A Wet Weekend

This past weekend, Buffy and I joined a group of roughly 20 other Jaycee members and friends for an annual camping and canoeing trip. We always stay at "Tree Island" at the Cherokee Village campground outside Turkey Run State Park in Indiana.

On the way there, we were running into and out of rain storms. Past Champaign, IL, we were finally out of it, but it eventually caught back up with us once we arrived and set up camp.

Buffy and I purchased a new, bigger tent along with cots for this year's trip. That was a good move! Sometime after I went to bed (2:30 - 3am), a thunderstorm came up. As I laid there, half asleep, I wondered how well this new tent will hold out the water. As rain dropped from the sky and onto the nylon tent, also equipped with an additional tarp, coupled with thunder and lightning, it made for very good sleeping weather. And the tent stayed high and dry.

Saturday morning was a muddy mess. We ate breakfast and called a few times to check on canoeing availability. We were scheduled to go at 11am and we were told to call 30 minutes in advance of that to check if any canoeing would be allowed. Our trip "leader" Kate suggested that the booze consumption be limited should go out on the creek as the water level could be high and somewhat dangerous. This would have severely hampered the entertainment of everyone at the expense of a certain member of our excursion.

We were called back with bad news. No canoeing, not only due to rain in the vicinity, but due to rain up north which was flowing our way.

As the weather cleared, many of us decided to hit a swimming pool at Turkey Run State Park. It was somewhat interesting to find many Amish people hanging out at the pool. I felt sorry for the Amish kids, especially the girls, as they wanted to get into the pool but were not permitted.

That evening, the sky clouded and the wind picked up. Thunder roared throughout the area and lightning occasionally flashed. This did not look good. The rain eventually started, but did not bring any violent weather. But at any rate, the steady rainfall brought miserable conditions as we all sat huddled under a couple of canopies placed side by side of each other.

Sunday morning, Buffy and I departed the Cherokee Village. On our way out, we crossed Sugar Creek where we would have canoed. Water completely filled the banks and was moving downstream quite rapidly. This is why the State of Indiana canceled all canoeing.

We all still had a good time and always seem to manage to do so regardless. It could have dropped to 28 degrees and snowed a half a foot and we'd still manage a good time. But maybe later this summer we might get in some canoeing yet.