Camp Night

#shortstory #adventure #comedy #deardiary

Dear Diary,

You wouldn't believe what happened at camp if I didn't tell you myself. Over the weekend, I went camping on the city's outskirts enough to make you feel far away.

It was a small campsite where you could stay in a trailer or a tent. I like to stay in a tent, it makes me feel more adventurous. I registered at the front office and got my campsite number and flyer for the weekend's events. My campsite was located in the back in between two other campsites that already had their gear set up but the campers were nowhere to be found. They probably went to check out the outdoor activities, the flyer mentioned something about a water volleyball tournament this afternoon.

Getting my tent set up took a bit of time. The tent is made to fit two people, so the number of pieces you have to assemble isn't that many, but they twist and bend in all different directions, I mean, how am I supposed to remember which end is supposed to go into the ground...both ends look the EXACT SAME!

On the first try, the tent rods that held the whole thing up were facing the wrong way. On the second attempt, I must have over-flipped one of the rods because one was facing the right direction, and the other wasn't. On the third try, things were going perfectly until one of the rod pieces snapped open, so I had to pull the whole thing out to reattach it. By the fourth time, the tent was staying up, but the ropes that attached to the sides to help prevent the whole thing from blowing away were tangled up from the last camping trip. Safe to say, I spent the next couple of minutes loosening the knots from all four ropes.

I'm happy to report that by the seventh try, my tent was secure and ready to use when it's time for bed....which wasn't too far off. I checked the clock and realized I had spent 4 hours just setting up the tent. Sigh.

The day's events were closing for the evening, and all the camp goers were returning to their campsites. Luckily I didn't have to make my fire pit, there was one ready to use, and all I needed was some firewood, which I happily picked up from the registrations office before making it over to the campgrounds.

For dinner, I kept it super simple and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich, but also I kind of forgot to check what was packed in the cooler before leaving the house. The cheese was so soft and stretchy, and the outside of the bread was so crispy. To be honest it was the perfect combination and meal to end the day with! Wrestling with the tent took a lot of my energy, so I was happy to turn in early.

Stepping into my tent and slipping into my sleeping bag, I found a sweet spot lying on my back. I closed my eyes and let the sleeping fairies take me on a journey to my dreams. I can hear the soft swoosh of the breeze blowing through the tree leaves, a night owl 'whoo-ing' in the distance and a soft rumble in the ground that felt almost relaxing.

The rumbling was soft at first, like a pur, lying on my back it almost felt like I was sitting in a massage chair. Strangely the rumbling was getting louder, and the ground was shaking a lot more. A massage chair wouldn't be this loud, waking up from my daydream, the rumbling was getting closer I could barely hear anything else over the sound. Stepping out of my tent just in time, behind my tent, maybe 10 or 15 steps away, a train was passing through at full speed. I didn't need to question whether it was a train because it wasn't long before it wished everyone on the campground 'a good night' by blowing its horn. Safe to say, dear diary that it's a camping trip I will never forget.