Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: CAMP (08/18/22)
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TITLE: A Hitch and a Hornet | Previous Challenge Entry
By Karen Dick
08/24/22 -
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Friends from church had purchased a travel trailer and posted their adventures online. I merely got caught up in their fun when I turned to my recently retired husband and blurted, “We should get a trailer!”
After forty years of marriage, I was certain he would decline, which was usually his reaction to my ideas.
But his eyes sparkled and he grinned. “Yes! We should.”
Oh no. What have I done?
“It’s a great idea. You can learn to camp.”
“But,” I sputtered, “it’s a trailer. I don’t camp. Won’t the trailer have a bathroom? That’s not camping!”
“Ha!” He walked away. “I”m going online to find one.”
Three months later we were on the road, pulling a travel trailer. Owning that trailer taught me things I never thought I would need to know. How to hitch it to a car, how to level it, and the importance of the three tanks; fresh water, gray, and black. Much to my relief, Jim’s duty was to maintain the tanks. My duty was moral support. All I will say about that is, to have a bathroom in a trailer, there must be three tanks. Everything has to go somewhere.
One challenge for me was parking the trailer. Jim demonstrated the specific way I was to direct him as he backed the trailer into a campsite. Our eyes would meet in the driver’s mirror and I gave hand signals. It worked well until the day a large hornet, the size of a bird circled my head preparing to land. It seemed obvious to me that saving my life from the hornet would take priority over signaling to my husband. Unfortunately, the flapping of my arms and my dancing jig only confused him.
“I don’t recognize that signal,” he shouted.
“It’s a new one,” I shouted back. “It’s called the dance of the hornets.”
Eventually, the trailer was parked. I believe God taught us a lesson on forgiveness and patience that day.
As trailer camping newbies, we discovered the importance of researching parks before visiting. On one of our first excursions, we entered a state park in Mississippi. I could barely make out the entrance sign hidden behind tall weeds when we arrived. We drove in on a bumpy dirt road while low, overhanging tree branches brushed the top of the trailer.
As we parked onto a cracked cement pad, a loud male voice screaming obscenities caught my attention. An old, beat-up motor home rocked back and forth across from us. A chair flew out the door, and the door slammed. Not far down the road, two park rangers watched from outside their cars.
Jim grabbed my shoulder. “Get inside.”
I flew up the steps and glanced back. “Aren’t you coming?”
“In a minute.”
Watching from a window, I prayed Jim would be safe. The rangers smiled and nodded as they talked to Jim. He nodded back, waved, and walked away.
“They’re evicting that guy. They said not to worry,” Jim announced as he entered the trailer and locked the door.
Obscenities continued to flow from the ragged camper, while the rangers calmly stood to the side.
A knock suddenly sounded on our door and we both jumped.
“Who’s that?” I whispered.
Jim shrugged and opened the door.
A man resembling Santa Clause, complete with a white beard and pot belly, stood outside.
“Howdy, neighbor! Just wanted to let y’all know that I’m beddin’ down here in my ole truck next to ya fur the night. Avoidin’ a hotel fee.” He nodded and winked.
Jim glanced back at me and hopped outside.
When he returned he shook his head. “I think this might be a sleepless night.”
The motor home eventually rolled away a few hours later, with the park rangers close behind. Santa was gone in the morning, and Jim slept with his mace can in easy reach.
God certainly protected us that night, as he did throughout our journeys. I am grateful to him for leading us to begin the adventure of camping. I don’t complain about it anymore…or at least not very often. Being on the road gave me an appreciation for the beauty of God’s world, wildlife, and the diversity of people. But most of all, I am grateful for the experiences with my husband. Just the joy on his face is enough to make me smile.
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