• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content

Autistic Interpretations

Sharing a Joyful Life

  • HOME
    • ABOUT
  • LINKS
  • FAQ
  • CATEGORIES
    • BLOG
    • Get A Life
    • Tough Times
    • Perpetual Parenting
    • Depression, Blues & Blahs
    • Newsletter
    • Recipes
  • BOOK – For the Love of Autism
  • CCCC Exclusive Feed
  • Show Search
Hide Search
Home/Perpetual Parenting/Caregiving/Tent Camping with Jess

Tent Camping with Jess

Autism and Tent Camping

Jess is autistic, blind, and developmentally disabled. We have been on a camping adventure. She is a good traveler and can talk me through an entire 10 hour drive. I mean like, talk, constantly. It becomes like a chant and hard to pay attention to.  Almost every group of comments ends in a question that is basically worded to get an affirmation. I get pretty good at anticipating whether to say, yes, or no, or mumble, uh huh, or huh uh.

For a week now, this has been my peaceful waking morning view.

Breeze Through the Tent
Watch this video on YouTube.

Jess is an experienced camper. She has been camping all her life. Most of that was in a camper, but I sold the camper a few years ago due to my fatigue with independently managing the hook up, set up and the reverse of that.

Most of the time she is sort of resistant to the idea of tent camping. Many campsites can be difficult to navigate due to her cortical blindness. Some campgrounds we go to don’t even have electricity. But this time, she has been happy with the trip.

tent camping

Maybe it’s because I have all of her important belongings within reach so that she can do her routine check 10 times to make sure it hasn’t magically moved elsewhere.
image

I have a little table beside her that has her deck of cards in a bag, her iPad, and her headphones. Her phone is hanging in a pocket above her, and her charger is plugged in so the unthinkable, a dead battery, won’t happen.

image

We have seen some beautiful  beaches and great sunsets.

image

We certainly had our moments, such as this when we waited too long to eat and she had a serious hangry moment while waiting on our delicious NY Pizza.

image image image

Other than a few rough moments, she stayed pretty happy like when she was flipping her cards while I got a little work done.

image

The best part was getting to spend time with Nonnie and Granddad.

image

However, all good things must end, and I am ready to go home. It does become pretty tiring to be woken up one or twice a night by a sweet little voice saying, “Mama, I need to go pee.”

When I try to put her off, she repeatedly says, “Mama, I really need to pee.” So, I eventually wake up enough to climb out of the tent.

view looking out of the tent while camping in Florida

I have always tried to not let Jessica’s disabilities keep me from doing regular kinds of things. We travel, including camping, two or three times a year. It takes a little extra patience, a little extra energy, and a little extra planning. Sometimes in the midst of a trip, I might have a moment (or two or three) where I question whether or not it’s worth it. But, when looking back, I always feel like it was worth it.

Pray for our safety (and my sanity) as we head north today.

Share

March 13, 2016 By Val 2 Comments

Filed Under: Caregiving, Do Stuff, Go Places

About Val

Creative, Caring, Determined

Instagram | YouTube

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kaye

    March 13, 2016 at 1:59 pm

    It’s difficult to see you “head north.” My prayers will continue to be with you all the way and always. I loved having you here.

    Reply
    • Natali

      March 13, 2016 at 8:55 pm

      Loved getting to spend that time with you and Dad. It was great. See you soon!

      Reply

Share YouR Thoughts... Cancel reply

Discover more

Subscribe to Get Notified of New Posts

Subscribe
Autistic Interpretations Logo

Footer

Autistic Interpretations®

Copyright © 2022 · autisticinterpretations.com · All Rights Reserved

Keep In Touch

  • Email
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

Categories

Club Crispy – Sign In

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms and Conditions