Saga of the Tent

(Subtitle: “The Singing Nurse Goes Tent-shopping”)

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This will serve as a “prequel” to a recent post,

Tincup Adventure.

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Beware……don’t peer too closely at the photo below…… that’s me up there singing in a duet at the graduation program for our practical nursing class. Yes, the authentic truth is that deep inside I wanted to be a singer. Naturally, it follows then that I decided to become an LPN (so I could sing at the graduation service), followed by a lengthy term as a farm homemaker and mother---not to mention, a custodian of clutter---and now, at long last, a blogger. As for my musical career, I croon with the radio in the milkhouse ……and sing alto or soprano in our on-again/off-again church choir which is rarely larger than a sextet.

Possibly it was on the drive home from this very exhilarating graduation ceremony that Husband and I hatched the plan to travel to Colorado before my hospital employment started the following week. Be sure I tell you about that job sometime……I worked in the “float pool”…….a dry place, actually……but never dull.

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Ok, so we decided to go to Colorado; Husband must have mentioned that fact to his dad while milking cows the next day. Father-in-law immediately---with all good intentions---suggested we stay with some old friends of his, Ralph and Edna, or some such names---in the Denver, Colorado, area. My in-laws did not believe in staying in hotels or motels; that was the most colossal waste of money they could imagine. To them, taking a vacation meant you drive, drive, drive, to some acquaintance’s house, and then spend most of the trip sitting in the back yard, drinking beer and playing cards, ignoring beautiful scenery that exists just over the horizon. Sorry, at that point in my life I could not go for that sort of thing, and I expressed that in no uncertain terms to my husband.

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Thus, Husband---poor guy---was forced to break the news to his dad that we would be utilizing hotels and motels on our trip. Before long, my in-laws were informing us that they had a tent we could use. Really? How thoughtful of them, though I was a bit mystified, as I had never seen a tent at their place, even for the kids to use in the backyard. (My in-laws still had several younger sons at home.) Next thing I know, Husband called me to come over and see “the tent”, which apparently had been set up just for me to look at before we took it along on the trip. We were planning to leave the next morning, by the way.

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At that time, Husband and I lived in a farmhouse a mile away from his parents’ farm, so I put down my suitcase-packing and drove over to see “the tent”. First thing that struck me was how BIG it was…….it was full-heighth and must have measured a good 12 X 8 feet. Good Lord, we didn’t need anything THAT big. Husband and his parents and twelve-year-old twin brothers were standing expectantly around “the tent”. Husband had his arms crossed and a blank expression on his face. The twins were grinning. I walked around “the tent”, which apparently had been languishing in some damp corner of the basement for quite some time. There were mildew stains on it and a big raggedy, gaping hole on the back side. Everyone just stood there in silence. For pity's sake……was I going to have to be the bad guy and say, “NO….sorry…..this just will not do!”? I didn’t want to hurt my in-laws’ feelings, but for crying out loud, we couldn’t take that ridiculous excuse for a tent along on our trip. Finally, I sidled up to my cross-armed husband and whispered, “No, no, we can’t use it.” Of course, he agreed, but was having a difficult time exerting his own will over his parents’. We were still fairly young, remember, plus he had to work with his dad everyday. Finally, he was able to shake his head and tell them, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

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We decided I would run to Waterloo to buy a tent. (Husband stayed at the farm to milk cows…..in case you're not aware of it, cows must be milked every morning and evening---day in and day out---come heck or high water......or tent shopping. Any dairyman worth his salt has to be very dedicated to his cows.). I decided to stop at K-mart first (no Walmarts or Targets around back then) to look at tents, and also buy sleeping bags and other supplies. It was VERY windy that evening. I pulled into a parking slot next to an apparently unoccupied car---a rather beat-up one (Oh, Lord, why didn’t you just prompt me to choose a different spot?). I opened the door of our Cordoba---a long, very heavy door---and a gust of wind caught it, causing it to bump against the adjacent car. Oh, my Lord……suddenly a most unpleasant face surrounded by scraggly hair rose up from the front seat, wearing the most awful glare I have ever seen. I hardly blamed the guy for being angry, of course, but seriously, my door had hardly hurt his car at all; his car fell into the junkpile category in the first place. Not that that makes any difference, of course. I was most definitely at fault for not having a firm hold on my car door when I opened it. But, it was nearing dusk and I was a young woman alone, so there was no way I was going to hang around and attempt to apologize to the irate stranger, so into the K-mart store I dashed.

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After my cart was filled with sleeping bags and other necessary paraphernalia for the trip, I kept watching out the store window, waiting for that other car to hurry up and exit the parking lot. I’m a chicken at heart and didn’t want to encounter that scary guy again. Finally, the car drove away and I checked out and rolled the cart out to my car. Yup, wouldn’t you know it---and, yes, I deserved it---the guy had left me a gift. There was a dent in my driver’s side door. He must have given the Cordoba a swift kick before he left. Perhaps it was a harbinger of things to come on the trip……a foreshadowing of the damage the car would receive from a rock along a road above Tincup, Colorado.

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By the way, I did find a tent to buy that evening……at Sears. We only ever took it on one trip…….to Colorado in that summer of 1980. That tent provided many years of use here at home, though; at some point every summer we’d put it up in the backyard for the kids to play in for a few days.

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