by Laura Hageman

Created on: June 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

One of the worst vacations I ever had was camping by a lake in Texas. This was simply horrible. I was camping not only with friends but with family. My father drove his big red truck while my sister drove our friends in her car. My father decided he would leave his truck so that me and my mother had a place to sleep and everyone else would stay in tents. My father drove back home to go to work in my sister's car.

We were there for three days and it felt like months. At this time there weren't cell phones so we couldn't call anyone. We went swimming, made a fire and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs and swam some more. By night we were surrounded by other campers, mostly bikers that chose to drink and play loud music all night long. My mother was nervous they would cause us a problem, but they didn't. The biggest problem I had was the fact that I had no clean clothes to wear and there was no place to brush my teeth or take a shower. The only bathroom that was around was located up a rocky hill filled with flies and other bugs.

By the second night we were all ready to go home, but my mother wanted to wait until my father returned with my sister's car so everyone could fit. I thought seven people would be able to fit in the truck, but my mother's actual fear was who would be able to drive it without getting into an accident.

The last night there was quieter than the night before. There weren't any bikers playing loud music and for the most part all other campers were being quiet. We all played cards and told funny stories. We had a good time until we were going to bed. My brother decided to scare all of us with a story about a girl who everyone thought was mentally retarded when in fact she was a cold blooded killer. Anyone that would come over to her house never left. He managed to scare everyone so we all decided to go to sleep before he told anymore stories. I got into the back seat of the truck while my mother slept in the front seat. A friend slept outside on a lounge chair while everyone else went into tents.

The windows of the truck was rolled down and it was a very sticky night. I had a hard time sleeping between the scary story and the uncomfortable temperature. Everyone was sleeping when I heard some music or drum beats coming from a distance. I looked up to see a campfire not too far away and a few people dancing around. As I focused my eyes better I realized they were having a voodoo dance around the fire. They had white make-up on their faces and were acting very bizaar. I was so frightened. I rolled the windows up a little higher where no one could just reach in and grab me while I was sleeping. By early morning I fell asleep.

Nothing bad happened to anyone, but it was an incredibly scary feeling when you are the only one that knows of what is going on. I tried waking my mother but she didn't wake up and maybe it was better that she didn't since she would have over-reacted. All I wanted was to get out of there. Maybe the voodoo chanters didn't notice us. I don't really know, but at least they left us alone and I was too scared to find out if they were sacrificing anyone. My father showed up around noon the next day. We finally went home, but I knew after that experience I would never go camping again.

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