Let me start this post by stating that it is now my firm belief that humanity, in general, is a plague.

I haven't had a vacation that didn't involve camoflauge and rifles in so long (eight years or so) that I decided to take the week after Memorial Day off and go car camping with the dog, DW, DD1(10), and DD2(4)--mainly because I turned 40 that week and didn't want to sit around the house That being said, we looked around for 1) someplace relatively close, to avoid fuel costs, and 2) someplace none of us had been to yet.

There's fifty or so state parks, and twelve different eco-regions in Oklahoma, plenty to choose from, lots to do. The girls wanted to swim, so that narrowed it down a little (no trip to tall grass prarie, or caving, or sand, or salt flats...drat). The local lakes were out of the question as they are always crowded even during the week. We chose Turner Falls, "one of America's seven wonders", nudge nudge wink wink.

Big mistake. We had planned to stay four days, talked about leaving on day 2, left the morning of day 3. The area is beautiful, if you can overlook snow cone stands and concrete pads and porta potties. I don't think there's a square foot that hasn't been "improved". I didn't expect it to be pristine after a long holiday weekend, but I did expect it to be fairly empty...more on that in a second.

We spent the first evening pitching camp (me) and gathering firewood (DD/DW) and...picking up TRASH.

That's right, trash. In a park where every camp site has a trash can (and trash bags) that is emptied daily by staff. I'm not talking the occasional water bottle cap or plasticy bits, I'm talking lawn furniture, burned-up tentage, tools, unidentifiable BBQ remnants, fishing tackle, bricks, car parts, etc. etc. ad nauseum.

It really upset us, because some of this crud was thirty years old (remember pull-tabs from drink cans?! found hundreds). Alright, deep breath, we've cleaned up our area, lets relax...built a fire (it's still spring!), sang some songs, made dinner, relaxed, went to sleep under the stars.

The next day started out fairly well. Hot, so the girls went swimming (for some reason I don't enjoy swimming like I used to--must be getting old . Dog and I whittled about camp, made an excellent fire-poking stick, drank some beer (it was my birthday, after all), began to read a new book (wife gave me free rein at book store prior, as birthday gift)...threw frisbee at buzzards.

Here's a hint. Even Oklahoma City, where we live, has hawks and kestrels. No buzzards, although we do have seagulls near the river. Bird watching is cool even in the metro area.

Turner Falls has buzzards, hundreds of them, existing of the trash. Saw one cardinal down there, a few scissor tailed fly catchers...one hawk...lots and lots of buzzards, they flew over so often that even the dog got bored of them.

Girls came back from swimming, complained about all the trash (clothing, camping bits, etc) about every place they went to. Local swimming hole not as bad as the rest, so they spent some time there.

Until the rest of the world showed up and screwed up. Second day about 5 PM Motely Crue rolled in. I'm talking 4 pickups and SUVs worth of loud radios, bad attitudes, noisy quads, generally the worst neighbors you could hope for. Whole park's just about empty, evidently we picked their favorite place to destroy nature.

Radios blasted until 2:30 am the next morning despite our diplomatic efforts. Almost called the cops, believe it or not, decided I didn't need to be in jail for baiting rednecks. DW was so mad that at sunrise that morning she blasted some Ministry (yeah, I'm old, but not dead) at them until I took the car keys away from her....we decided to leave rather than put up with them another night, right after I took the girls swimming once more (overcast, water about forty degrees below zero...now I remember why I hate swimming in spring). Camp Creep next to us spent all morning yelling hateful things at their offspring and drinking beer.

Anyhow, had to vent. Would rather camp in my back yard then go back there, especially since we had to pay fifty bucks a day for the privelege.

You have my sympathies. I've had a few situations that were similar but never that bad with the TRASH.

I also chose to leave and have endeavored since then to always be on the lookout for lonelier places to camp.

Isn't it strange how "mankind" are the only critters on the planet that craps in their own nest???

I was in Honduras cleaning up after Hurricane Mitch and it wasn't this bad...this particular nest wasn't only crapped in and generally used as a landfill, I think it also had syphillis.

I wish I'd have kept some grenades when I retired....hindsight is 20/20.

As a semi-professional volunteer campground host, I apologize. Someone is obviously falling down on the job. Every camp we have hosted at, I have had campers comment on how clean the place was. That is because wespend hours every day, walking around with our "grippy stick" and a five gallon bucket, picking up anything manmade. Whenever a site is vacated I am right there, removing whatever has been left (and that is a lot of stuff most of the time). In this day and age, most "campers" are slobs, nothing else describes them. I am also the one folks like you come to at oh-dark-thirty, complaining about noisy neighbors, so I get to get dressed and wander down to try to quiet them down. Such fun...

Don't you wish we could travel back to a more civilized time?

Jeanette Isabelle

I'm not so sure its about decreased civility. Maybe just more people with much better transportation, cheap gas, and well maintained freeways.

OBG, the DW and I discussed volunteering that first night we were boots on ground. If I were twice-retired, instead of once, we'd be there right now it really is a beautiful piece of country, minus the human element. The problem I saw with clean-up was supervision. The "boss man" sat in a flat bed truck, listening to the radio and smoking god knows what, and dispatched (apparently) underpriveleged teens to pick up trash bags out of the bins.

The kiddos weren't that bad, they all gravitated towards my Attention Hound, Abby, who didn't take their faces off--they couldn't have been that bad. But they sure as heck were unmotivated--even heard one of them say "Just look busy".

A well-armed society breeds politeness.

Too often what I see is the Gimmees, a tribe born of "social/moral/finacial inequality" doomed to perpetual laziness.

I dread lotus-eaters.

Don't you wish we could travel back to a more civilized time?

For years I wondered if I was born in the wrong time...until I figured out it's impossible, I was born when I was born.

Yes, I'd rather be exploring the West with L & C Co., or hunting Nagas for the Mattress Brothers, or roaming Barsoom...fighting Dervishes in Morocco, but such is not my luck. I am only a man, in my own time, taking care of my girls, doing something I remotely enjoy.

However, I have weekends off

How I wish we could bring back the Victorian era.

Jeanette Isabelle