Was That a Bear?

The Geezers are cheap.  

We like Free Stuff.  If we can't find something for free, we'll buy it used at a yard sale.  Sometimes BC (Before Covid) we'd go to a real store -- but only if the discounts were ENORMOUS.

This is how, in 2016, we got an 8 x 10 tent for just a couple dollars!  Only problem was that it didn't come with 1) instructions, 2) a rain fly, or 3) stakes and poles.  

But that's okay, because the Geezers are resourceful!  At a going-out-of-business sale that year we purchased seven different sized fiberglass tent poles.  We were sure we could make them work!  However, we never got around to testing that assumption.  Instead, we packed up the tent with the poles and put them away for the next time we would go camping.

Obviously, we weren't big on camping, because the next time was June 2020.  It was a marriage enhancing moment when we tried to set up the tent with mismatched poles.  For two hours we struggled under the sweltering, sticky nylon tent material, while my (camp-hating) sister and her husband sat at the picnic table and watched in horror.  

But wait!  First let me tell you how we got a deal on the campsite reservation!  

At the end of May, my sister and BIL met us midway between their place and ours for a socially distanced picnic at Ft. Frederick State Park in Big Pool, Maryland.  

That's where we learned about:  The Golden Age Pass. For just $10 seniors can purchase a lifetime pass to all Maryland State Parks and receive a half price discount on weeknight camping!  Woo-hoo!  With the help of Lin-Manuel's "ten dollar founding father," we were invested in a Cheap Geezer camping future!  

Dnr.maryland.gov quickly became our favorite website, as we compared the park locations and activities.  We discovered that Greenbrier State Park in Boonsboro was a short drive away.  It had camping, a lake, and swimming!

I coordinated with my sister for all four of us to meet at Greenbrier for a party to celebrate her birthday.  Then they would visit us at our campsite to toast the beginning of our new adventure in the woods!

Oops, I forgot to tell you about the bears!  As soon as we entered the park, we saw posters about "Living with Black Bears" and "Camping in Bear Country."  Whaaaa?  We hadn't really given the possibility of bears much thought.  And now that's ALL I could think about.

Could we keep all our food and trash stored in the car trunk?  In the absence of bear spray, could I arm myself with a baggie full of Old Bay seafood spice?  Had I used coconut shampoo that morning, and would a hungry bear think I smelled like a four-course Polynesian luau?  

I didn't want to bring up the bears in front of my sister and her husband.  After all, they had repeatedly asked, "Now, tell us again.  Why do you want to go camping???"

They had just asked again when we began to pitch the tent with the wrong poles.  We tried to slide the poles through tabs on the outside of the tent.  That failed.  We tried to stand the tent poles up inside the tent, crisscrossed in the center.  That failed.  The tent collapsed.  In a short time, so did we.  

We were angry with each other, and we were ashamed at our foolish attempt to camp without a decent tent.  The party was definitely over.  My sister and BIL were exhausted with watching our spectacle of marital decline.  They wished us lotsa luck, and fled for their comfortable, solid home with air conditioning and running water.

In frustration, we deserted the campsite and walked down a trail to the lakeside beach.  The water was refreshing!  Still wearing our sweat-drenched clothes, we jumped in.  Avoiding the other swimmers, we cooled our bodies and our tempers.

 

We returned to the campsite and within 15 minutes had worked out a way to support the tent with just two main poles, and three others for added stability!  

The old tent was up!  It was spacious and breezy, and we were delighted with ourselves!  Yes, we knew our tent was wobbly looking, smelled like mildew, and was, by far, the Worst Tent in the campground.  But after a delicious dinner cooked on the propane stove, we stored away the food and lay down inside the tent.  Geezers Under the Stars. It was magical.

Two hours later, in the midst of a deep, sweet sleep, our clean, but still drying dishes clattered down off of the picnic table.  The sound woke a baby a few campsites away.  I leaped up and out of the tent, brandishing my flashlight, holding my breath in fear.

Was that a bear???

No, no bear in sight.  No animal of any kind in sight, but our dishes were strewn from one end of the campsite to the other.  Raccoon?  Squirrel?  We'll never know, but we realized that bears aren't the only animals to watch out for.  And wet dishes are almost as enticing as full ones!

Next week:  Wilderness Zoom Meetings