I made plans earlier in the summer to do a family camping/biking trip with my brother Ed, and we went this past weekend. Fiona and the boys had been moaning about it for the last two weeks, quoting liberally from Jim Gaffigan, so when she came up with a last-minute alternative for herself (tagging along on a friend's family weekend in Michigan) I let her go. The boys and I packed up on Friday afternoon, met up with Ed, Sharon and their gang, and drove up to Wilton, Wisconsin (a couple hours northwest of Madison).
We left later than planned, since we're late to everything, and arrived at the Tunnel Trail Campground just before 8pm. We (the "we" that is Sharon) chose the site since it's right on the Sparta-Elroy Trail, and prime biking territory. Note that none of us was experienced at this; collectively Ed, Sharon and I had camped about 5 nights in the last 20 years. In the scramble to set up before nightfall this became apparent, when we figured out that Ed had packed his tent but not tent poles.
A good camping motto is "Everything will work out OK": This place had a pop-up camper for rent, which we did, and put five of the kids in there while Ed, Sharon, their little guy Joe and I shared my tent.
Saturday morning we encountered hurdle #2: We couldn't get the camp stove to work. After an hour of fooling around with it and disassembling/ cleaning/inspecting we gave up, and everyone had fruit and granola bars for breakfast. The uncooked bacon taunted us from the cooler: "Nice try, suckers!"
We headed off on our ride around 10am. The trail is a converted railroad bed running 32 miles from Elroy to Sparta, and in great condition. The inclines are gradual but very long, as you'd expect from a train route. The main attractions of this particular trail are the three tunnels along the way, including one two-thirds of a mile long. (It's so dark inside these that you have to use flashlights to see, and walk your bikes through.)
It was a nice day for a ride, and the Wisconsin countryside was beautiful. This is a popular destination -- we saw hundreds of other bikers along the way. A real biking culture has developed in the 30+ years the trail has been open: bike gear is available in a lot of shops, while restaurants, campgrounds, etc. cater to the biking crowd.
The kids had a blast, especially in the first tunnel, and we stopped after 10 miles in the town of Norwalk for a rest and a picnic lunch. I was impressed with how well they did -- that's a long ride for a bunch of 7 to 11 year olds (Joe was in a bike seat on Sharon's bike). Ed and I wanted to press on another 3 miles to see the big tunnel, but the kids wanted to turn around and go back to the campground to swim in the pool. Our compromise had Sharon leading the kids back while Ed and I went the additional distance before turning around.
The replacement stove Ed bought worked fine for cooking dinner, and in fact we figured out how to get the original one working, too. After Saturday evening Mass in the town of Kendall we came back for a campfire and Smores, and then to bed, tired and happy.
We woke up Sunday to a steady rain. The local weather report (on the car radio) indicated it would be raining all day, so it was an easy decision to just head straight home. I was disappointed not to get a second ride in, but what can you do? The bacon got a reprieve for yet another day, while we got absolutely soaked in breaking down the camp and packing everything up.
Sunday morning's funny quote is courtesy of one of the kids, who was accused by his camper-mates of farting and snoring all night. His defense: "I didn't snore!"
Camping observations:
- Tents need tent poles to stand up -- otherwise they're just tarps.
- With the poles, modern tents are way better than ones 30 years ago.
- Setting up camp at dusk is stressful, and should be avoided.
- Setting up in the dark is probably worse.
- I have yet to use an air mattress that really works.
- Camp food tastes really good, because you're hungry, and your expectations are low. It's not good food.
- Using an RV instead of a tent seems like cheating.
- Some people would say the same thing about having access to toilets and running water, like we did, but they'd be wrong. Because I said so.
- Campground etiquette seems to include leaving your neighbors alone, even if they're only 20 feet away from you for two days.
- Kids love the adventure of camping, even with a setback or two along the way.
- Everything will work out OK.
Pat
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