my door's zipper, but it kept splitting. I was getting SO frustrated. One of the many times I was re-zipping the tent I happened to glance out the door and saw, not more than a foot away, a coyote walking toward me. I INSTANTLY screamed. Now, my parents and brother laugh at the type of scream that escaped my lips...it was a PETRIFIED scream. My main reason for screaming was to 1. scare away the intruder, 2. because I was scared SPITLESS!!
My scream scared off the coyote but my little brother (who isn't really "little," he's 26...) came over to help me fix the zipper....wielding a rubber mallet and his tent light. With his help I got the zipper shut, but I was shaking like crazy! Not only that, but Cam was completely freaked out. I helped him say a prayer, but I still allowed him to sleep with me on my bed.
The wind kept kicking it up over and over and I was worried that the wind would actually blow my tent away with me inside of it. I could feel the wind blowing under my mattress and Cam could feel the rain coming through the roof. After saying CONSTANT prayers that my little family would be kept safe I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Not a minute later, my tent wall collapsed on our faces.
I'd had enough!
I dragged my boys and some of our things to my parents' motor home to spend the night on the floor. My brother eventually joined us, and we were person to person on the floor. The only things I'd left in my tent were my inflatable mattresses and sleeping bags.
The next day ALL of it was soaked clear through. The rain had been just as bad as the wind!
Thankfully, I'm home and safe, but sadly, my computer isn't so safe....the fan isn't even turning over. So I'm going to be sneaking in computer time when I can when I visit my mom's house. (And she's not playing on the computer...)
Oh, and go ahead and laugh....I've done my share!
5 comments:
I so wish it was possible to post an example of that scream on your blog. It'd be worth a million bucks to hear that. Not that I'm laughing. That wouldn't be polite. (Okay, I'm laughing so hard that I'm crying. But not at you. Really more WITH you.)
Oh that was pretty good! LOL! We saw a pack of wolves right down the road from our camp ground in Yellowstone. It freaked me out knowing they were that close. Had I been in a tent, I don't know if I would have slept at all. Just think though, you probably scared that poor little coyote half to death with your scream. LOL!
Sounds like you had a lot of fun!! We had a great big boring weekend of doing nothing. Yeah me! ? are U really suprised Cam is excited to go hunting? My son can't wait until dad says he is old enough.
SAD! I would be laughing...except that I talked to you...and hence I know how traumatizing it was. I hope Cam gets over the trauma soon!
Camping last weekend was certainly an "adventure". Not an adventure I would care to repeat either. I really enjoy the outdoors when the wind isn't blowing...but...that pretty much never happens 'round these parts 'ey.
I'm not laughing. I live in coyote (and cougar) country, and people regularly lose pets to coyotes, and they can give a pretty good maul even of an adult if they feel threatened, especially if they're socialized and used to humans. If I was camping with a baby, especially, and saw a coyote coming my way, I'd FREAK.
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