Just a few months ago I went on my very first overnights scout camping adventure with my husband and two of our daughters. For myself and our daughters this was our very first ever “out in the real wilderness” camping Adventure. And the first time we did a real scout camp! We had a blast! But I certainly wish I had known a few things back then that I know now. You see, I have severe sleep apnea. So while my husband and daughters got the full experience of sleeping in a tent and everything I had to stay in the bunk house.
Don’t get me wrong. There were some great advantages for me to stay in the bunk house. But I also missed out on some things. The camp we stayed at had all the buildings pretty close to each other, including the main building that had the full restrooms in so that was nice to have the indoor plumbing when I had to “go” in the middle of the night. However, my husband and kids were a ways a way sleeping in the tent where there was no electricity. I could’ve have tented with them, but with how busy the camp leaders kept us that would have been detrimental to my health. You see, I usually use a CPAP machine when I sleep at night. And those of you who use one or know someone who uses that type of machine know that you have to have electricity for it.
Camping with Sleep Apnea
I haven’t always been “up” on new technologies. And for years I even joked with my friends and family that “Technology hates me.” But, to be honest, sometimes I wasn’t sure I was fully joking as for a long time computers and I did NOT get along. Rory always says “Computers are nonbiased.” But in my head I am like “yeah right?” It seemed like when I was in High School, for example, that I would always get stuck with a computer that didn’t want to work correctly. But back to the topic at hand, camping. Before our younger two daughters decided to join Cub Scouts my interest in camping was minimal.
I have always loved traveling. And even before scouts I sometimes thought it might be fun to go “real camping” as I call it. But I have health problems, such as the sleep apnea and really lacked a lot of faith in myself and my abilities. I mean I was out of breath ALOT during this scout adventure. But I was surprised at how well I handled myself. And I participated in just about everything a parent could for it. I was fortunate to be able to bring all of my vitamins and prescriptions along as well.
Thankfully I was able to stay in the bunk house with electricity so I could continue to use my CPAP at night. However, I heard about the scary stories and camp fire smores. I only heard about them and didn’t participate in that part for the adventure. I could have participated, but it was long walk in the dark back from the tent campground to the bunk house. Before my next camping adventure I am going to invest in a portable treasure that will allow me to plug my CPAP in in our tent! But those can be very expensive and I am not sure my Insurance will cover them. So good thing I know where to look for bargains and eventually possibly different insurance.
More Awesome Treasures For Camping That I Wish I Had Found Sooner….
While we were at on our camping adventure I sure did learn a lot. And we discovered treasures that more experienced families were using. When you go hiking or camping you do NOT want to overpack. I kind of struggled with that. Oh, who am I kidding I really struggled with that. But I know better for next time. Anyway some families had these awesome treasures called hydration backpacks. Your canteen is inside your backpack so you don’t have to carry it separately. Wonder how you drink the water then? There is a long tube long straw attached to the bag. We will probably invest in some of these babies for our next awesome scout adventure.
Another Treasure I wish I would have had and will hopefully have the next time is a shoe clip for outside of our backpacks. While we were there we were constantly carrying extra plastic bags because we didn’t want to put our sandy water shoes in our main bag with our other items. It sure would have been nice to have both hands free.
Learning to Be Prepared
As you may have guessed although I did overpack I was totally unprepared for the adventures that awaited us at this Scout Camp! Don’t worry, we still had a lot of fun and learned a lot. Including how to be better prepared for next time. And since summer will be here before we know it is time to start preparing now.
