Over the past 12+ years of being married, my wife and I have
had a number of dogs. We have had different ages, from new puppy to full-grown.
We have had different breeds from Lab to Terrier to Boxer. I have heard it said
that dogs don’t “poop where they eat”, or “pee where they sleep.” I will
unapologetically admit that I am a cat person and I don’t understand the whole
idea of people treating their pets like they are people, but, in terms of
instincts, it makes sense to me that an animal will pick a different place to
eliminate waste than where they eat or sleep. It is too bad that there are
people out there who don’t grasp what even animals understand.
Over Memorial Day weekend, my wife and I took our kiddos
camping. We are avid campers and there are some places that we go to
annually. One of those places is
on the Washington Coast near some amazing lighthouses. It would be a reasonable
guess that I am writing about camping with babies. Reasonable, but wrong.
At the last minute, another couple that we know decided to
come camping with us. The campsite had enough room for two tents and the spot
was already paid for, so we thought it wasn’t going to be a big deal. This was
our first trip of the season and our second since we went back to tent camping.
Between trips with my family when I was a kid and my time in
the Boy Scouts, I have done a lot of camping. I am comfortable in the woods and
can handle nearly any imaginable situation. There are some things that
Wilderness Survival training cannot prepare you for.
While we are tent camping, it is not an uncivilized set of
conditions. About 110 yards from
our campsite, there is a bathroom. Not a pit toilet, but an actual bathroom,
complete with running water, sinks, and a working shower. This is so much more
developed than the pit toilets that I have used in other places. Also, the path
to the bathrooms is really a paved road.
On our first evening in camp, after getting things set up
and putting the kiddos to bed, the four adults decided to stay up and play games.
In the middle of playing, our female companion declared that she needed to use
the bathroom. She got up from the table and disappeared from sight, and then
she returned in less than a minute. Not only was the speed of her
constitutional a surprise, but, she did not have a flashlight on her. I am
comfortable walking in the woods in the dark, but I really don’t think that I
could have made that round trip, while conducting business in between in less
than a minute. When my wife asked how she did that so fast, she told us that
she just went behind their tent. To say that I was shocked and offended would
be more than an understatement.
One of the tenants that are taught in Scouting is a respect
for the land. You leave a campsite in at least as good of condition as you
found it in if not better. From a survival perspective, eliminating waste near
where you sleep or eat presents a large potential to contaminate available
water as well as attract other animals in the area. I tried to explain this to
her, but what I had to say fell on deaf or uncaring ears. When we arrived in
camp, the Park Ranger told us that there was a bear spotted in the general area
where we were going to camp.
This practice of peeing in the campsite continued over the
course of the weekend. I don’t think she even saw the inside of the restroom
that weekend. A mistake that I made was probably keeping my mouth shut for as
long as I did. In the afternoon of the second day camping, we came back to the
campsite to put the kiddos down for naps. We sat in the campsite and read while
our companions decided to spend more time sightseeing. They arrived a short
time after we did and it was decide that we would play some more games. My wife
asked me to go and get something from inside our tent. While I was inside
looking for whatever I was supposed to find, I heard a sound that reminded me
of someone slowly pouring out a water bottle. My first thought was that an animal decided to go near our
tent. I hurried outside to shoo the animal away and was surprised to find out
that the animal is human. Our companion decided to go behind our tent instead
of going the short distance to the building that is the bathroom. There are
some things that happen in life that you wish you could unsee. This was one
that I wish I could use some sort of mental bleach to wash the image away.
I am a pretty easygoing person most of the time. I don’t
anger easily and I think I am pretty good about thinking about what I am going
to say before I say it. That was all tested in those few moments.
It may seem obvious, but I was really upset. I looked at the
event as her giving us a visible example of how little respect she has for my
family and me. She could have missed and urinated all over our tent that she
chose to go behind and that I was in at the time. For some people I think it would be like peeing in the
corner of the hotel room instead of the bathroom. Difference is that you are
less likely to be caught doing this while camping.
It was a battle of wills that I had a really difficult time
fighting. I am not a yeller, but I yelled. I think I made it clear that I was
angry. While didn’t call names, I wouldn’t let her get nearly me let alone hug
me like she tried to do. Not only because she didn’t washed her hands
afterward, but, I also, I was pretty sure the hug may have turned into strangling
on my part. I wished there was a Park Ranger nearby so she could at least get a
citation. I am sure there are laws about doing this sort of thing.
What happened next didn’t do anything to calm me down. She
tried to justify what she did. Her argument was that when you go backpacking,
you did holes and go just wherever. Keep in mind, we were not
backpacking and at no time did her hands ever touch a shovel on this trip.
The rest of the trip was a challenge for me. The tension was
tangible and while I love to camp and be outdoors, I was more than anxious to
get home. On the last morning, as we were breaking camp, I could tell that we
were all getting frustrated with each other. All of my time and experience camping has given me the skill
of being able to break down a tent and make it fit in the bag that it came in.
I do it almost as well as the machines they use in the tent factories. As I was
rolling up the tent, I put my body weight on the roll to force the air out. The
same companion who didn’t use the designated facilities all weekend, decided to
jump on my back as though she was trying to dog pile on me. This upset a back
injury that I suffered in a car wreck a few years ago. I yelled at her to get
off of me. She got mad at me for yelling at her, even though we had just told
her about the injury. They didn’t stay too much longer after that. This is just
a small snap shot of our weekend., but that is another blog post.
My wife and I had the best time on the trip after they went
home. We got to explore and do things with the kiddos and just enjoy being with
each other without worry about outside pressures and schedules. That, in my
opinion, is what a weekend get away is supposed to be about.
I want to know what your opinion is. Do you think I
overreacted and I had no business getting mad, or do you think we went camping
with crazy?
