[Photo courtesy faster panda]

I host a weekend series here at Jane Be Nimble called Front Porch with a focus on people’s stories, spanning comedy to tragedy, to steep us in the human experience. Many of life’s best stories are told on front porches, in break rooms, and in back yards; that’s what Front Porch is all about.

Read the introductory post about this series here. Make sure you don’t miss the next installment of Front Porch—sign up for free delivery via RSS or into you email in box.

I love a good laugh.

I’ve come to know Lance over the past year, and he’s told me some awesome stories. I mean, some really wacky stuff! The last I heard from Lance, he mentioned something about a hurricane while visiting Disney World, and I knew I had to ask him to hang out on my Front Porch to explain this gem.

This is the epitome of what the Front Porch seeks to convey—just a story. It’s friends sharing bits and pieces of their lives like the mortar holding together the bricks of humanity.

After you’ve joined us on the Porch, please visit and subscribe to Lance’s blog if you haven’t already. Simply said, Lance is the Lighthouse whose light shines so brightly to all.

As Lance gets comfy on the bean bags I keep on my front porch, I ask him to remove his pink wig—I can’t stop laughing long enough to focus on his story!!!

OK, Lance, what’s your favorite drink? You know I always pour something for the Front Porch to help steep us in the moment.

“I’ll take a chocolate milk! It’s a favorite here in Wisconsin! And a cookie, do you have cookies, Lori?”

Lance, Lance, Lance, why is it that you have this thing, this knack to know how to make me laugh out loud? When you mentioned, out of the blue the other day that you ended up in a hurricane in Disney World, I thought, of course, only Lance would do that, and have fun during the entire process!

“Yeah, the funny thing is that we had decided to take this trip from Wisconsin, where we live, down to Disney World. This was about four or five years ago, right around the time of Katrina. And, I should say up front that the hurricane (hurricane Wilma) wasn’t near the force as Katrina.”

Oh, I see, it was one of the side storms during that time. I’m glad no one was hurt.

“That’s right—we’re all OK. I think what made our trip so funny was the way it all worked out in the end. We had decided that we would tent camp as opposed to staying at one of the local hotels.”

Holy smokes, Lance, you have to be kidding me! That’s awesome! What kind of camp was it, like, outback woods?

“Oh no, not at all. This was serious Disney camping. I mean, the campground was huge, and there were even game rooms, pools, and other entertainment available for all the kids. It was amazing—like nothing I’ve seen, it even had it’s own bus system to navigate the campground.

“The worst was that it was HOT! I mean, sweltering hot. This is Florida in October, and it was humid and nearly 90 degrees during the day, and only got down to about 80 degrees at night.

“Before we left on the trip, I had this brilliant idea. I think it was the engineer in me shining through! I could bring an old window air conditioner with, and trick it out by removing all the exterior stuff so all that was really left was the cooling part and motor. I ended up laying this hotrod on an igloo cooler outside one of the tent windows, plugged it into the electrical outlet at our site, opened up that window flap, and BINGO! Our tent really cooled off! I’m sure this was the world’s most inefficient use of electricity and air conditioning! Oh…the looks we had from fellow campers! I’m sure it was jealousy at this masterpiece! It couldn’t have been the way it looked, could it???

“There was one slight problem. My wife, Lora, had accommodated to the pleasant temperature, and in the middle of the night had to make a trip to the outdoor ‘facility.’ So, she put on a sweatshirt and sweat pants and headed out. By the time she made it back to the tent, she was pouring sweat.”

Nice, Lance, awesome visual there. Nothing like a sweaty night out on a campground in October! Ha ha ha!
At least you had the tent nice and cool when she got back!

“Yeah, I know. But there’s more. You see, the whole point of the camping exercise was that hotels were actually fairly pricey for a family of five. Plus, most hotels had a maximum occupancy of four people.”

Shoot, really? So I supposed hotels do this so that a family will have to reserve more than one room, right?

“I’m not sure, but one thing I DO know is that the campground was much less expensive. The problem with the campground was that when news came of the hurricane, after our first night there, we had to evacuate the campground!”

Oh, that’s right!! They can’t just leave all of you out there! What happened???

“Like I said, the campground was huge, so there were huge lines of people waiting to sign out of the campground and then it just multiplied again when we were sent to the hotel that was accepting all of us wacky campers. I mean, the lines were huge—it took all day to navigate leaving the campground and then to wait again for a room. What was even more crazy, is that the same hotel who had a maximum occupancy of four was relaxing their rules, so we got a room for the five of us, which included a roll-out bed.”

If you were in line all day, how did your kids occupy their time? Mad Libs (does anyone play Mad Libs anymore)? License plate games? You’re at Disney World after all, did you all go nuts?

“No, actually, the kids mostly just rested in the car, made faces at each other, and then when we were waiting to check into the hotel, Lora took the kids to the park. Disney World was closed the next day because of Wilma.”

That’s amazing, Lance, you always find a way to accommodate and enjoy, somehow. That’s awesome!

“Yeah, thanks, we try. But you know, I think it was so ironic that, in the end, we stayed in the nice hotel the remainder of the trip for the campground rate. The hotel really took care of us. It all worked out in the end.”

I think it’s cool that your kids were happy to stay in the campground initially, I mean, that’s great. No whining and complaining, they were just going with the flow—even in the wake of the hurricane commotion.

“Back then, yeah, they were pretty OK with staying in the campground—there were pools and game rooms, after all. But today, I’m not sure it’d be the same story. Ha ha ha”

This is a great story, Lance. It brings back a lot of memories for me, too, of camping, crazy storms, and goofy situations. Thank for sharing it with me here on the Front Porch!

To all you reading along, climb up on the Porch and join in! What crazy storm did you weather (no pun intended) and what unsuspected things came out of it?

Create a great day!

_____________________________________________________________________
Previous Front Porch Posts:
Front Porch: The Series
Front Porch: Not A Typical Day In The Park (With Tim Piotrowski)
Front Porch: Pearl’s Wisdom (A conversation with Lori’s first pet)
Front Porch: An F22 Jet and a Costa Rican Chica (With Lisis Blackston)
Front Porch: George and the Power of the Human Spirit (With George Angus)
Front Porch: Of Bands, Explosions, and Cattle Auctions—Laughter (With Jay Schryer)
Front Porch: Brave, Bold Tess (With Tess Marshall)
Front Porch: Cardboard Sleds, Machu Picchu, and Sami May

_____________________________________________________________________

Like this post at Jane Be Nimble? There’s more on the way! Get them emailed to your inbox or via RSS.

Take a minute to check out the non-profit JBN SHOP!