October 17-19, 2014, Lake Kegonsa State Park, Stoughton, WI

October weather in Wisconsin can vary considerably, and since we don't currently camp below about 30 F, I keep thinking we might be done for the season. However, a decent weather forecast had us looking for a spot to camp. My wife insists that we don't camp or hike where hunting is allowed, so our options were limited. She found that Kegonsa State Park was having a candlelight hike on Saturday, so she booked a couple nights for us. With high winds and cool temperatures, I decided we would not paddle since our open water recovery skills are unexplored. Instead, I planned to take it easy and maybe walk a few miles, so I packed my 22 lb zero gravity chair, which is essentially a campground lazy boy recliner.

We hustled on Friday afternoon and set up camp before dark. I bought four bundles of firewood from the vendor, who drives around in an old pickup truck, and built a fire. It was certainly nice to have a fire on the cool windy night. I don't think the temperatures dropped below 40 F, but the wind was strong, and I got a chill if I moved too far from the fire. Instead of adding layers, I just pulled my "lazy boy" right next to the fire pit. 

As usual, Amber and I slept in on Saturday. I still wonder why she sleeps so well when we camp as opposed to home. Lorraine had already eaten some breakfast and hiked a few miles before we even got up. I built another fire and lounged around while they went to the park. When they returned, Lorraine and I had tortilla pizzas and Amber ate some oatment, then I was coaxed into walking down to the lake. Amber rode her bike and played on the playground for awhile. The campsite was covered in leaves, so I helped Amber pile them up for play and even buried her a few times. Afterwards, we

had an early supper of Mountain House chicken noodle, which Amber begged and begged us to cook it, although it turned out none of us were crazy about it. I wanted to wait until dark to take the hike, but Amber was extremely excited to do it, so we held out as long as possible and started right around dusk. The weather was nice, and it wasn't as crowded as I remember in the past. The 1.2 mile hike was over quickly, and we returned to camp for a fire and roasted marshmallows. I stayed up a couple hours after Amber and Lorraine. The forecast was for 33 F, so I actually slept in my clothes and stayed completely toasty and even had to unzip my bag a bit.
Sunday morning Amber woke up to a nearly shut eye from the stye she refused to let us cover with a warm washcloth, so we made an appointment to get her to the doctor later that afternoon. After breakfast, we hurried to break camp so we could get home and cleaned up before Amber's doctor appointment. The only treatment the doctor recommended was a warm washcloth applied numerous times a day with Children's Tylenol for any pain. Several days later her eye is almost back to normal.