By Adam Kaplan
Last off-season, because of the challenges that the COVID world was throwing our way, I decided that rather than do an entire recruiting season on ZOOM calls, I would buy an RV and do a lap around the country to meet with prospective families.
It was to be an entirely new experience for me as I had never really spent a significant amount of time alone, or in an RV. I was really nervous. In fact, in the Arrowhead article in which I informed you all of my plan last summer, I enumerated some of the concerns I had about the trip. After having completed that trip, I had answers to all of them. Check them out:
- What will living in this small box for 47 days feel like?
- It was amazing. As someone that likes routines (just think about my summer wardrobe, my retelling of the same jokes, and the fact that I own about a dozen pair of Haflinger clogs…the only shoes I wear), life in an RV demands routine and discipline. I loved the process of setting things up upon arrival and taking them down prior to departure. And living in that small space taught me that I really don’t need much space at all and can be quite content in a tiny space with only myself to entertain me. In fact, I still think I am a riot!
- What will the RV parks be like?
- Often, prospective families will ask me about the weather at camp during the summer. My response is always “VARIABLE.” This is the same response that I would give to the question about what RV parks are like. Some are gorgeous with meticulous landscaping and welcoming common areas. Some are in beautiful settings with privacy created by lots of nice trees. And some are really just large asphalt plots with painted lines delineating different RV sites. But all were filled with friendly people who seemed committed to adventure and connecting with others.
- How will I eat?
- Badly…really, really badly.
- Is Hot Pocket subsistence possible for a 53-year-old man?
- It turns out that there is a certain point at which the body no longer will tolerate the Hot Pocket. The digestive system simply rejects it. And, for the record, an RV is NO PLACE TO BE when the body is in the process of such a rejection…enough said… (or maybe too much said!)
- Will I suffer incalculable injury when my never-before-used Instant Pot explodes in a moment of incompetence?
- If anyone is in the market for a brand new and totally unused Instant Pot, please contact me. The fear won out on this one!
- Will I ever be able to dump the black water tanks of the RV without fear of taking a bath in my own…well…you know?
- This went pretty well. Yes, I was scared each time, but with the exception of a disaster in Rock Springs, Wyoming (thank goodness for my neurotic obsession with always wearing Wellington boots when I dumped the tanks!), everything went pretty smoothly!
My road trip last year was truly incredible. I knocked off my 50th state (it was Vermont). I met a ton of great new families. I got a chance to travel the country at a truly unique and fascinating moment. COVID was raging and, I was on the road during October and November of last year’s presidential election, getting a chance to see the entire country as it was all happening. (I spent election night in Tombstone, Arizona…interpret that however you like!)
The trip was a once in a lifetime experience…or so I thought.
Well, I have spent the last month or so trying to figure out what to do about my off-season camp travel this year. With COVID still holding us in its nasty grasp, I knew I had to be thoughtful. I considered doing everything by ZOOM calls. I considered travelling as I used to before COVID (lots of airplanes, hotels, restaurants, and large group gatherings). I considered just visiting a couple of cities where we historically have significant numbers of campers. But ultimately, none of these approaches felt right to me. Too impersonal, or too risky, or too narrow. There had to be a better way…
And then it dawned on me. ANOTHER RV!!!! (Yes, foolishly and naively I sold my beloved Winnebago View days after I got home from the last trip). Yep…that’s right! The Camp Nebagamon Roadshow is back on!!! I will be hitting the road in my new (used) Thor Chateau (Chateau has a nice ring to it…that is if you consider 100 square feet of living space to be Chateau-y) on October 12 and doing yet another full loop of the country to meet with new families.
I am incredibly excited to see the country again and meet all sorts of new folks that are interested in camp. I will likely be headed to your town relatively soon – you can find more details here.
What I ask of you is that you please give some thought to families that might be interested in Camp Nebagamon. Referrals from current families and alumni are always our best source of new campers. Either send me their names or have them contact me to set up a meeting. I promise not to wear my Wellingtons!
Despite a shorter window to send out trips this summer, we got all campers who wanted to go out an incredible wilderness experience. We got our 3rd graders out on their cabin trip to the YMCA camp across the lake and the 4th graders paddled the Eau Claire Lake chain in the Chequamegon National Forest. Our 5th graders paddled down the Namekagon River, scouting out some new sections for me that I’m excited to send trips to next summer as well. Then there were the older boy trips, 6th through 10th grade.
Needless to say, I am proud of what our wilderness trip program accomplished this summer. The staff did an incredible job. The camper’s enthusiasm for backcountry travel is refreshing and I believe that there was very quantifiable personal growth for everyone that went out on trail or helped make it happen. I cannot wait to fire up the Nebagamon Wilderness Tripping program for next summer!
Now, the return of the rain has been a bit more erratic and troublesome for us. Our current drought has ended as the saying goes: “when it rains it pours.” According to the weather station in Brule, WI just 9 miles east of Lake Nebagamon, from May to August the area had received only 7.5 inches of rain, half the average 15 inches. My unofficial rain gauge here in Nebagamon had recorded only 4 inches of rain in that same period. But since September 1st, we have had three big storms that dropped nearly eight inches into my unofficial rain gauge, and 4.5 inches of that came on Monday the 20th of September alone! The latest Douglas County WI (the county C/N is in) figures I found put us still in mild drought at 4 inches below the annual average. As far as the stressed trees, you can really see a big turnaround with all of the rain fall this month. The birch trees in the area seemed to be taking the summer’s drought the hardest with leaves yellowing and dropping in mid-August, six weeks ahead of schedule. They looked like trees of late fall rather than late summer. Amazingly all of that rain seems to be greening them up quite a bit and they have stopped dropping leaves, but with fall underway they will soon be turning yellow and dropping their leaves again. Unfortunately, all of that rain has also got the grass growing again and I found myself back on the mower working my way through camp this week. But with the fall colors starting to show, the mower ride has been quite pleasant.
8th – Luis Gonzalez-Xochihua