Springtime in the Ozark Mountains is a beautiful time of year. The woods are full of the Dogwood, the state tree, and numerous Redbud trees dot the landscape. Even though compared to say, the Rockies, our Ozark Mountains are just hills, they still have a majestic beauty. At the moment, I am diffusing Mountain Air Belle Aroma® No-Mess Fragrance Tarts® in my Belle Aroma® ScenTrio® Tabletop Warmer. Mountain Air has notes of Honeysuckle, Rose, Lemon Balm and Driftwood. The ScenTrio comes in a couple of finishes, Copper Wire and Branch. They both are aesthetically pleasing as well as very convenient with their timer and temperature controls. The Mountain Air fragrance got me thinking about a few memorable camping trips we’ve taken. I must share a couple with you.
For many years, we have tent camped with three families, around a dozen of us each time. One time in early spring, David and I and one of the 3 families decided we were going camping at Pomme De Terre Lake. We all arrived at about the same time. We get all our paraphernalia out of the truck, and I start setting up the coolers, food, chairs, etc. while David sets up our tent. He had collected a bunch of random, mismatched screwdrivers and put them in our camp box. His plan was to use them as tent stakes because, if you’ve ever bought a cheap tent at a big box store you know, the tent stakes that come with them are not much more than double the thickness of a coat hanger. So, he gets the tent all set up and proceeds to pound the screwdrivers in the ground all around the tent. Little did he know, the young son of the family camping with us was following along behind him pulling the screwdrivers out!! He didn’t realize, at the tender age of 4, that David meant to pound the screwdrivers into the ground. He was so proud when he handed them all to David and said, “Hey! You left these sticking in the ground!” So, the circuit around the tent began again. Hahaha!!
It was on that same trip, the next morning in fact, that a severe windstorm hit us. All our tent stakes were sucked out of the ground, and I ran for the truck. David decided to stay in the tent and try and save it! I looked back and that tent had wrapped around him - he looked like a giant onion! Our friends had set their tent up facing another direction and, when they unzipped the flap, their tent was immediately flattened! Needless to say, they headed for their truck, too.
We waited for a lull in the storm and then packed it up and headed for home. Even though our spirits were dampened that day, it didn’t last. We have enjoyed years of camping with these friends. That little boy is all grown and now we camp with him, his wife and young son, his 2 sisters and their husbands and sons and the grandparents, our original camping buddies. We do love this clean Ozark “mountain air” and all our friends.
One final camping memory was at Clearwater Lake here in Missouri. We were all enjoying our regular fish fry (we had agreed that we’d all bring fish from home just in case we didn’t catch any so we could still have a fish fry) and were all just sitting down to dinner when the Park Ranger came to our camp. You’ll never believe what he told us. They had discovered a crack in the earthen dam and since we were camping below the dam - he didn’t want to alarm us - but we might have to evacuate in the night.
Whuuttt???
We all just looked at each other, thanked him and went back to eating our fish. When we said goodnight, I do remember telling our friends we’d see them in the morning, either at our tents or 5 miles downriver! Hahaha!!
All this reminiscing has made me wish we had a camping trip planned in the next few weeks. We’d better get on that. Campsites fill up quickly here in the Ozarks and I’m ready to hook the camper to the truck and head out.
Yes, we gave up tent camping several years ago.
Lori Herr for Belle Aroma® Brand