Chapter 23: Campground

Dexter sat in the lawn chair listening to the birds chirping in the tree. He was taking a few minutes to relax after the long drive to the national park, and the effort to set up the camper. There was still a lot to do before it got dark. If Will or Sarah had any experience camping, he would have tasked them to do some of it. At least sunset was several hours away.

Will and Sarah were seated next to him bored out of their minds. Neither had any clue concerning what to expect when camping. It had sounded adventurous, but the camper had kind of taken some of the adventure out of the whole deal. They had fetched and carried when Dexter told them to do something, but that was more like work than adventure.

“Let’s get in the truck and get some firewood from the local store,” Dexter said.

Will looked puzzled. Pointing to the woods, he asked, “Don’t we get it out of the woods?”

“You can’t do that. With so many people coming here, there wouldn’t be any woods left near the camping areas if everyone grabbed their own,” Dexter said.

“I guess that makes sense,” Will said.

Sarah asked, “So we go to the store and buy it?”

“Yes,” Dexter answered.

“Isn’t this kind of like sitting out in the backyard?” Sarah asked.

“Do you see the trees around us?” Dexter asked.

“Yes.”

“You don’t have that in the backyard,” Dexter said.

Will asked, “So?”

“Then there are the animals. We might see some deer,” Dexter said.

“Deer?” Will asked.

“Sure. There are a lot of deer around here,” Dexter said.

Sarah asked, “You mean, they’ve got tame deer here like at the petting zoo?”

“No. They are wild deer,” Dexter said.

“Are they dangerous?” Sarah asked nervously.

“Not really,” Dexter said. “But they are wild animals, so you should leave them alone.”

“Are there other wild animals around here?” Will asked.

Dexter said, “I’m sure there are. We can ask at the store.”

“They have an information booth that would answer questions like that?” Sarah asked.

Dexter said, “No. There will be a friendly sales clerk and we’ll talk to him or her.”

“You mean a clerk like at the convenience store,” Will said.

“Sure,” Dexter replied.

“They don’t answer questions unless it’s about the store,” Will said.

“That’s right,” Sarah said.

Will fumbled with his cell phone, then shocked, he said, “There are no bars! I can’t go to the web and look it up.”

“That’s okay. We’ll talk to the clerk,” Dexter said.

“They won’t answer our questions,” Will said.

“Let’s go to the store,” Dexter said getting out of his chair.

The trio returned to the campsite over an hour later. The kids were bewildered by their experience at the store. It had only taken a few minutes to pick-up some firewood, a coffee for Dexter, and two soft drinks for the kids. They had spent forty-five minutes talking to people at the store about what to see in the area. It wasn’t just the store clerk, but customers who stood around chatting with each other. No one seemed to be in any hurry to leave.

During the discussion, they had learned where to go see eagles, bears, and deer. They learned what fish were biting, and what lures were best for catching them. There had also been a couple of exchanges about good places to fish, with people pointing to various locations on the map. They found out where they could rent a boat, if they wanted to use one while they were there. They listened to an informal weather report, which was then commented upon a dozen times.

Most surprising to them was that they had nearly finished their soft drinks before Dexter even paid for them. They hadn’t been required to bring the wood into the store to get rung up. All Dexter had to do was tell the guy how many bundles of wood he wanted. The clerk trusted Dexter to take the amount for which he had paid. It was all very casual.

The store, more than the campground, convinced the two teenagers that they were in a different world. At home, spending forty-five minutes at a store talking to folks, was unheard of. People didn’t do that.

Upon arriving back at the campsite, the kids were further surprised when Dexter suggested that the three of them take a walk around the campground. The two teenagers approached the excursion like taking a hike. Dexter was much more relaxed.

They hadn’t even gone past the trailer next to theirs when they were engaged in a conversation with the couple at the campsite. It was a nice little exchange in which they were informed that the camp hosts held a story night and told about the history of the campground.

The kids wondered if Dexter knew the people and then were shocked to learn that he had never seen them before. It seemed to them that they couldn’t walk past more than three campsites without getting greeted. In one hour they had met more people in the campground than they knew in their own neighborhood. It was kind of shocking to them.

They hadn’t been back at the campsite for more than ten minutes when four kids stopped by. They were invited to go down to see the lake. Both kids looked at their father wondering how they were supposed to respond. They were shocked again, when Dexter told them to have fun.

Dexter went about setting up the camp while the kids were out exploring. He got out the lantern, the grill for use on the fire pit, and set up the table for dinner. He started a fire in the fire pit, with the wood purchased at the store.

The kids returned from their explorations, exhausted. They had walked and run more than they had in years. The other kids seemed very willing to head off on some road, just to see what was down it. They had come across some other kids who were riding bicycles. None of the teenagers had parents hovering over them!

Dexter cooked up some steaks over some coals taken out of the fire. The kids had been surprised to learn that they weren’t supposed to cook over the flames. The steak, canned beans, and canned peaches was the best meal the kids had ever eaten.

They were surprised to learn that dishes had to be washed by hand. Sarah wasn’t sure that it was sanitary to wash them by hand. Will was skeptical that the dishes would actually get clean, without a machine to do the work.

After the dishes had been washed and dried, the trio headed towards the campsite of the camp’s hosts. That involved stopping by a couple of campsites to exchange greetings with other campers. No one seemed worried about reaching the camp’s hosts at a set time, but by the time they reached the campsite, they were one of a dozen people approaching it.

It turned out that one of the camp’s hosts was the son of one of the men who had helped build the campground during the Great Depression. Pictures of the campground getting built were shown, using a projector on a portable screen. It was amazing to see people cutting down large trees with two man saws, and then hauling them away with mules. There wasn’t a single picture of a bulldozer or of any earth moving type of equipment.

They looked around at their surroundings with eyes that saw the world differently, now. It was as if the campground had been transformed from an everyday place, to something special. That building over there, had been made of logs that had been cut down in the woods, by hand. They had been trimmed and shaped by men, and lifted into place with muscle. The camp’s host touched their imaginations, and made those days live!

After the presentation, they headed back to their campsite, talking about the stories the camp’s host had told. It was a pleasant walk, with Dexter lighting their steps with a flashlight. The stars were out, but the moon hadn’t risen yet so it was rather dark. Used to a world with streetlights, the kids were shocked by how dark it was.

Back at the camp, Dexter lit the lantern hanging it a good distance away from the chairs. It provided a nice light that allowed them to see without detracting from their ability to see the stars. There were a lot of stars in the sky.

After stirring the campfire back to life, Dexter sat back in his chair.

He asked, “What did you think of your first day here?”

“It was strange,” Will said.

“In what way?”

Will said, “The people here ... they talk to each other.”

Dexter said, “When I was kid, we would walk around the block a half an hour before sunset. Folks would be outside. We’d stop and exchange words with them. Sometimes, a couple of families would be sitting around drinking and talking about world events. It was like today, where people took that little extra moment to say hello.