I believe my days of camping have come to an end.

Last night we went up to a lake and camped over night. Ciera and her friend slept in a tiny tent and Chris and I slept in the back of the Tahoe. We had a queen size air mattress. Chris has sleep apnea. So he sleeps with a breathing machine. We plugged it into the cigarette lighter. It seemed like it would all be alright.

It is true I took an allergy pill and that might have contributed to my inability to sleep, but I think it was…. Chris. He kept having to shake out the tube, or reset it or go to the bathroom or start the car to make sure the battery didn’t go dead. When he got up once, he closed the door, but apparently he didn’t like how it closed, so he closed it again and for some reason he had to check to make sure it was REALLY closed. Let’s slam that sucker! Sounds good to me! ARGHHH. The first 6 hours I was patient. It was a beautiful night. The stars were magnificent until the brightness of the moon kind of hid them. That moon was SOOOO bright! So big and as the night wore ever so slowly on the moon and mood started to eclipse. It was kind of cool, except for the machine and Chris’ tossing and turning and the air mattress plastic noise and every time he turned over the cold air would be drawn in. He put two different kinds of sleeping bags together so we couldn’t zip them. That increased the draft element as well. He did apologize in the morning, but I think he thought it was funny.

I did try to use the time wisely. I thought about the stories we are working on. Came to some decisions. Starting pondering different scenarios. (Wife murders husband in local campground attributed to no sleep syndrome.) But mostly, as the sun rose I just wanted to hurt Chris. I gave up and went to the bathroom. When I came back he made some snide comment about “Mary Sunshine and didn’t I look lovely.” You want Mary Sunshine? I’ll give you Mary Sunshine! WAK!

Yep, my camping days are pretty much over. Bumping into cactus on a midnight run is something I can live without! tonight I am turning off that moon and getting some sleep!