Water, Water Everywhere....

For years now, my family has been traveling to upstate Pennsylvania for the rendezvous at Whispering Pines, near Wellsboro, PA.  It is a great gathering, with friendly people, a beautiful setting, and a great atmosphere.  For the past two years, however, bad weather has cut our participation short.  I have two choices for accommodations: a 20’ x 20’ marquee tent, or a small 6’x6’ wedge.  Last year, heavy rains meant that my daughter and I took the wedge and stayed one night.  This year, unfortunately, the weather was even worse - over 20” of rain in three weeks.  Towns were flooded out, roads were closed, and the rains kept coming.  Once again, getting a heavy trailer in and setting up a large tent for several days of deluge did not seem appealing, especially as I do not have four-wheel drive, so getting stuck seemed likely.

This year, my son and I took the wedge tent and stayed over Saturday to Sunday.  It was unfortunate, but it was the right decision for us.  I did not even chance the parking lot; had I done so, the car might still be there.   

 

         

    

Saturday afternoon was rainy, more heavy downpours, but luckily, the rain stopped, and Sunday was overcast, but dry.  Everything, however, was a sea of mud, with streams flowing through the fields. 

          

 

 

 

 

      

      

 

Some of the hardier campers had improvised “corduroy” pathways to escape a bit of the mud - a bit of historic authenticity I’m sure they would rather have passed up.

 

I did get to see a number of friends, and we had a good time talking about history, singing a bit, and doing a bit of shooting, although I found numerous ways to just miss the elusive rendezvous rabbit.

 

  

 

Our camp found one of the last “dry” spots, meaning that the mud was firm and our shoes didn’t fill with water standing in the immediate vicinity of the tent, although no one was so lucky elsewhere, and all our shoes took several days to dry out.  

Next year, and yes, we plan to be back, we’ll hope for more cooperative weather. I had a good time despite the muck, but it would certainly have been better with a bit more sunshine.