A Family Dispersed

Here's what's been happening lately...

Over one week ago, my little girl boarded a BIG bus....

... withOUT her family...

...and rode away into a BIG world...

Her destination?

Gunnison, Colorado and "The Great Escape". 

Ab, for some reason, has yearned to go to Colorado for a couple of years now (I think it has something to do with the fact that she goes to sleep most nights listening to Focus on the Family's "Adventures in Odyssey", with studios in Colorado). 

The Great Escape is a huge annual event at our church - the Director of Student Ministries attended when he was in middle school.  It is something of a rite of passage.  It promised to be a truly great adventure of both spiritual and life-building significance.

I am very proud of the passion and sense of adventure that Ab possesses, and think it is neat to see her setting and achieving goals.  This is a trait that I so admire in her Mom as well.

But I miss my little girl and am looking forward to her return this weekend!

AA has also missed his sister (though he doesn't admit it), so in an effort to "kill multiple birds with one stone", Mom suggested that he and I start a Father's Day Camping tradition.

R. knows that I am a sucker for traditions.

We have bumped our vacation plans to later in the year and I need a get-a-way of some sort now.  I had been rolling some plans around in my head that included camping.  I think R. saw her proposal as a means of satisfying - temporarily- my wanderlust; providing a distraction for me on the first Father's Day after losing Dad; an opportunity for AA to enjoy some adventure in his sister's absence; and most importantly - it was an opportunity for her to once again avoid getting roped into a camping trip.

As I see it, R. figures I have one camping experience - two at the most - in me, annually.  Her goal (and she's pretty good about meeting them) is to just determine out how best to avoid them.

So after clumsily planning and packing and preparing, AA and I finally ended up at "Sloppy" Floyd State Park for a one night excursion.

The kick off to our Camping Adventure was hampered by several factors:

• deciding where we would go (it is not easy to find a spot in the middle of a summer weekend without reservations)
• navigating the labyrinth of bureaucratic procedures for just figuring out if a spot is available and then obtaining it.  For instance, at one facility we were under the impression that we had to purchase a Parking Pass in order to enter the park to find out if they had a spot. They had an automated system for purchasing the passes but the machine did not give change. So we had to find a "trading post" where I purchased an onion with a twenty dollar bill in order to get change.  From there we proceeded to pay our five dollars only to learn afterward that there were no desirable vacancies (there was one spot next to the restroom - convenient but not peaceful).
• After much prayer - and frustration - we made it to "Sloppy" Floyd State Park where I was pleasantly surprised to find an attendant with a servant attitude and a welath of information. 
• We arrived at our spot - about the time a thunderstorm struck.
• After the storm and two trips into the nearby town to pick up supplies we forgot (or left in the refrigerator at home) we were finally ready to build a fire and start supper.

Like the first day of any excursion we have every made as a family - our first evening was rather tense.

All the aggravation and stress can sometimes be a part of the adventure itself and our weekend turned out to be a very good one.
So now we find ourselves in another weekend - this time we are anticipating Ab's return and the gathering together again of our scattered little family.