Roughing It, More or Less

All that hinting about camping and vans... the result was a short trip to Natural Falls State Park in Oklahoma.

Few children were among the campers and those that were emerged from tents. Most of the campers last weekend were baby boomers in big, blooming RVs. The ranger told me the park would be about half-full and that looked right. I made a reservation anyway. Yep. Wanted that slot near the bathroom and shower.

I have never traveled in an RV and my experience is limited to the sea of white that fills the area around the Texas Motor Speedway near our home. That's on I-35 in North Texas, if you're not familiar with the NASCAR circuit.

Sea of white refers to the predominant color of RVs and campers. So, at Natural Falls I was not surprised by the rows of white RVs around us. We were in the red minivan....

Natural Falls features falls, of course. The trail to the bottom of the falls is short but steep. Paved trail and concrete steps make it easy although I was pleased not be walking it in rain. The "long" trail is less than 2 miles so this is not the park for dedicated walkers.

Wildlife we spotted: a deer leaping across the road, turtles not leaping at all, woodpeckers in their traditional activity.

Roughing it we accomplished: van camping for a night in stormy weather, working online into the night thanks to the electrical outlet in our space and an air card for Internet access, sleeping with Sherman the labradoodle at our feet and sometimes alongside, too.

OK. So, maybe that's not roughing it. But if you had a 75-pound dog bringing you a red ball for fetch at 2am, you might call it a rough night, at least.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.