About a month ago, a call went out for NPPD teammates to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboards) and relate a camping experience for the NPPD Behind Your Outlet blog. Here, then, are three short stories that extoll the wonders of “roughing it” in the modern camping world, recall a wonderful camping experience that sets a tone for years to come, and a cautionary tale that makes it clear, a joke can boomerang if you mess with “karma.”
The Best It’s Ever Been
Stan Clouse – Account Manager – Kearney
Camping is the absolute best in 2015 with my new Heritage Glen bumper pull camper!
There is nothing more relaxing and enjoyable than sitting under the awning on a manicured lawn next to the level concrete pad at your favorite camping location. Throw in cable TV, sewer, electric, and water hook-ups, and you don’t have a care in the world.
The Keurig works like a charm, HyVee pre-made skewers are on the Traeger, and the ball game is on the outside camper-mount TV, using the Dish Tailgater satellite with over 150 channels available.
After a hard day of golf at the local country club, you can relax and enjoy a cool one using the portable ice making machine and the MargaritaVille blender. You can enjoy a portable massage chair insert in the latest Cabela’s reclining lawn chair while listening to the camper’s external surround sound system.
Yes, camping is the best it’s ever been, except for the 10 mpg the three-quarter ton truck gets while driving to your resort destination.
Nebraska is truly the Good Life!!!
Nothing Beats Family and Friends Around a Campfire
Kathryn Ackman – Human Resources Services Delivery Team Leader – Columbus
A large group of friends decided spending Labor Day at Lake McConaughy sounded like a good time. And, as things turned out, it was!
My husband and I – along with another couple – headed west on Friday of the big weekend to find a good camping spot for the group. This was our first time at the lake, but we found a nice spot under some trees close to the great expanse of beaches on the lake’s north shore and put up our tents.
Fortunately, we picked our spot early as the area soon filled up with tents. That evening a group of campers from Colorado invited us to join them at their campfire, and we had a great time telling stories and playing games while enjoying our refreshments.
Labor Day weekend, 1986, Lake McConaughy
The next day the rest of our group arrived, and a volleyball net was put up. Non-stop games ensued, and the Colorado and Nebraska groups became good friends.
We enjoyed a long weekend of waterskiing, walking the beach and marveling at the amazing sand sculptures, watching sailboat races and the spectacle of vehicles getting stuck in a nearby mudhole. A good time was had by all.
Camping trips became annual events for our Nebraska group and there are now kids and grandkids on the trips. Nothing beats the time spent with family and friends around a campfire.
Karma Will Get You
Lisa Endorf – Administrative Assistant – Columbus
One time when my family went camping, my niece and a friend of hers primped their tent for about half an hour. Later, I snuck into their tent and placed logs on their pillows where they had laid their stuffed animals.
That night I was staying in a tent with my sister and her family. It began to rain, and the corner where I was sleeping got wet so I ended up sleeping in my car.
Numerous times throughout the rest of the night, my niece and her friend shined flashlights on me; I was a bit freaked out and hardly slept, as I did not know who it was. No one in the family let on that they knew what the girls had done until everyone started laughing at once, and I knew the joke was on me.
Karma will get you; so do not mess with another camper’s equipment – even if it is a stuffed animal.
