Skies Are Always Blue Under The Tarp

We live in BC, our province of choice. Despite rumours, it does not always rain here. Normally we have very little of the wet stuff in the summer unless I go camping that is. In the winter, we have a fair amount of rain, but it is so much better to have above zero temperatures that we can camp in than have subzero temperatures that freeze your nose off if you stick it out the door. We used to live in Ontario, I know what cold is! We moved out to the wet coast, oh, excuse me, the West Coast in 2005, and we haven’t looked back since.

I love camping, or rather, RVing. My friends and family say I don’t camp, camping is in a tent. Anyway, I love leaving the city and going to one of our many beautiful national or provincial campsites and staying there. Going down to the lake or ocean, fishing a little, swimming a little, cooking out doors, sitting by the campfire at night, roasting hotdogs, marshmallows, making s’mores. You get the picture.

We recently went camping, or rather RVing for ten days at a beautiful Provincial campsite. It was sunny three days out of the ten days we were there. I am used to camping in the rain in the winter, but in the summer? Almost unheard of!

We have learned to put tarps up when we go in the spring, winter and autumn. We have an awning on the RV, but it’s just not enough coverage. In the rain, tarps cover most of the campsite except for the fire pit. The rain we have here is almost always a light rain, we can have a campfire and the rain usually won’t  put it out. We sit under the tarps, and do everything we would do as if it were dry out.

My daughter came to spend a couple of days with us when we were on one of our many excursions. Being spring, we had the tarps up and carried on as we usually would. Sitting by the campfire, listening to the pitter patter of a light drizzle, I caught my daughter staring up at the tarp and smiling. I asked her what she was grinning about, and she said, I am glad you and dad got blue tarps. My daughters mind is just as optimistic as mine is, so when I asked her why, she simply stated, “The skies are always blue under the tarp.”

I carry that statement in my heart every time I go to camping. The tarps go up, the fire gets lit, I am sitting nice and dry. I look up and remember, the sky is always blue, and it makes me a little warmer.