Sleeping in Lake Ponchartrain
Do you know how it feels to sleep in Lake Ponchartrain? WE DO!!
I went to pick up the kiddos in Louisiana for summer break over Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately it was storming almost all the way to the camp ground. Matt kept telling me he was seeing blue, clear skies from his direction so we figured it would at least not rain on us, though the ground would be wet ... but we didn't care about that. I got to Fountainebleau State Park where we'd be camping and got the tent set up while I waited on them to get there. Just as I was driving the last of the stakes in the ground it started sprinkling and Matt called to say they were 20 minutes out, so it was time for me to leave the camp ground to meet them for lunch. We ate, got everything transferred over to the Jeep Liberty I had rented for the weekend and set off for the camp ground. We pretty much got the tent set up inside with our stuff and started walking around the camp ground toward Lake Ponchartrain to get a good look at it. We could see the 26 mile long bridge long before we could even see the edge of the lake.
Just as we get a good 50 yards out from the lake, it starts pouring out of nowhere and lightening like there was no tomorrow. I felt marginally better that there were other people caught out in the storm besides us. Only, most of them had riden bikes so they got to shelter much faster than we did. One little boy rode beside us for a few minutes talking about being cold and how he hated being cold, but he sure did love that fishing he had been doing! He took off for his RV when the lightening picked up. By the time we got back to the tent we were soaked thru and thru - I'm talking down to our underware!
For some reason, the propane stove wouldn't lite at all, so we wound up going into town and getting some fast food. Not the plan I had all laid out, but hey, you do what you gotta do. We talked and listened to some music and read for a little while until it was too dark to read. The kids even wanted me to read out loud to them by flashlight. So we did that before hitting the sleeping bags ... we really needed an early start the next morning. We all thought it was kind of neat feeling, the way the water was pooling under the tent and it felt like we were sleeping on a water bed. Though within a little while the kids were each complaining of feeling some water, so we set up the mats under our sleeping bags and went to sleep. Eventually the kids talked me into letting them sleep in the Jeep because they were just too wet... but we really couldn't see anything with just the flashlight. So I didn't realize the water was standing so high outside that it was starting to leak through the zippers on the door and windows. I went back to sleep cause there was no way I could sleep in the Jeep and still be in good enough shape to drive all day the next day.
A few hours later I woke up not just soaked, but literally in a pool of water - an extension of the lake if you will, and was forced to empty out the tent and throw everything in the back of the jeep so that it wasn't totally waterlogged when we packed up in the morning. Then I climbed in the driver's seat and tried to curl up and sleep. Eventually it was so stuffy we had to open the windows. There were a couple of reasons we didn't think of putting out the citronella at that point ... 1 being that it was raining - we weren't aware the mosquitos flew around in the rain ... number 2 because it was dark in the jeep and there was no light to attract them our way... little did we know, they are attracted to body heat, not just light! So within moments of dozing off, I am awakened once again - this time by little bitty pin pricks all over my body!!! The kids are complaining as well. There were hundreds of mosquitos covering us and eating us right through our clothing!! Yikes!!!
Needless to say, we spent the next half hour killing mosquitos and slathering ourselves with the bottle of citronella essential oil I had brought... then I left the little bottle open in the middle of the jeep. We pretty much sleep off and on the rest of the night. It stunk! But at the same time it wasn't that bad.
The next morning we got dressed, pretty much ripped down the tent cause it was still raining, and started off on our trip home. I lost three tent stakes in that shin high water. I was wearing three inch soled sandles and the water was still above my ankles ... this was throughout the entire campground. I'm still wondering where all the other tent campers slept that night - or were they used to this area so much that they bring cots or something with them. I'm thinking, hammocks covered by a tarp next go round ;)
So now here we are, driving home with all this wet gear that I'm afraid will start molding or something by the time I get it unraveled and dried out. But when we reached the Alabama welcome center, it was sunny. So we parked far away from everyone, unloaded every thing from the back of the jeep and spread it out over three parking spaces and the grass in front of them trying to let them air out as much as possible. Oh at the critters we discovered hitching a ride. We found a momma fly. Christian smacked it on the inside of the window of the jeep instead of shooing it outside. So now we have a fly stuck to the inside of the window - wait no there's more - fly babies are starting to crawl out of her!!!! EWWWWWW!!!!! I made Christian clean, needless to say. Next were the 10+ centipedes that came off my wool blanket. The blanket that I had draped all over me in order to lay it out over the back of the jeep door. But I would soon discover that wasn't the only creepy crawly I had allowed to be draped all over me with the blanket full of centipedes ... when I got back to the spot where I had laid the blanket out the first time and decided I needed a place to let it hang and drip, there was a hugemongous spider there. I can't even close my fore finger and thumb together to show you how big it is. And that was just the body - not counting the legs that were curled up around it cause thank God it was dead already so that I didn't go into a full blown panic attack.... can you say arachniphobe???? Yes, that would be me! I do have to say, I was very very surprised there were no little 4 legged hoppers joining us on our trip as frogs were in abundance and hopping all over the tent. Some were teeny tiny and others were pretty good sized.
Eventually we got the jeep loaded up agian, this time in an orderly fashion and stuff not dripping all over the place any longer. We loaded up at the right time that's for sure... cause just as we got out on the road, it started raining again!! I was feeling watched over!! Finally we made it all the way back home, where we unloaded the jeep and laid stuff out as best we could since it was still raining here at home too! Then we hit the road again and headed off to Grandma and Grandpa's to pick up Madison, Bailey and Morgan Haley and head back home again.
Whew, what an adventure!
I went to pick up the kiddos in Louisiana for summer break over Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately it was storming almost all the way to the camp ground. Matt kept telling me he was seeing blue, clear skies from his direction so we figured it would at least not rain on us, though the ground would be wet ... but we didn't care about that. I got to Fountainebleau State Park where we'd be camping and got the tent set up while I waited on them to get there. Just as I was driving the last of the stakes in the ground it started sprinkling and Matt called to say they were 20 minutes out, so it was time for me to leave the camp ground to meet them for lunch. We ate, got everything transferred over to the Jeep Liberty I had rented for the weekend and set off for the camp ground. We pretty much got the tent set up inside with our stuff and started walking around the camp ground toward Lake Ponchartrain to get a good look at it. We could see the 26 mile long bridge long before we could even see the edge of the lake.
Just as we get a good 50 yards out from the lake, it starts pouring out of nowhere and lightening like there was no tomorrow. I felt marginally better that there were other people caught out in the storm besides us. Only, most of them had riden bikes so they got to shelter much faster than we did. One little boy rode beside us for a few minutes talking about being cold and how he hated being cold, but he sure did love that fishing he had been doing! He took off for his RV when the lightening picked up. By the time we got back to the tent we were soaked thru and thru - I'm talking down to our underware!
For some reason, the propane stove wouldn't lite at all, so we wound up going into town and getting some fast food. Not the plan I had all laid out, but hey, you do what you gotta do. We talked and listened to some music and read for a little while until it was too dark to read. The kids even wanted me to read out loud to them by flashlight. So we did that before hitting the sleeping bags ... we really needed an early start the next morning. We all thought it was kind of neat feeling, the way the water was pooling under the tent and it felt like we were sleeping on a water bed. Though within a little while the kids were each complaining of feeling some water, so we set up the mats under our sleeping bags and went to sleep. Eventually the kids talked me into letting them sleep in the Jeep because they were just too wet... but we really couldn't see anything with just the flashlight. So I didn't realize the water was standing so high outside that it was starting to leak through the zippers on the door and windows. I went back to sleep cause there was no way I could sleep in the Jeep and still be in good enough shape to drive all day the next day.
A few hours later I woke up not just soaked, but literally in a pool of water - an extension of the lake if you will, and was forced to empty out the tent and throw everything in the back of the jeep so that it wasn't totally waterlogged when we packed up in the morning. Then I climbed in the driver's seat and tried to curl up and sleep. Eventually it was so stuffy we had to open the windows. There were a couple of reasons we didn't think of putting out the citronella at that point ... 1 being that it was raining - we weren't aware the mosquitos flew around in the rain ... number 2 because it was dark in the jeep and there was no light to attract them our way... little did we know, they are attracted to body heat, not just light! So within moments of dozing off, I am awakened once again - this time by little bitty pin pricks all over my body!!! The kids are complaining as well. There were hundreds of mosquitos covering us and eating us right through our clothing!! Yikes!!!
Needless to say, we spent the next half hour killing mosquitos and slathering ourselves with the bottle of citronella essential oil I had brought... then I left the little bottle open in the middle of the jeep. We pretty much sleep off and on the rest of the night. It stunk! But at the same time it wasn't that bad.
The next morning we got dressed, pretty much ripped down the tent cause it was still raining, and started off on our trip home. I lost three tent stakes in that shin high water. I was wearing three inch soled sandles and the water was still above my ankles ... this was throughout the entire campground. I'm still wondering where all the other tent campers slept that night - or were they used to this area so much that they bring cots or something with them. I'm thinking, hammocks covered by a tarp next go round ;)
So now here we are, driving home with all this wet gear that I'm afraid will start molding or something by the time I get it unraveled and dried out. But when we reached the Alabama welcome center, it was sunny. So we parked far away from everyone, unloaded every thing from the back of the jeep and spread it out over three parking spaces and the grass in front of them trying to let them air out as much as possible. Oh at the critters we discovered hitching a ride. We found a momma fly. Christian smacked it on the inside of the window of the jeep instead of shooing it outside. So now we have a fly stuck to the inside of the window - wait no there's more - fly babies are starting to crawl out of her!!!! EWWWWWW!!!!! I made Christian clean, needless to say. Next were the 10+ centipedes that came off my wool blanket. The blanket that I had draped all over me in order to lay it out over the back of the jeep door. But I would soon discover that wasn't the only creepy crawly I had allowed to be draped all over me with the blanket full of centipedes ... when I got back to the spot where I had laid the blanket out the first time and decided I needed a place to let it hang and drip, there was a hugemongous spider there. I can't even close my fore finger and thumb together to show you how big it is. And that was just the body - not counting the legs that were curled up around it cause thank God it was dead already so that I didn't go into a full blown panic attack.... can you say arachniphobe???? Yes, that would be me! I do have to say, I was very very surprised there were no little 4 legged hoppers joining us on our trip as frogs were in abundance and hopping all over the tent. Some were teeny tiny and others were pretty good sized.
Eventually we got the jeep loaded up agian, this time in an orderly fashion and stuff not dripping all over the place any longer. We loaded up at the right time that's for sure... cause just as we got out on the road, it started raining again!! I was feeling watched over!! Finally we made it all the way back home, where we unloaded the jeep and laid stuff out as best we could since it was still raining here at home too! Then we hit the road again and headed off to Grandma and Grandpa's to pick up Madison, Bailey and Morgan Haley and head back home again.
Whew, what an adventure!
posted by Tammy | 4:38 PM
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