Aevyn Goes Camping

It is amazing what joy and turmoil can come from a camping trip.

After borrowing a tow-behind camper from the Nations we headed off for Colorado National Monument, a mini Grand Canyon if you will. After a 23-mile, sweaty palm, bone shivering drive we arrived at our first camp spot.

Enjoying the current 63 degree temp in the county we drove into Grand Junction to a hellish 98 degrees. A total surprise. CNM was a little cooler - 95. While it doesn’t feel like a Memphis 98 it’s still hot.

After a visit to the Visitor’s Center we cooked some burgers and brats and watched the sun go down over the canyons. After settling into a much cooler camper Aevyn decided to scream for the next few hours, along with the 12 8th graders at the spot near us. Then the Daddy Warbucks’ RVs rolled in - them, with their gas grills, picknic tables, Jeep Wranglers…and 50″ flat screen tvs that fold out from under the RV…with huge speakers. One of my main objectives in camping is to get away from TVs; I sort of did, I just had to listen to one. Aevyn screamed into the wee hour of the night finally resting till her next feeding. I woke Les up to the smell of a gas stove, bacon, eggs, and we ate to the breeze of the wind off the Mesa. A great morning.

Les loves dinosaurs so we walked to the Visitor’s Center to watch a video about dinosaurs and how the earth is something like 2.7 billion years old. Soap box: Why do we as believers get so offended when a non-believer says that the earth is that old? I don’t think it is, but does it really matter if it is? I wasn’t there. We act as though God is belittled by the universe being that old. Well, God was “alive” 2.7 billions years ago so maybe it was. End soap box.

After we left the film we headed for another birthday surprise for Leslianne - a dinosaur museum. About two miles away we got a flat tire in the park - remember, the park with 1,000 foot sheer drop offs and mountain lions? After nearly 3 hours AAA arrived. This eight lugged Suburban wheel wouldn’t move with me standing on the wrench. Dan cursed at the tire shop that used an air drill to put on the lugs. I tried not to listen.

Joel, the Park Ranger was a huge help in directing traffic. He goes to a local church and I would love to hang out with him more often.

The day was shot after we had to change all four tires. It wasn’t the camping trip I was thinking of as we sat in a convenient store eating sub sandwiches, watching all the true to life cowboys come and go. I must say I’ve never had a sub and ice cream on a camping trip.

We ended up calling a friend in Delta, CO. to see if there was anything to do in Grand Junction to get our minds off exploding tires, heat, and a screaming baby. She said, “No, there’s nothing to do.” For Les’ birthday we ended up picking up the trailer and driving an hour south to spend the night with Heather and her 4 kids. Again, I’ve never had a down comforter when camping. Heather kept Aevyn for a few hours the next morning so Les and I could go tour the Chaco factory in Paonia, CO and grab some birthday lunch. I managed to sneak a birthday cake into the car from the grocery and we had a small celebration with Heather’s family.

We left around 4:30 and drove across Grand Mesa, a magical 10,000 foot high flat land, stopping to take pictures of animals and mountain views. An absolutely gorgeous day with snow fall and laughter. We arrived in Rifle Gap State Park around 7pm, set up camp, made some Brats and watched another wonderful sunset over the mountains. It was a great ending to an almost disaster of a camping trip. One day we’ll buy our own camper. One day…

Check out all the great photos in the Gallery’s Aevyn Goes Camping.