Windy
April 9th, 2009 adminNormally I pay no attention when the weather report calls for “WINDY” conditions. Things like lightning, hail and occassionaly rain will cause me to reconsider a camping trip - but WIND, never.
That was until I experienced Oklahoma wind….which I imagine is much like Texas wind or maybe even Nebraska wind, but I’m sure nothing like Patagonia wind or Mt. Washington wind. But more on that later.
Last Thursday we headed south to the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge with our good friends the Bennett’s and Michael. The Bennett’s got about a 5-hour head start on us in an attempt to grab a good campsite along with our friends the Smith’s who would be driving up from Dallas. We rolled in about 11PM and I must say our advance team did an excellent job picking campsites and even had a nice fire going when we arrived.
Saturday morning greeted us with warm-sunny skies. We indulged ourselves with blueberry pancakes and sausage for breakfast. The kids spent the morning getting acquainted with each other and staking out which toys belong to them. After breakfast we set out on a hike up nearby Mt. Baldy. This is a fairly low impact hike with rewarding views at the top. After taking in the views we headed back to camp for lunch and spent a good part of the afternoon laying around camp just chillin’ while the kids took their naps (sorta). A small party decided to venture out for a hike along the lake while michael grabbed a book and wandered off for a little peace and quite. I on the other hand stayed back in camp and layed in the sun.
For dinner we headed to Meers to it eat the “World Famous” Meers Store & Restaurant We thought that if we arrived at 5:00 we would beat the crowd…WRONG. We still had about an hour wait, or at least it seemed that way having to manage 5 energetic kids. After dinner we headed back to camp to settle in for the night.
Dessert consisted of beer, scotch, cigars and S’,mores (thanks Lori for the Dark Chocolate) It was about this time that the wind really started to pic up. Initially it was short burst – AND THEN – it came. The fire went flat and the winds became sustained. Each of us headed to our tents, hoping the wind would not ruin our night of sleep. The next morning as I reluctantly got out of the tent to take care of some business I looked around the campsite to see that the Smith’s tent & car had blown away and that the Bennett’s tent had partially collapsed and their car too had blown away. Everything inside our tent was coated with a fine layer of dirt…it looked like the inside of a old barn. What really happened was that the Smiths had decided to pack-up at midnight and make a run for the border – intending to stay in a hotel but in the end driving all the way back to Dallas with their dog Sadie and 1st time camper Madison. The Bennett’s, due to broken tent poles and a sagging tent, headed into town around 11:30PM to check into a hotel with their two boys.
The wind was still blowing pretty good on Sunday and the weather report called for colder temps Sunday night, so we decided we would spend the day exploring the refuge, take some pics of the local wildlife then pack up and head home.
It was a great good trip and it was great getting away from the City and getting some much needed tent time.
A big thanks to Andy Chasteen (by way of Lucas Marshall) for sharing this photosharing tool called AutoViewer, which I’m using below to share some pics of our adventure. Just mouse over the image and hit the autoplay button or click on the forward/back button.
