“Latest” Updates, part 2:

After we returned from the states, we slept our way through the jet lag, and for Cori’s birthday we went camping at a recreational facility that the military runs outside of Naples. They’ve got a really nice facility down there that’s in the caldera of a volcano with well manicured grass and trees all over the place; We had fun, and it was a learning experience for all of us. For dinner on Cori’s birthday we went to the restaurant at the facility, and the staff there brought out a cupcake for her and sang “Happy Birthday” for her. After they gave Cori her cupcake, they gave Palmer and the other little girl who was there a cupcake as well; we thought that was pretty nice of them.

A couple of weeks later, we decided that we’d had such a good time camping the first time, we would try it again at another recreational facility, this time up north outside of Pisa.

This was a learning experience as well; we learned that we’re never camping at the facility outside of Pisa again. It was horrible, and very well may have traumatized me to the point that I’ll never camp again. We’ll have to see. Our campsite (all of the campsites, really) were basically parking areas for RV’s. I understand that it was in the late summer, but there was no grass whatsoever on the entire base. We camped on stickers. Those big ‘goat head’ stickers that I thought we’d left in Texas. All the campsites were covered with them.

There was a softball tournament that weekend, and the softball players decided that they wanted to drink and play washers all night, after backing their car up to the parking area (about 40 feet from our campsite). They were at it until 2 something in the morning our first night there.

We swam at the swimming pool on the base the next day, and drove to the nearby city of Lucca. Lucca is famous (if that’s the right word) for having city walls that you can ride bicycles on all the way around the city. We rented bikes and rode around about one and a half times. It was a pretty good day. That evening, I went over and talked with the softball players; everyone was really cool, and immediately turned the music down, even though it was only 9:00 when I went over there. I told them that it was no big deal at all right then, but that I’d appreciate it if they’d turn down a bit at midnight. Turns out, it probably would have been better if I’d just walked over there the first night.

I woke up on the ground the third morning. Sometime in the night, my air mattress had finally succumbed to the constant onslaught by the stickers, even through the tarp we’d layered under the tent as well. It sprinkled gently in the morning. the weather cleared up a bit in the afternoon, and we went to the American beach there. It was a bit cool, and not really sunny enough, but we had fun playing in the sand and surf anyway. Afterward, we returned to the base and immediately went to dinner. While we were at dinner, it rained. “Rained” isn’t really the right word. Deluged? Dumped? Poured? We must have gotten 4 inches of rain in less than an hour. Luckily, we were inside the bowling alley having dinner.

Our tent was not in the warm and dry bowling alley with us, and was outside in the sticker patch.

Turns out, the rain wasn’t as bad as the wind. Our tent had freed itself from its stakes and had flipped onto its side, dumping everything onto the tent wall that was against the ground. Luckily, not much got wet; A few items got damp, but that was it. One of the poles for our rain fly got a bit bent, but overall it could have been MUCH worse.

Not our best camping experience, overall. In retrospect, I won’t be camping there any more. If my wife insists on camping there, I’ll wave at her from the front porch of the cabin I’ll be renting.

Not much has happened since then, just enough for one more post – the next one will be shorter, I promise!