My buddy Jim and I went on a little camping trip last spring which was a blast but, after a comedy of errors, had to end early. We were going to go to Kami (Kamloops) by way of the Fraser canyon. When we got to Hope we found out the canyon was closed and we'd have to take the Cocahoochie (Coquahala). Well the Cocahoochie was a little too steep for the bucket of bolts I owned at the time so we changed course and headed for Oussoyus (hope I spelled that right, if not I'll hear about it from Ron).
Along the way we stopped at this spot Jim wanted to show me called "something rock", (Bradley maybe or Bramble), just this side of Keremeos. Nice little spot along the river there. I stood for a couple minutes in the frigid water gathering some energy from the stream till my feet couldn't take it anymore....they turned bright red real quick. It was beautiful there and I really liked it; was almost tempted in fact, to say let's just camp here and not go to Oussoyos... but I didn't.
So we went on our way taking our time and our next stop was Hedley where we drove around a bit looking at the quaint little houses. We went on a bit further and stopped at another place and checked out this really cool store with hand carved stuff in it. We went on like that most of the day till we got to Oussoyus about 6ish.
When we checked out the campgrounds they were along the lake and wide open with no privacy at all; no protection from the wind either. It was a beautiful sunny day but extremely windy, and the wind was on the cold side, so we decided we would backtrack and camp along the river a few towns back.
Did I mention that I discovered I only had two tent pegs when I checked to make sure everything was there for the tent??? So we tried to find tent pegs in Oussoyus but the hardware store was closed and they didn't have anything like a Candian Tire or a Walmart in that town. We drove back 45 minutes, sorta the way we came, to another town (forget the name sorry). They had a Walmart so we were able to get the tent pegs.
End of part one, lol.

We drove back a few more towns and by then it was starting to get dark. Checked out this one campsite and it was misquito infested so we
drove on. Long story short we ended up back at "something rock" and had to set up camp in the dark using the headlights to see what we were doing. I pulled the tent out of the trunk and set up my "two man" dome tent 'cept it wasn't my "two man" dome tent after all, it was my "1 man" dome tent....oooops Did I mention I never thought to actually spread the puppie out and check the size when I was looking for those tent pegs???
So we crammed a queen size raised airbed into it and inflated it as much as we could without exploding the tent. Then we set up the camp chairs and built the fire, roasted weenies, ate beens and all that good stuff. Had a great time, drank a few coolers and sat there at the fire till around 1:00am and then hit the sack.
Then Jim went to do up the bug screen, even though I tried to talk him out of it, and the zipper broke halfway across. Now the zipper was not closing any further... but it was not reopening either . So there I was on a partially inflated airbed in a tent the size of a walnut, with the big guy beside me, in my three quarter length fake fur lined winter jacket. You try moving to get comfortable in that get up and it just ain't happening, I might add. After a few minutes the sweats started and my heart was racing and the panic attack was well on it's way to being full blown. Did I mention I have claustrophobia????
Jim kinda figured out something was up when the hysterical wimpering started and asked me what was the matter so I 'fessed up to being claustrophobic and how the stuck bug flap was panicking me. At that point he generously (though somewhat begrudgingly) let me rip the sucker open. Now did I mention by this time it was so cold outside we could see our breath and we now had a big open hole in the front of the tent??? Suffice it to say I felt much better about being confined but we were freezing our butts off. I think somewhere around this point Jim was getting more than just a little perturbed at me... and yet I still live... go figure. Long story short we decided to go home later next day rather than spending a second night camping.

So next morning at the crack of dawn, 5:00am to be precise, I woke up (having to go to the bathroom) to find that the corners of the airbed had unfurled and there wasn't a heck of a lot of air between me and the cold hard ground. I crawled out of the tent, which woke Jim, and when I got back he hadn't moved so I figured he had gone back to sleep. I decided to be nice and climbed into the car with my pillow and a blanket so I wouldn't wake him up again getting back in the tent. I reclined the seat and lay in the car, wide awake I might add, for two hours waiting for him to wake up so we could build a fire and have breakie.
Finally I got out of the car cause I was tired of waiting and he says" about time you woke up I've been waiting for two hours for you to get up so I can build a fire and start breakie".
Long story short we left there around noon and wandered back home; stopped in the Wack at the pub to have dinner around 5:00pm after which we went for a walk along the river, then went to my place to unpack the car.
Now Jim is somewhere round 6 feet tall and I am 5'3" and I was too cramped in that tent to stretch out, imagine what that poor bugger felt like. When he left for home at 6:30pm his bum knee was giving him quite a bit of trouble, poor baby. But he said he was looking forward to going camping again. Next time though he wants to take an RV... I can't imagine why.
Hmmmn now that I think about it, I haven't been camping with him again since that trip either, what's up with that???



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You're bloody well right you'll hear about it from me! Oussoyus? What/where the hell is that? Methinks you mean 'Osoyoos'. (Get it right, damn it!)

This post has been edited at member's request.Ron,

Note to Jimbo: NO, you cannot use my RV so that you and Babs can go camping again!

Hi, Babs -

This is a very charming, freely flowing, humorous and well-written story! I enjoyed it a lot.
You certainly have an excellent talent for this kind of thing.
I shall be looking forward to see more of your writings.

And welcome on board! I hope you are going to like it here.

Jane

Hi Jane,

Glad you enjoyed the read and thank you kindly for the welcome.
You know what they say... when life gives ya lemons... make lemonade. I always try to see the humor in every situation and thought this little tale had much amusement potential.