CAMPER SLIDE

Back when we were much younger, we enjoyed camping, backpacking and all that outdoor stuff that I can no longer tolerate. We would borrow my dad and mom's camper and go off into the wild, blue yonder, wherever that yonder might have been. We had a small group that also enjoyed all that outdoor stuff as well, so we planned a Memorial Day family camp out.

In Utah rain usually accompanies Memorial Day, but we were not going to let that dampen our hearts for the great outdoors. We hit a rutted, dirt road and started climbing in our 4-wheel drives up the mountain to our campsite. Kelsey was about 16 months old and this was going to be a great challenge for her momma . . . you know, all that dirt. That's why we had the camper. We usually were tent people but I insisted on something a little more civilized if I was introducing Kelsey to camping.

We had all kinds of memory making incidents. Kelsey had her first time digging in dirt, eating toasted marshmallows, falling asleep around the campfire safely tucked in daddy's arms and of course the most exciting thunderstorm ever to have rocked that old camper.

Our friends, who had no kids at the time, brought their faithful dog up the mountain with us and that dog stole our steaks right off the grill and enjoyed a very tasty doggie meal. We laughed so hard we all cried. Don't worry, we didn't starve, we just had hamburgers.

Sadly, the time came to pack up and go home. We all started down the mountain, in a haphazard caravan with the Roderick's in the lead. After the light show during the night everything was wet and very slick, slippery and slimey. We were heading down hill to a "T" in the dirt road and the camper started sliding. All we could do was pray and slide. Kelsey was safely tucked in her car seat and we were all buckled as we continued to slide for what seemed like hours. The "T" in the road was beside and huge drop off so if we didn't make the turn left or right we were heading over the side.

God is good and we stopped gently hitting the first tree past the turn options. We all sat there silently for a moment . . . and Kelsey burst into laughter.

I thank God every day for her sense of humor.