Campout Lockout

I recently celebrated my birthday by going on a Cub Scouts camping trip with Pedro Tulo. If I got to choose what I wanted to do on my birthday, attending a rainy campout and sleeping on the ground inside a tent probably wouldn't make my top 10. Or top 100. As I wrote in the fall, camping really isn't my thing. My son likes his Cub Scout pack, and everyone is nice and helpful, which is fantastic as I have very little to offer in terms of cooking, setting up a tent, etc.

On Saturday night, the rain finally stopped and the activities (and smores) concluded, so it was time to settle down for the night. Pedro Tulo and a friend ran ahead to use the campground restrooms. The campground has about 6-8 individual restrooms with sinks and showers. While I feel like most of the people with RVs don't necessarily need showers, they are nice if you just show up with a car and a tent. You can also get away from the dozens of Scouts for a minute or two to use the restroom in peace. 

Anyway, I found Pedro Tulo as he finished brushing his teeth, and I took his restroom after he departed. I placed my things down and apparently locked the door while I held it open. I hoped that Pedro Tulo would wait for me, but he decided that he wanted to head back by himself without a flashlight. As I tried to convince him to wait a few minutes to walk back with me, the door closed behind me. I attempted to open the restroom, but I managed to lock myself out. Not great, Bob.

Here are the items stuck inside the restroom: A lantern, a towel, my toothbrush, toothpaste, my contact lens case, contact lens solution, and my multifocal prescription glasses that I just bought last fall. Some other scouts/parents we knew tried to reopen the door by using a library card. (I didn't want to mess up a credit card.) That didn't work, so we went back to the campsite and found one of the scout leaders. I left Pedro Tulo with some friends, and a scout leader and I found the campground hosts.I was not familiar with the campground host position. Apparently, you get to stay at the campsite for free (and some places offer a small salary) in exchange for greeting and assisting campers, performing janitorial duties, and being available for late night emergencies. In my case, it was a 9:00PM emergency. I had another flashlight in the tent, and I could skip brushing my teeth, but I kind of needed my glasses.

The first host didn't have extra restroom keys, so he found the second host. This host had keys, which worked on the other bathroom doors but not at the one with my stuff. I found out later that some teenagers damaged the door last fall by setting fire to toilet paper in the bathroom. If I ever get a bill for my kids causing damage by lighting toilet paper on fire, they're going to be grounded for a year. The park replaced the door, but the master key didn't work on this particular bathroom. Despite being an amateur locksmith (I'm not sure I want to know what that means, but I'm picturing an Ocean's Eleven heist), the host could not open the door. The only option was to wait for park staff the next morning. I went back to our tent and went to sleep wearing my contacts.

That's pretty much the end of the story. I found park staff early Sunday morning, and his keys didn't work either. Fortunately, he called one of the managers on site and did have a key. I guess that Pedro Tulo and I helped the staff and campground hosts learn that they need a new key for the one particular bathroom.