Chapter 2 of:
The Three C's of Camping; Chaos, Calamity, Catastrophe

Easter of 1978 was the signal for us to once again begin the camping season with our children and friends. It had been a very long, gray winter in which none of us could consider taking our trailers out of the driveway, never mind make an attempt at going camping.

Our weekend trip was planned for the Teepee Campsite at Chilliwack, BC, where we had made a reservation for the rigs three weeks prior. Our camping party consisted of ten of us: George, Joy and their pets in their trailer; Bob and Olive in their Class C motorhome with their dog; and Dan and I and our four children in our trailer. It would be wonderful to be out breathing the fresh air and smelling the beginnings of the brand new grass and plants, springing forth from the soil just for us.

The trip out of town at the beginning of the Easter weekend on a Thursday night was always gruelling because of all the others trying to experience the same thing we were trying to enjoy. Traffic was heavy. We never got away from North Vancouver until at least 6 p.m. after everyone got home from work, and so we found ourselves right in the midst of rush hour.

It was about 9:30 p.m. when we pulled into the campsite. The manager was waiting for us to arrive and had our sites set aside for us. Over the winter the camp had expanded it’s borders and developed twenty-five new sites. We were happy to find out that we had been set up in this new area where the woods were all around us and we definitely would be dealing with Mother Nature. Our sites were indeed wonderful, with each space treed so as to have some privacy, and yet close enough to our friends so as to not make it impossible for us to cook meals together or talk to one another. If there was any problem with this at all, it was that each of the men had to help the other set up due to the pitch black of the night in and amongst the woods that we found ourselves camping in.

Of course, as resourceful as kids are, they thought this was wonderful. While we were setting up they decided that a game of hide and seek would be great, affording them the cover of pitch black to hide even more thoroughly from each other. By the time that each rig was set up it was 11 p.m., and after setting up the sleeping bags and beds for them, the children were tired enough to fall fast asleep almost as their heads hit the pillow.

Bob built a small campfire, and the six of us huddled around it talking in low whispers. As it was our custom to share our meals amongst the couples we happened to be camping with, we knew that we would have to go to Chilliwack for supplies on Saturday. We started to make a list of what would need to be purchased. On Sunday, the Easter Bunny would have to make an appearance, so Easter Eggs were at the top of the list. We decided that we would like our Easter dinner to be a traditional one, so an Easter turkey was in order. Being quite well-organized (or so we thought), and knowing that the capacity of trailer ovens was limited, we all measured our ovens to see who had the most room to cook our feast. Joy’s oven was the largest, so we surmised that a bird should be bought that would fit that oven. Once the rest of our supply list for the weekend was completed and the campfire flames were reduced to white ash, we all said our good nights and headed for our own rigs.

Our trailer seemed to come alive on Good Friday morning long before anyone else’s with the excited voices of children. There was no containing them, and they were up and dressed before both Dan and I, and clamouring at the door to get outside into the woodsy surroundings. The idea that they had to wash or brush teeth or hair just didn’t count this morning. The boys suggested that those trivial things didn’t matter, seeing that we were out here in the bush roughing it. I suggested otherwise and was able to get at least the basics taken care of.

Nothing would have it but Dan had to take the kids on an expedition scouting out the area. Down by the front gate the kids were able to find a trout farm where they no sooner had dangled their line in and they had a fish. The girls, having a gymnastics background, found the trampolines and were busy drawing a crowd of onlookers as they did back flip after back flip going higher and higher with each bounce. Then they all walked the camp from one end to the other, and each child knew it so well they could find our site blindfolded.

Dan got the barbecue out and began his traditional pancake breakfast preparation. It was not long before the fresh morning air was filled with the smell of bacon frying and coffee perking. By this time the other couples were up and helping to set up the picnic table for all of us to have breakfast. Another campfire was started. Our feast was ready, pancakes and syrup, bacon, eggs, toast and hot chocolate or coffee. It was not hard to find an appetite with the fresh air and we all ate heartily, not caring if we had on Tuesday or Wednesday been dieting.

After breakfast the children started yet another game of hide and seek and the adults left their places at the now cluttered picnic table and sat around the campfire with their second cup of coffee. Time was ours to waste if we wanted to, and no one was in a hurry to make the first move towards doing dishes. The topic was what to do with the day, seeing it was ours to do with as we pleased. It was decided nine holes of golf at the course next door would be first on the agenda, and swimming with the kids would be saved for the afternoon.

Back at the campsite after golfing, we had a lunch of hot dogs, chips and watermelon. Food the kids lived for; no wonder they loved to camp so much. After the lunch dishes our promise to go swimming had to be honoured, and so off we all went over to the pool. The rest of the afternoon was taken up basking in the unusually hot springtime sunshine, or giving shoulder rides in the pool, or performing various forms of dives and belly flops by both child and adult alike.

Around 4:30 we headed back to the campsite where we all feasted on a homemade steak and kidney pie that Olive had cooked for our dinner that night. Dishes were quickly done up by the entire group so the evening was left to sit around the campfire. The children had not played so hard in a long time, and by 10 p.m. they were once again fast asleep in their beds, dreaming about the fun they had during the day. As it was, none of the adults were far behind them, as we all found ourselves nodding off in front of the fire. Off to bed for everyone, we’ll have an early start in the morning.

After a much quicker breakfast on Saturday morning, we all piled into the two station wagons and headed into Chilliwack for our shopping. The boys had even thought to bring along a measuring tape in order to be sure the turkey we purchased would be the right size. Our list was shared between the three shopping carts; vegetables, cranberry sauce, breadcrumbs, sausage meat and even dessert were purchased. I kept the kids with me at the grocery store picking up even more supplies, diverting their attention away from the fact that their dad had slipped away on a search through the local K-Mart for Easter Bunny goodies. The groceries paid for, eggs hidden away amongst the packages in George and Joy’s station wagon, and we were ready to head back to the wilderness.

Back at the camp we all started to put away the supplies that we had so carefully purchased. Joy came over and said that the bird would not fit in her fridge – no, we had not measured the fridge! I was sure it would fit in my fridge, but no, it didn’t. We both took it over to Olive and try as we could to push and shove, it would not fit in her fridge either. What could we do? We wouldn’t be cooking it until tomorrow, and of course it would have to be kept cool until then. What a dilemma we were in! After all our planning about which oven to cook it in, here we were with no fridge large enough to keep it! It was a problem that all of us would have to think about.

George and Joy found in the boot of their trailer a styrofoam cooler. The boys decided that if they got a couple of bags of ice to put in the bottom of the chest, our beautiful fresh turkey (just the right size for Joy’s oven but not the right size for any of our fridge’s), would fit nicely on top of it and would keep cool enough until we cooked it the next day. We congratulated ourselves on what great improvisers we were; there was nothing we couldn’t find a solution for out here camping.

Once again we had the traditional camp lunch of hot dogs, chips and watermelon, did up the dishes, and still had the rest of the afternoon to go swimming. More diving and belly flops along with everyone’s share of lounging in the sun. Back to the camp and barbecued hamburgers for supper, followed by the dishes and then campfire until everyone’s bedtime.

Bob and Olive retired earlier: having twenty or so years on the rest of us, they were played out. Dan and George proceeded to help the Easter Bunny place the eggs where they could be found easily the next morning. Now that bedtime approached, we decided to check the cooler to be sure there was enough ice to get us through the night. After adding a bag, George and Joy realized that it was not a good idea to put the cooler into their trailer. They worried that even up high it was possible for their dogs to get into it in the night. Our trailer was full to the gunnels with children, and we had no counter space when all the beds were in use. Both Dan and George decided that it would fit just perfectly under George and Joy’s trailer with no headroom for any animals to pop the lid off, and if it were placed there it would be safe. So under the trailer it went, jammed into the tight fitting spot, and off we all went to bed.

Sunday morning, once again our trailer was awake first. Kids are like your own built-in alarm, especially on these kinds of mornings when they know there are treats out there for them. An Easter egg hunt was postponed until after breakfast, knowing full well that if they didn’t eat breakfast first there would be no substantial food in them for the rest of the day.

The start of the day once again brought the familiar smells of coffee and bacon cooking. Dan was in the midst of stirring the pancake batter when George arrived. In his hand he was clutching the empty cooler. No sign of our beautiful turkey, or the ice! It was obvious that something stronger than a deer had been rummaging around the camp during the night; George had found the empty cooler at the edge of the clearing. So far he had not done a thorough search, but off the two fellows went together leaving me to flip the pancakes.

Several minutes passed, and Joy and I stood there with an incredible feeling of helplessness, waiting for what we weren’t sure. Finally, the guys arrived back at the camp clutching our poor bird in their hands. We weren’t sure whether they had wrestled some wild animal for it or what, but here it was, our bird, the one that had caused so much trouble. All that had been touched was the butt end of it where whatever was after it had managed to nibble its way through the plastic that surrounds these birds when they are purchased. The rest of the plastic was still not touched. It was still freezing cold, and so we all decided that we had probably startled the animal just minutes before as we had all awakened, and as he had not being able to drag his next meal he had dropped it near the camp.

The bird was placed back into the empty ice chest while we ate breakfast. The kids, oblivious to all that was going on with the bird, were only interested in finding their Easter eggs and were off amongst the trees picking up more eggs than any of them could consume. (It seemed that all three couples thought the Easter bunny should have some help; we had enough eggs for the entire campsite.)

Over our campfire we discussed the turkey, by this time he should have been named – he had had such a part in our lives. What to do about dinner, should we do the veggies, should we go back into town, what, what, what? The boys took another good look at the damage, kicking themselves as they talked for having put it under the trailer.

We knew that if we were going to try to salvage a meal out of it, we would have to start soon to get dressing ready and get the bird cooking. Over the campfire we pondered the situation over and over in our minds, devouring yet another pot of coffee Realizing that the plastic was not disturbed anywhere else except one end, we finally unanimously made a decision to cut about four inches off that area of the bird, wash the entire bird down with boiling hot water and salt, stuff what we could of it and cook it. The bird went in the oven, no time to change our minds, the dye was cast, we were committed.

The dinner table was set for a feast, with all the vegetables steaming hot, and cranberry sauce and dressing. George came out of the trailer with our bird, golden brown, still sizzling from the oven. He was beautiful, and the aroma was enough to make anyone’s mouth water. We all sat together laughing and talking about our wonderful weekend full of adventures as George carved the turkey and served it out to everyone. We hardly remembered that we had had to save our dinner from near ruin; we were too busy enjoying each other’s company and being thankful that we were lucky enough to have experienced such great friendship. A wonderful meal, a full tummy, a warm crackling fire and a feeling of peace came over us all.

Monday morning came, and time to pack up for the long trip home. It seems that the campsite can be taken down faster than it can be put up, and so we were ready to go within a few hours after breakfast. What a wonderful holiday it was, and never will I forget that exceptional Easter dinner. I do believe it is the best turkey dinner we have ever had.