The Last RV Outing for the Season is a Bust

Fall, the harvest is in and the leaves are taking on their fire like colors. For the past 3 weeks or so Autumn has been at it's full glory. With temperatures unseasonably warm, it's the perfect time to get the last few RV outings of the year in, before old man winter buries us up to our butts in snow.

Sadly this year the rare weeks of cool nights and no mosquitoes has passed us by, due to work schedules and necessary repairs to out motor home.

As I wrapped up the last of the repairs on the first day of this Columbus Day weekend, a last minute, overnight outing was quickly thrown together. Nothing too elaborate, maybe just one more evening by the campfire.

I picked up my wife after she had put in a full days work. It's Saturday, but many time you just have to work overtime to get the job done on time. We pulled into a supermarket on the way home for a few items to take with us.

10 minutes of tossing the bare minimum of belongs into the motor home and we we're out the driveway and on our way. Already it's 5:30 PM, a late start to say the least. Our destination a mere 30 miles away, we hoped to find a spot vacant at the nearest Corp of Engineers campground.

On our way the topic of discussion was "Will there be a spot for us"? Many times we've arrived to find the campground well filled, a number of times we got the very last spot. Never had we been skunked but this time our luck ran out. After driving 5 miles on a bone jarring washboard dirt road there was no space at the Inn.

By the time we slowly worked our way back out to the main road it was almost dark. Stopping just clear of a set of railroad tracks for a quick meal, we enjoyed a tuna fish sandwich and some cheesy corn puffs, followed by a hand full of pills. Being Diabetic putting off supper just wasn't an option.

Our next possible destination was about 25 miles west, we headed off into the darkness, as usual on dirt roads. Deer are a constant danger in this area, especially just after sunset, this next leg of our journey kept us on our toes constantly watching for the flash of a white tail jumping out from cover.

Finally we arrived at the next campground, this time in total darkness. Carefully we pulled in knowing full well that this park was more geared for tents than 30' motor homes. The second site we came to was big enough to squeeze in, so we drove straight in and called it good. It was just too tight to back in, especially in the dark. Note: Though this was a big mistake, we had no choice because trying to maneuver in darkness could have caused expensive damage.

By the time we lowered the shades, and turned down the bed, we called it a night and climbed in. Take note it was only about 8:30 PM, but with both of us putting in a full days work, exhaustion had us hoping for a good nights sleep.

The small town of Barnum MN, in their infinite wisdom, decided that the occasional $10 fee from camping at their 2 city owned camping spots was not worth getting excited about. This being the first year since pay stations were removed, there is now no control, no security patrols, and no rule enforcement.

It was hardly a matter of minutes after turning in that the Thump.. Thump of the heavy base emanating from the far end of the campground started. With total darkness, we had no idea what was taking place only a few hundred feet further into the campground. Pulling straight in meant we were trapped, stuck to enjoy this rude serenade.

For the next few hours we enjoyed the repeated sound of cars, motorcycles, and who knows what else going back and forth on the narrow dirt trail road not more than 10' behind our bedroom. All the while music, if you can call it that, reverberated through our RV rendering any hopes of sleep useless.

Finally, at what seemed like an hour or so before dawn, we fell asleep. A short while later, as the sun started peeking in the windows, it was time to get up and survey our surroundings. It seemed like we had unknowingly pulled into an Irish clan celebrating the 3 day weekend with lots of lubrication. What we found was something even more dreadful.

Scattered across the open field and round the entertainment gazebo were numerous brightly colored nylon tents. Lawn chairs, assorted clutter and a fair amount of litter was strewn about the area. An assortment of vehicles were parked in a haphazard manner, some barely off the main trail making it awkward for us to leave. One vehicle in particular stood out from the rest, it was pulling a cargo trailer emblazoned with words that would instill fear into any retirement age RVer hoping to enjoy a quiet nights sleep.

In large bold letters the cargo trailer was labeled with the insignia and name of The University Of Minnesota. It appeared we had stumbled into a college sponsored outing for college students.

As they finally slept peacefully away in their cute little collegiate camp ensembles it took all my self control to just quietly motor our way out of the cramped camping spot and leave without fan fare. I so wanted to fire off a round of my 3-horn air powered train horn and only wished I had one of those air horn systems that play such pieces as "Charge" or Dixie". We sure didn't get any sleep last night, why should they get any now.