From Bed to Dirt

  Here's our out of town adventure:

  On Friday evening, we both left for Oxnard where we spent two nights camping on the beach. Now, Gary and I haven't been camping since being married. He went a lot as a child as did I. However, due to his allergies, it's been hard. Anyway, we didn't have much camping gear, but bought ourselves a small tent and some blankets.

 We arrived Friday evening, set up our tent, and had hot dogs with Josh and Megan DeMasters, as well as Jeremy and Jessica Packer (dinner provided by DeMasters). We all sat around the campfire chatting, making s'mores (with giant marsh mellows), and even tried the Russian boar meat from a boar Jeremy shot and killed himself. I actually thought it was pretty yum. Just a couple slices filled me up though, but it was tasty.

Josh (left) and Jeremy (right) - yummy hot dogs!

Sitting around the fire pit. From left: Gary, Megan, Josh, Jeremy & Jessica

Gary

Gary again!



Our tiny tent



 So after playing with fire and enjoying ourselves, we decided it was time to go to bed. It was still pretty early, but we had a big day ahead and Jeremy had some sheriff deputy training early the next morning. So, the adventure began.

 Gary and I crawled into our "2-3" man tent after setting up blankets. We didn't have an air mattress, but instead folded blankets under us for comfort. Okay, so it wasn't super comfortable, but it did the job. Anyway, I was the first to lay down on the floor and stretch out, when suddenly I noticed how I was almost too tall for the tent. At this point, I knew it was bad news for Gary, who crawled in next to me. Moments later, I hear, "I feel like a canned sardine". I turn my head and the vision I see sends me laughing to no end. His head was pressed up against the back and his feet against the front. I almost died. That boy was much too tall. While he continued on with the jokes, I continued laughing to tears. I then realize laughs coming from the tent next to us (the others in the group) because they were overhearing everything. I love my husband, I really do. After some tossing and turning, we finally managed to get comfortable enough.

 Next thing I know, the camp next to us had two women talking rather loudly. Alcohol was involved and they were laughing and chatting over something until about 1am. Now, as some of you know, when you visit a public campground, there are rules. The rules posted all over the park read, "Quiet time is between 10pm-6am." Clearly these women weren't following the rules. While I was going over in my head all the nasty things I wanted to shout at them, Gary politely exited the tent and walked over there himself. When he arrived back to the tent, all was quiet again and we fell asleep. Luckily, the women were very respectful and didn't know they were being so loud and were suddenly quiet when Gary approached him. See, I'm glad he was the one who went over there, haha. But if you think that night had loud neighbors, there are horrors ahead.

Saturday morning arrived, and Gary and I woke up to the sound of an abominable-sounding bird right outside of our tent. We stretched and sat up. 5:30am. Since we were responsible for breakfast that morning, we pulled ourselves out of bed and began the day with hot showers and prepping breakfast. The showers require quarters to use. In my luck, the person before me must've stuck several quarters in because I had a 10-15 minute hot shower without adding all the quarters (I put in a few to be safe). Around 7am, we cooked up eggs, sausage, bacon and pancakes and provided juice. We all sat around the newly lit fire pit and enjoyed our tasty breakfast.

When everyone had gotten ready for the morning, we all decided to take a walk to the beach itself and enjoy the ocean. The boys sat around for guy talk while the girls and I went for our own walk.

Beautiful beach



Gary and I







Us girls (Megan, Jessica, me). The wind's blowing my shirt so I look pregnant. Ah, well.



  After we spent a good time at the beach, we headed back to camp for a bit to hang out, then decided to head to Ventura Harbor Village where we did some shopping and ate fish and chips for lunch. From there we headed to the nearest Target and did some more shopping.

 Gary told me he really enjoyed the night and his allergies weren't bad (salty beach air) and says he wants to go camping more often. Because of this, he was interested in investing in a bigger and better tent as well as an air mattress and other camping gear we didn't have beforehand. So, we upgraded.





9-man tent with an attachable room divder as well as a covered patio. Well, it would probably better comfortably sleep 6 men.




 We also purchased a big air mattress to sleep more comfortably. See, now we're set.

 After we set everything up, I decided it was time for a small nap. So, I rested a bit. A little later, I heard small chattering (and pattering) and realized it was sprinkling. It had been sprinkling a little earlier, but it was picking up just a tad. I noticed the chattering was nearby, so I slowly zipped down a window and saw the girls sitting in our indoor tent patio with a table and chairs, chopping vegetables. Haha.

 Dinner was a lot of fun and really delicious. We had foil dinners. We added our meat, vegetables, potatoes and seasonings, then tossed it on the coals to cook. Yum! The Packers provided dinner that night.

 

 After dinner and chocolate-filled bananas (also cooked over the coals), we enjoyed our last evening around the fire pit. We seriously spent like 20 minutes talking about farts and poop. But it was hilarious nonetheless. Oh, and one of the funniest things about the trip? Our first night, Josh walked out of the tent wearing a headband with a light attached. There's a couple of daylights and a night light. The other boys thought it was the most amazing invention ever. They had so much fun asking Josh to "spot them a light" while they went to the table, etc. By night 3, this is end result:
 

They seriously couldn't help themselves. They were like boys with a video-game filled Christmas when it came to playing with these lights. It was awesome.

So, we settled the night by throwing everything into our last big fire, including some colorful fire additions (forgot what they're called), provided by Josh.

 Finally, it was time for bed. Because we're respectful and decent human beings, we quieted down by 10pm and got ready for bed. However...

 The women neighbors who had been loud the night before had left the next morning, so a new group of people had joined. Throughout the day they blasted their music and partied; which wasn't a problem because it was daytime and nothing's wrong with having fun. Yet when 10pm rolled around, it didn't stop. There were about 30 people there, including at least 10 children. They. Were. LOUD. Gary and I decided to give it some time before speaking up. When 11pm hit, we knew we had to do something. The rest of our party seemed quite annoyed at this as well. So, Gary crawled out of the tent and disappeared for a bit.

Before Gary even opened his mouth, all of the homies decided to gather around him gangster-style and ask, "What is it, man? What's up?". When Gary asked them politely if they'd follow the park rules and quiet down, they became very hostile with him and refused, saying, "It's camping, man, deal with it. We'll do whatever we want." They were all clearly drunk. So, not wanting to start anything, Gary came back to the tent. We couldn't get a hold of any park rangers either. They were rudely getting as loud as possible, swearing up storms, and one woman laughed constantly like a hyena on meth. It was impossible. Not to mention the tent with the children was closest to ours, and we could hear the children mimicking the parents by using the F-word every chance they got. After much prayer, I was finally able to fall asleep.

At about 2 or 3 that morning, a car alarm went off from one of their cars. They didn't respond to it for at least 5 minutes. Instead, Gary and I heard scuffling behind our tent and a teenage-sounding girl arguing. She kept crying out something, and at one point I swore I heard, "Johnny's dead." I went to sit up, but Gary wouldn't let me. This guy pretty much beat up his child (I guess she was trying to sneak out and got caught) behind our tent. Finally the alarm went silent and I was able to fall back to sleep. Yes, we are tired.

I was tempted to grab Josh, but I knew even if he flashed his badge (he's a cop)  it wouldn't accomplish much; just provoke them. Oh, what a night. Early that morning, however, when we all awoke, Jessica went around camp shouting loudly, "GOOD MORNING EVERYONE! GOOD MORNING GARY! GOOD MORNING EMILEE!" It was hilarious. Gary and I weren't quiet taking our tent down either.

So, that was that. We headed back home, unpacked and cleaned, took long hot showers, and now Gary is napping. It sounds nice. But we had a blast and are looking forward to doing it again (minus the inconsiderate muchachos). Anyway, that was our weekend adventure. It was a nice getaway!