Adventures in Camping and Tubing

Scott and I and 13 friends camped and tubed the Niobrara River this past weekend. We stayed at the now-familiar Rocky Ford near Valentine. If I'm remembering correctly (which is questionable given the mushy state of my "teaching on the brain" mind these days), I've stayed at Rocky Ford six times now...every trip except my first when we stayed at the Last Chance Campground/Landing (yes, that really is the name and yes, the name definately fits the camp...hand pump for water, old-school outhouse for a bathroom, need I say more?)

Even after seven trips, I manage to learn something new everytime:

• When a man in a large red Husker cowboy hat (and I do mean large!) asks if you want to see his bikini bottoms (that he was wearing under his Daisy Duke-ish shorts...so many things wrong with this guy), turn the other way and pray that you start floating faster.
• Always have a water gun to retaliate against the guys sitting in lawn chairs in the water, getting everyone in your party wet.
• Related to guys on lawn chairs in the river...always bring a chair for your cooler. Then you won't have to walk all the way over to the bank every time you want a drink. Really, who wants to go to all that effort?
• Designate one person to keep the island of tubes on track. I know the perfect man for the job. His name is Luke.
• Bring an air mattress. I can't believe I'm typing that because I have been a camping purist in the past. I was that person that would say to myself, "Sissy!" upon seeing someone blow up an air mattress in their tent. This trip, though, I realized that I am too old to sleep on the ground. I had a Thermarest sleeping pad and Scott has a foam one, but I think we've decided that unless we're backpacking and really concerned about weight, an air mattress is the way to go.
• Marshmallows and Hershey bars should not be left in the car during the day. We all already knew this, so I guess it's not so much a "lesson to learn" as a "important item to remember." We iced the melted and squishy smores supplies and were able to enjoy smores later. Tragedy averted.
• Remember to apply sunscreen to the shin area of the leg. It's the only red spot on my body after 7.5 hours on the river.
• Speaking of 7.5 hours on the river...do not believe the outfitters when they say that the route will only take about 6 hours, even though it's listed at 7 to 8 hours on the website. The last 2 hours were long ones.