What a great time I had at this years camping trip to
Lake Camanche. A few years ago I was invited by a friend to attend an annual camping trip called the Grand Poobah which is organized by a family from Auburn, Ca. It always has a theme and this years was called the "Trailer Park Poobah" other themes have
included the Gods and Goddesses and a Hawaiian theme. My first time attending was in 2007 for the Gods and Goddesses. Beings I have not been able to attend the trips since that year, I found out this past weekend that the 2007 year was the hottest temperature wise in over 20 years of the trips. I recall the temperature in my truck showing 113* that Saturday afternoon as I drove around the countryside just to take advantage of the air conditioning. I am very happy to report that this year's temperatures were much more tolerable despite what the weathermen had predicted. While it was still warm
in the mid 90*'s Thursday afternoon I got up there early enough to set my camp area up before it got to the 90*'s but not by much. I was done by 1:30 if I recall correctly. I immediately set out to relax and that is exactly what I did for three solid days. The only mistake I made was not remembering to reapply sunscreen after jumping into the lake to cool off. So I paid the price the remainder of the trip and when I got home was told I looked like a lobster. The photo on the left is not my campsite as mine was far more generic. The photo on the left is my lake view from in front of my tent. I really had thought I had beat the heat this year by setting the tent in between two small oak trees that were probably 30' tall and separated by about 12'. The idea worked to a point, the trees were young so I was shaded from early morning and late afternoon (almost dusk) sun. But being young trees their leaf cover had not closed in much of the gap. What that left me with was midday sun I couldn't escape, but that's what the lake is for, right. That's where I got into a little trouble. I sat my lounge chair in the lake up to my waist to sit back and enjoy. So when I'd jump into the lake to cool off my sunscreen washed off. You can guess what happened and why I look liked a lobster for days afterward. If there were any records set this year they would have to go to the coolest evening and morning temperatures and without a doubt the windiest. With the afternoon winds kicking up you could see the lake empty of boaters and jet skiers pretty quickly. I'm not talking about afternoon breezes, I mean winds, the kind that flip sailboats and topple weakly staked tents, both of which happened. But I had a great time besides what Mother Nature had in store for the weekend and made some new friends and saw some old.