Brownie Campover

Our first grade Brownie Scouts were looking forward to our end-of-the-year campout A very nice State park was located only 2 miles from our home. If anybody “chickened out” we could easily call their parents and have the child picked up with out much trouble! Preparations were made months in advance. We would be accompanying an older Girl Scout troop. We had plenty of adult chaperones – a registered nurse was among them! Ever scout had assigned duties for cooking, or cleaning up, or whatever.

Did I mentioned, I had never been camping before in my life? No matter – all the other adults were experienced campers. Several fathers were willing to help us set up tents and carry the gear back and for. How bad could it be, other than lack of hot showers or running toilets? I could deal with that for one night!

The afternoon and evening proceeded like clockwork. We were all having such fun! We gathered around the campfire for roasting marshmallows, making S’mores, singing songs and telling ghost stories. Finally, it was bedtime. The adults lingered around the fire. The girls giggled in their tents.

Around 11pm the rain started – gently at first – certainly no cause for alarm. We reminded the girls to resist touching the tents to avoid leaking and dripping. Of course, everyone had to touch just to be sure we weren’t kidding. Gradually, the storm worsened and giggles became whimpers. Should we bail out? Heck, no, this is real camping. This is all part of the educational experience!

The storm raged. Moats were forming around each tent. Girls were wailing, “I want to go home!!!”

An adult was dispatched to each tent. The girls were instructed to grab as much of their stuff as they could, and run for the cars. Piles of sopping, wet sleeping bags surrounded shivering, whimpering six year olds. The adults would come back and official break camp in the morning. For now, the most logical alternative seemed to be to take everyone to my house for a giant slumber party. Why wake up everyone’s parents at 1AM to come and get a soggy Brownie scout?

The girls loved it! I wondered what my fairly new van would look like in the morning with mud smeared inside and out. We left most of the muddy shoes and gear in my garage, and the girls slept in whatever they had left that was dry. I wondered if my house would ever be the same after sheltering these fifteen refugees overnight.

Dawn arrived, gloriously sunny! We called all the parents, and they laughed at our misadventures, but promised to rescue their little campers promptly. We spread out the wet sleeping bags to air dry. My yard looked like a disaster area.

One by one, my little charges were picked up. Each one combed through the piles of debris to claim their belongings. I still ended up with a garbage bag full of soggy stuff! Some of the parents volunteered to go and square away the campsite, which I gratefully let them do!

Later that day, my husband washed the van inside and out and restored it to it’s nearly new condition. Surprisingly, little clean up was required inside the house once everyone cleared out their gear. I succumbed to a long nap that afternoon, muttering in my sleep, “I will never go camping again…”