Unwittingly, the Troutman family has started a new tradition.
For the second Labor Day weekend in a row, we went camping. Last year, we joined some friends last minute in Viola, and this year, we booked a spur of the moment spot at Roaring River. Even though I’ve lived in Cassville for over a decade now, it was the first time I’d actually stayed at one of the state’s most popular campgrounds.
With Campground 3 closed for renovations, there were only two spots left on Thursday when I went to book a site. We wound up at No. 94 in Campground 2, tucked in the very back of the area where the river curves east Along Route F.
We’ve only camped as a family a few times, and with our youngest now 3 years old, it gets easier each year to keep her wrangled to our area. She even slept in her playpen all by herself this time around!
Jordan’s and my family each have a long history of camping. My motherin- law commented some of her greatest memories of Jordan and her siblings are when they were out in nature.
My camping experiences growing up were typically initiated by my mother and grandpa. One of my greatest camping memories was at the Buffalo River in Arkansas. I remember walking down a hill to the bank of the river that was just a couple feet deep in that spot and clear as day. It was so clear we could sight-fish, though we didn’t have any luck catching anything. If only adult me could tell little me the line we were using was probably way too heavy and visible to the fish.
That trip was also the first time I floated a river. The best part of that venture — outside of exploring a couple caves — was when my grandpa and aunt canoed right into a tree and flipped over.
“Save the beer!” my grandpa yelled as they swam after the open cooler and cans floating down the river.
Another camping memory was not as fun. I think we were in Oklahoma somewhere, but I can’t quite remember. We were hit by an unexpected thunderstorm in the middle of the night, prompting my parents to rush us out of the tent and into our Plymouth Voyager for the remainder of the night.
To make matters worse, the subsequent nights were dismal due to the prevalence of cankerworms. You could hardly walk anywhere without running into the bugs hanging from the trees. They may have been harmless, but they still made me shudder.
These days, we camp maybe once or twice a year. We don’t have a camper or RV, but our tent is large enough to fit a queen-size air mattress, playpen and a cot, still with room to move around.
Fortunately, Jordan and I are the kind of couple that can pitch a tent without getting frustrated with one another. Every time we put ours up, we laugh at how terribly written the instructions are and wing it by looking at the photos.
We kept supper simple by grilling hot dogs and brats on my mini grill, as well as the pair of trout I caught earlier Sunday morning.
We also brought our projector, but hotspot service did not allow us to stream anything, and someone — neither Jordan nor I would take the blame — forgot to grab the DVD player.
Though that plan did not work out, we still greatly enjoyed listening to music and sitting around the campfire. Our oldest took a few turns on the rope swing I did not know was tucked away on the river’s curve, and our youngest had her first experience fishing Monday morning.
Roaring River is steeped in tradition of multi-generational family camping, and we had a great time adding to it.
Even if just for a moment, it’s nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of work and community events to just stare at the stars and listen to the cicadas.
Hopefully, memories of that night and many more to come will last a lifetime for our littles, at least when Labor Day comes around.
Kyle Troutman has served as editor of the Cassville Democrat since 2014 and owner/publisher since 2023. He was named William E. James/Missouri Outstanding Young Journalist for daily newspapers in 2017, and he is a two-time ISWNE Golden Dozen award winner. He may be reached at 417-847 2610 or ktroutman@cassville- democrat.com.
