Not all of my adventures in the outdoors have involved the Verley family.  We have, on occasion, taken my friends along on our outings: a camping trip to Lori and her daughter Megan; hiking in Prescott with the Strunks; and hiking in Fossil Springs with the Browns. 

Perhaps one of the most interesting outings, however, took place without John; and even without him, it was nothing short of an adventure.

Since she was a little girl, my best friend Suzanne had been going to Camp Lo Mia, the Mormon girls camp located in Pine, AZ.  Once a year, Suzanne and her mother went to the Camp for a Mother-Daughter weekend; when her daughter Katie was born in 2002, she began taking her, too. 

Suzanne invited me to go to Camp Lo Mia with her in 2005, when Mary was four years old.  Unfortunately, we had to cancel last minute, because Suzanne was unable to make the trip out to Arizona.  (It was a good thing, too, because Mary was sick anyway.)  Later that year, John and Mary and I backpacked into Pine Canyon and wandered into Camp Lo Mia out of curiosity.  It was exactly as Suzanne had described to me, too: it was a summer camp, with cabins and ramadas and several buildings containing the kitchen and bathrooms.  The cabins had three full walls and a roof overhead, but the fourth wall was only a half wall that was covered by a vinyl shade.  Each cabin also had a patio with tables and lockers to keep your food away from the critters.  After seeing the camp for myself, I hoped to receive another invitation to go there with Suzanne and Katie, because it looked like it would be a lot of fun.

That invitation came two years later, when Suzanne announced that she and Katie were coming out to spend the weekend at Camp Lo Mia with her mother.  Suzanne also extended the invitation to our friend Charlene Magee and her four year-old daughter Meredith.  We both accepted the invitation.

The weekend of Camp Lo Mia would take place from Friday, March 23 to Saturday, March 24.  During the time leading up to the weekend, Charlene, Suzanne and I sent many an e-mail to each other to plan out every detail.  Charlene and Jana and I also sent e-mails back and forth to plan a small surprise birthday party for Suzanne; her birthday was coming up on April 2, but since she would be back in San Francisco by then, we thought it would be nice to celebrate it a bit early for her. 

Before we knew it, the day had arrived. 

I had decided to take the day off in order to make sure that everything was ready to go.  And I was glad that I did, too, because there were so many details to take care of that morning.  Since we were taking the 4Runner (with the pod) to Camp Lo Mia, I had to make sure that all seven seats were in there and that everything was packed and ready to go, including sleeping bags, food for dinner that night, and water and juice boxes to drink.  I also had to pack sleeping bags for Charlene and Meredith, who didn't own any of their own. 

But that wasn't all that I had to do that day!  At 9:00 that morning, I went to Mary's school to watch the kids participate in their annual Field Day.  I took the video camera with me so that I could capture the fun on video and share the memories.  I didn't stay all morning, though; I left at 10:00 a.m. so that I could be home to let the cleaning ladies into the house when they showed up.

Charlene and Meredith arrived at 12:30, which was the time that we had all agreed upon.  We loaded the Magees' suitcase into the 4Runner and strapped Meredith's booster seat into one of the two third-row seats.  Then, as soon as my cleaning ladies were finished cleaning the house, Charlene and I went inside to chat while we waited for Suzanne, Katie and Jana ("Mom") to arrive. 

It was nearly 2:00 p.m. before they arrived; although Suzanne's and Katie's flight had landed at 10:00 a.m., Suzanne had some errands to run before joining us.  She was scheduled to move back to Phoenix on April 30, so she was using this trip as an opportunity to get cell service with an Arizona area code, a PO Box, and a storage shed for her furniture.  She managed to get all of that done.

As soon as they arrived at my house, we loaded their duffel bags and sleeping bags into the pod...only to discover that their large sleeping bags did not fit!  "Oh, this is bad," I thought.  When I had planned to take the 4Runner with the pod, I figured that we were going to have enough room; what I didn't know was that their three sleeping bags were packed into four-foot long duffel bags!

It was a good thing that I am resourceful...and it was a good thing that Jana was, too.  After examining the space in the pod and the small amount of space that was left in the 4Runner, I suggested that we put two of the sleeping bags in the back, between the tailgate and the third row of seats.  We would then strap the third sleeping bag to the top of the 4Runner using one of John's good ropes.  To ensure that it didn't get wet (just in case it actually did rain up north this weekend), we wrapped the sleeping bag in our blue tarp.  The idea worked perfectly, and by 2:15 p.m., we were ready to hit the road.

The first thing we had to do before leaving town was pick up Mary from school.  With Mary being in grade school, it wasn't a good idea to pull her out of school unless it was absolutely necessary...and this was not one of those days.  As it was, we only pulled her out of class 10 minutes early; I'm sure that she didn't miss much in those last 10 minutes before Spring Break!

With the seventh person - Mary - in the 4Runner, it was time to leave town.  On the way, we put Cinderella III into the DVD player to keep the kids entertained, and we drove like mad, heading north on the Beeline Highway in hopes that we would get there before it rained.

We arrived at Camp Lo Mia around 4:20 p.m., after an uneventful drive. One of the first things that we noticed when we pulled into Pine was that it had been raining all day there; the streets were soaked, and everything was muddy.  The unpaved road that led to Camp Lo Mia was slick with mud; I made sure to put the 4Runner into four wheel drive, just in case. 

Once we were inside the gates of Camp Lo Mia, Jana directed me to the cabins where we would be staying; these cabins were across Pine Creek, over a concrete bridge.  This area of the camp had about ten cabins, a main building, two bathroom buildings, and an auditorium that also acted as a craft room. 

We stopped by the main building so that Jana could ask where we were staying, and one of her friends pointed it out to us: it was the cabin on the hill.  She showed us where to park, and I backed the 4Runner into the spot so that it was facing downhill.  Then, we all piled out of the car...and into the mud...

There was mud everywhere!  The trail leading up to the cabin was slick with mud, and so was the parking area.  It wasn't long before there was mud both inside and out of the 4Runner and all over our shoes and inside the cabin.  It took a whole five minutes before the first mud-related accident happened: Meredith face-planted in the mud while running up the trail. 

When we were done unloading the 4Runner, we took a moment to get organized and to put together our sleeping arrangements.  Inside the cabin, there were several bunk beds - bunk beds that reminded me of those at Kentucky Camp.  Naturally, the girls wanted to sleep in the top bunks, so we pushed three of the beds together so that they could all sleep next to each other.  Immediately, they kicked off their muddy shoes and climbed up to the top, where they played together. 

By the time we got settled, it was dinner time.  Rather than participate in the cracker-barrel dinner that the Camp staff was offering for dinner that night, we brought our own food and asked the staff to help us cook it.  It took them almost an hour to cook it, and during that time, the girls ran around camp and played.  Meanwhile, us adults huddled under the ramada and tried to stay warm.  It was only dusk, but it was already getting very cold outside. 

After dinner, we celebrated Suzanne's birthday.  Jana brought balloons and a small carton of Suzanne's favorite ice cream, while Charlene brought cupcakes for us to enjoy.  (She brought them to camp unfrosted, and the girls all had fun helping her decorate them with pink and purple sprinkles.)  It was a perfect little birthday party!

By that time, the other campers had built a campfire in the ring nearby, so the girls started shouting for S'mores.  They knew that I had brought along the graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows, and they couldn't wait to make them. 

Of course, despite all of the hoopla around making S'mores, the girls preferred to eat the graham crackers and chocolate bars and leave the marshmallows on the sticks in the fire.  The girls were grossed out by the charred and sticky marshmallows and decided that it was much more fun just to watch them burn in the fire than it was to eat them.

Before we knew it, it was 8:00 p.m.: bedtime!  The three girls were getting tired, so we ushered them off to the cabin to get them ready for bed.  And since they were going to bed, we decided to join them, too.  It had been a busy day for all of us, and we were ready to sleep.  (Ironically, Jana stayed up late that night to watch the talent show!)

Getting ready for bed was an adventure in and of itself.  It was very cold both inside and outside of the cabin, so we had to dress in such a way that we weren't exposed for very long.  That was easy for us to do, but for the antsy girls who just wanted to play with each other (even though they were tired), it was very much like herding cats.  Then, once they were dressed for bed, there was the task of actually getting them into bed...and getting them to stay in bed.  They were still only long enough to listen to Suzanne read them a story.  After that, it took a couple of attempts to get Mary into her sleeping bags, because there was always something.  "Where's my doll?"  "Where's my flashlight?"  "Where's my book?"  We were so glad when the girls fell asleep!

For us moms, it was another story.  Charlene had trouble getting comfortable in the sleeping bag that she had borrowed from us.  It was a nice Coleman sleeping bag that John's grandfather had given to us after winning it in a raffle; it had never been used, so we didn't know how big it was.  It never occurred to me that it might not be tall enough for Charlene!  In hindsight, it probably would have made more sense to have her use John's sleeping bag, because she would have fit in it better.

As for me, I also had trouble getting comfortable.  Having a -5 degree sleeping bag is great...but it has little effect on you when your internal body temperature is cold!  Right before bed, I had drunk sixteen ounces of ice cold water.  Now I was shivering in my nice warm sleeping bag!  It took roughly an hour to warm up enough for me to get to sleep.

Sleep that night was choppy at best.  At 1:00 a.m., I had to get up to pee, and that involved having to get up in the cold, put on my shoes, and walk down the muddy trail to the bathhouse.  It was not much different than tent camping, except that I actually got to sit on a toilet instead of a log!

Then, at 3:00 a.m., we were awakened by an old familiar sound: that dry, hacking cough that had caused so many sleepless nights in my house.  Now, it had been many, many months since Mary had had that cough, so when I heard it, all I could think was, "Please don't let that be Mary! I thought she outgrew that!"

But it wasn't Mary; it was Katie.  After a few minutes, the coughing woke her up, and she called for her mother to let her climb into bed with her.  Suzanne retrieved her from the top bunk, and they soon fell back to sleep again.

Unfortunately, Meredith and Mary were now awake...and Meredith wanted to play.  I could hear Mary whispering to her, "Go back to sleep!"  After about ten minutes of that, I climbed up there myself and hushed them both up.  Minutes later, they were fast asleep again.

At 4:30 a.m., I was awaked by another noise: the sound of rain.  It had begun to rain again, and it was coming down hard.  That meant that there was going to be fresh mud on top of the old mud...and semi-clean kids are a mud-magnet!

Since we slept so poorly during the night, the seven of us slept in that morning.  We didn't wake up until 7:00 a.m.!  For me, that's a rare treat; I typically don't sleep that late.

As soon as the girls were awake, they resumed playing where they had left off: on top of the bunks, being as loud as they could be.  Again, getting them dressed for the day was like herding cats, because all they wanted to do was go back and play.  We barely had them dressed before it was time to go down for breakfast!

Breakfast consisted of pancakes and sausage and cereal and toast, as well as juice and milk and...hot chocolate. 

"So what do you think our chances are of getting cup of coffee around here?" Charlene whispered to me.  I knew that she already knew the answer to that, so I replied with a laugh, "I think our chances are zero!"  We were just going have to live without our "big steaming mug of sin" (as Charlene put it) for one day.

After breakfast, Charlene, Suzanne and I gathered around the campfire to warm up, while Jana took the girls down to Pine Creek to play.  They had a great time throwing rocks into the creek and they all came back with cold and dirty hands; but the important thing was, they had a great time!

Later that morning, it was time for arts and crafts.  We all headed over to the crafts hall to work on our projects.  The girls each made bracelets out of leather straps and colored beads.  Then, we created a photo display out of cardstock.  Finally, we put together a homespun picture with fabric and scrapbooking paper.  When we were done with that, we returned to the ramada, where the girls could color Easter pictures.

While the girls were having fun, Charlene and Suzanne and I packed up the cabin and loaded the 4Runner and the pod.  This time, it went much smoother, because I had a better idea of how I wanted to load everything, now that I knew what there was to pack.  Another thing that helped was that I had brought along the compression sacks for Mary's and my sleeping bags; that gave us a bunch more room in the pod for other things!

The big challenge was the medium-sized red ice chest, which we had decided to strap to the roof of the 4Rrunner in lieu of the sleeping bag.  That proved to be more difficult that I thought it would be.  I had to strap it on there in such a way that it wouldn't shift while we were going 70 miles an hour; if it did, it would surely damage the 4Runner.  After much trial and error, I had that thing strapped on so well that it wasn't going anywhere, no matter what happened!

We finished loading the 4Runner just as lunch was being served, at 11:00 a.m.  And after all of that work loading the truck, we were hungry!  We feasted on hamburgers and hot dogs and baked beans, which were very good.  Then, as soon as we were done eating, we said our goodbyes around Camp Lo Mia and prepared to drive back to Phoenix.

The road leading out of Camp Lo Mia was even more slick and muddy than it had been the day before; all that rain during the night didn't help matters much.  Of course, that was something that we Verleys had become accustomed to; mud was just part of the adventure.  Charlene felt bad about all of the mud that was covering the 4Runner and that we had tracked inside, but told her not to worry about it; it wasn't the first time, and it certainly wouldn't be the last either.

As soon as we reached SR 87 again, I insisted that we stop at the Texaco station across the street from the LDS church so that I could buy a Diet Mountain Dew for the ride home.  (It was necessary to help prevent the caffeine headache that I would have gotten otherwise.)  I also bought a Diet Coke for Charlene; same reason.  Then, once we were settled, we put on a movie for the kids to watch - this time, the selection was Flushed Away - and drove like mad back to Phoenix while the kids were quiet.

We arrived at my house around 2:00 that afternoon, and we immediately began to unpack our gear from the 4Runner.  The proved to be a challenge, what with all of the mud that we had on us.  Our shoes were all caked with mud; and, as any mother would know, a clean floor (like a clean kid) is a mud-magnet.  The solution?  We all kicked off our shoes and unpacked the 4Runner in our stockings! 

Once everything was unpacked and the kids were off playing in Mary's room, we adults sat around the living room and rested.  Suzanne had several hours until she had to fly back home, so she used this opportunity to take a shower, so that she would feel human again.  We all stripped off a few layers of clothing as well, now that we were out of the cold weather.  The thermals were great for Camp Lo Mia, but now that we were back in town, it was just too warm for them.

Soon, it was time for everyone to leave; Charlene and Meredith had a long drive back to Avondale, and Suzanne and Katie had to go catch a plane back to Oakland.  Another adventurous weekend was over...

John arrived home a couple of hours later from a day of skydiving in Eloy.  He had signed up to do a three-day weekend doing a skills camp but had gotten weathered out on the first day.  So what did he do?  He took my brand new Camry off road, through the mud, to look for a geocache! 

After hearing that and seeing my muddy car, I didn't feel so bad anymore about his mud-caked 4Runner!

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