I Spy

Hello World, Good morning, campers! And so here I am, once again, back safe and sound from adventures in Camping Land, and none the worse for wear, on top of it all. I realized that one of the disadvantages of going on vacation as a temp is that I don't get paid for any days that I'm not at work, so unlike my previous job at the hospital, I can't take time off - for instance, the Friday before my vacation to pack up the car - without losing a whole day's pay, thanks not. That left me no alternative but to pack everything in the car on Friday night after working all day, which has not much to recommend it, but still beats getting up early to pack Saturday morning, then drive all the way to God's country and set up 2 campsites, and once again, thanks ever so much not. When we left, the weather forecast was inauspicious, being very cool and overcast, with scattered sprinkles that could turn into severe thunderstorms, and everything up to and including hail and tornadoes - and need I add, once again, thanks not? Probably as a result, the traffic out to Vacation Land was much lighter than usual, and we arrived at the park in record time. I was surprised not to see the "FILLED TO CAPACITY" sign at the entrance as usual, and driving through the campground, it certainly seemed like every site was already taken. We hurried out to claim our sites and set up quickly, so we could try our luck at the beach before the really bad weather had a chance to move in and spoil that for us. Not so fast! It seemed that the campers at C-35 had yet to vacate the space, and not wanting to muscle in on them, we set up what we could on C-17 first, and then waited nearly 2 hours for them to clear off. We went to the beach anyway, for the cheese fries if nothing else, and were greeted with the highly unusual prospect of murky waves crashing on the beach, compared to the usual crystal clear, smooth-as-glass water that Wildwood is so justly famous for. We stood in the waves for a bit, just for the novelty of it, but the water seemed to be about 30 degrees, and everyone was wearing sweatshirts, so that was as far as it got. The churning water was up to the bottom step of the boardwalk, the lifeguard chair was already in the water, and even the umbrella line signs were being washed away - although it didn't matter since it was way too windy for umbrellas in the first place. In fact, with the blustery winds, it was a great day for kites, and there were more people at the beach than I would have expected under the circumstances. For everyone who braved the choppy chill and pounding surf, which was not for the faint-hearted, well, all I can say is that I give those folks a lot of credit. Back from the beach, we set up the clothesline and battened down the rain fly, in case the threatened storm came to pass, and then lit off to check into our motel in Coram. We found it much as we had left it, and no complaints on that score. After a reviving meal at Denny's, and some wide-ranging shopping at Wal*Mart, we tucked ourselves in for a good night's sleep, and which after a long and busy day, was not slow in coming, believe me. Things looked considerably better in the morning, with clear skies and warmer temperatures, and we hurried over to the park to take advantage of it. We noticed that many campsites were already empty, which was too bad after sticking it out on Saturday, that they didn't hang around to enjoy the difference on Sunday. It's true at the beach that the water was still borderline freezing, but it was less choppy and muddy than the day before, and there were cheese fries for good measure - plus the surprising innovation of live music on the boardwalk all afternoon, which has never happened in 50+ years that I've been going to Wildwood. The scoffers may scoff, but I can assure you that I have (bad and jittery) video to prove it, and it goes without saying, I'm not afraid to use it. Last year, our friends at Calypso on the Sound were running the concessions at the park (and doing a fine job of it, I might add) but now it all seems to be under the auspices of New York State, and they call it simply Wildwood State Park Beach Stand and leave it at that. (Please be sure to LIKE them on Facebook!) They are responsible for the gift shop, Camp Store, and snack bars on the boardwalk and in the picnic area, and their menu tells me that they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner - including such lofty fare as lobster, shrimp tempura, and chicken with bleu cheese. They came up with this idea of live music on weekends, and seems well received by all accounts, with blaring acoustics that you can hear (whether you want to or not) all the way down the beach on the other side of the boardwalk, and I ought to know. Sunday and Monday were both beautiful days, although the park was fairly empty by then, so naturally the next people to check in were assigned the site right next to mine, thanks not, in a repeat of the "clump-hooligan factor" that has plagued me in the past. Bill left on Monday afternoon to go home and hold down the fort, and I finished setting up the shelves, chairs, lanterns and fire bucket for the rest of the week in the woods. Going back to the beach on Tuesday, I drove to the picnic area, and although there were only about 5 cars in the parking lot at the time, I found myself parked next to another Chevy Aveo, and honestly, what are the odds. In my travels taking pictures around the park on Wednesday, I came across a hawk in B Section, and chipmunks in the picnic area - in fact, there were way more chipmunks than there have been in years out there, including showing up for breakfast peanuts right in my own site, besides the usual parade of squirrels, blue jays and grackles. Speaking of Wednesday, it was then that the Sound finally cleared up to its regular clarity, and was cool enough to be refreshing without fear of frostbite - although unfortunately it was dead low tide all week, so that made for some difficulty swimming in the rocky shoals, rather than the pristine sand of high tide. The Wednesday night movie was "Big Hero 6," which I thought was remarkably current, compared to what they usually show, but to be fair, it is free, so there's no point in complaining anyway. Let's face it, you could drag the entire family out to the movies, and between the tickets, drinks, popcorn, and snacks, it would wind up costing more than a whole week camping at the park, I dare say. Thursday turned into one of my favorite days of camping in a long time, for odd reasons. It started in the morning when I drove into town to take vacation pictures, for instance, of the venerable duck pond and other local landmarks of lore and legend. At one point, I needed to turn around, and I found the Baptist church a handy place for this maneuver, since they have a spacious parking lot that was conveniently deserted on Thursday, except for one lone and solitary vehicle all the way in the corner. Can you believe it was a red Chevy Aveo that looked almost identical to mine, except for the spoiler, and as I said to Bill later, the odds against that must have been astronomical, to say the least. I had to pull in next to it and take pictures of the two cars side by side, and considering that General Motors stopped making the Aveo in 2011, stumbling over another two of them in two days was a coincidence bordering on the bizarre, no matter how you look at it. Back at the park, I noticed they had brought in some buses with about 50 disadvantaged children and their counselors all in matching T-shirts, for a day at the beach, which used to be a mainstay of Wildwood in the summer, but I haven't actually seen them doing it for years lately. When I was taking pictures from the boardwalk about 3:00 PM, I spotted them being rounded up with their belongings to go back up to the buses in the picnic area, although I didn't give it much thought at the time. I left the beach much later, and it was about 5:30 when I went to take a shower as I normally would. Not so fast! Here were all those same youngsters and counselors in their matching shirts still on line for showers in the new Roundy, more than 2 hours after they left the beach in the first place. Luckily I knew something they didn't, which was that there were 2 other bathrooms in the park, so I turned around and sauntered about 1000 feet to the old Roundy for my shower, and there wasn't a soul in the place, and I certainly didn't have to wait on any lines. Wrapping up my Thursday oddities was how I jinxed things by washing the car windshield, and in spite of being outstanding weather all day, suddenly around 6:00 PM, it started pouring rain out of nowhere. I just about pulled everything off the clothesline and threw it all in the tent to stay dry, then drove into town for some pizza. By the time I got to the pizzeria, the sun was shining. This is what we call the Camping Gods toying with us. Alert readers may recall that one of the biggest challenges of my annual frolic in the forest is often finding out where the "spy site" is each time around, which once located, is easily identified by having one tent, no kitchen, no chairs, no beach towels, and most importantly, no car, no inhabitants, and no signs of life at any point during the day or night. In a handy turn of events, the clandestine spot became even easier to find, since it ended up being right next to me on the corner, where I complained about them dumping those people on top of me even though the park was practically empty. From the time they first set up on Monday, I never clapped eyes on them, and if they were ever at the site unseen, I never heard two peeps out of them the whole week. I did see them on Saturday when I was leaving, and they seemed like a perfectly average family of four, but they didn't fool me - I have a lot of experience with this sort of thing by now, and I know spies when I see them. After all, this is not my first time at this particular rodeo, and when it comes to sniffing out spooks under cover of canvas, there's nothing new under the sun. Speaking of new, I'm sure we all realize that progress can be a double-edged sword, and often more trouble than it's worth. But I recently came across an innovation in camping adventures that was worth every penny and more, which is high praise indeed from a hidebound traditionalist like me. I'm happy to enthusiastically recommend the EcoForest Light 'n Go Bonfire Jumbo (and please feel free to go right ahead and visit their web site at www.light-ngo.com and see for yourself) which Bill had gotten for me as an experiment, and while purists would dismiss this out of hand as "campfire for sissies," it has numerous advantages over the real thing. First of all, unlike every other year, I didn't have to wrestle 250 pounds of firewood out there with me, because these all natural birch stumps are neat and compact, with their own handle for convenience. They are specially heat-treated to be free of mold, mildew, and insects, so you can take them anywhere and still comply with firewood restrictions when you get there. You can use them indoors or outdoors in a fireplace, chimenea, or a fire bucket like mine, and while I might find their claim that it "lights in an instant with one match" may be fanciful in the extreme, everything else about it is exactly as advertised. You simply light it and it burns all by itself for about 2 hours or so - you never have to touch it - and then it just goes out, all on its own, with practically no ash left over. You can get them right at Home Depot, and though the nitpickers and survivalists might consider it treasonous, I stand by Patrick Henry and say, "If this be treason, make the most of it." Say, I'm starting to think that those spies are beginning to rub off on me! Elle