Day 4 and a Test

Okay, so we finally got out of town for a few days, got the canoe wet, enjoyed some nature and wildlife, and that brings me back to this eternal question that way too many people seem to be incapable of figuring out.  I know you folks who share the love of nature get this, so I'm preaching to the choir, but how the heck to we get people to understand the importance of protecting the beauty and careful balance of nature?  So which is natural, was put there by nature and belongs there, and which doesn't occur there naturally and was discarded by some mindless, careless, slob that couldn't dispose of his own trash properly?  Gee, I wonder.

Back to our story, after I left the tent about 7a.m., I got the trash out of the RV and carried it up to the dumpsters.  When I opened the lid to drop the bag in, there sat a raccoon gazing back at me.  I made my deposit and then closed the lid.  I left him inside to keep the bin from filling with rain water.  With a couple layers of trash bags on the floor of the dumpster, he was dry and should have plenty to eat.  If the rain stopped later, I’d go back and check on him and let him out.  (I did return, and he was gone.)

Jean and the girls were still sleeping in the RV, while I was on the hill behind our campsite in the tent.  The storm hit at 2:45a.m.  It raged for a couple hours, but then settled into a heavy rain that continued all night.  I had sealed the tent seams, but a couple stitches still wept, so I guess I have to do them again.  At any rate, this time the weeping ran down the inside of the fly, so I still stayed dry. 

We have a covered picnic table, which would have been real nice had we not failed to notice that the concrete pad is a couple inches below ground level.  This gives us a cold-water pool immediately off the RV steps, so we have to tip-toe down the exposed edge of the asphalt driveway.  There was never a time when we were confined to the trailer all day, so we still got out for a few walks, and did plenty of reading.