[Adventures] In the Cost of Disabled Vacationing

[Adventure 168]

We're going to camp soon. 

I'm taking our youngest to Resident Camp, where he will spend two weeks by the lake having a ton of fun. My husband is coming to help us set up our two campsites the first weekend, as we'll have too many people for one campsite according to camp rules. Then he goes home to work for a week, leaving me and four young adults for five days of tent camping before his return with our fourth child.

Our tent is one I researched - the door swings open and closed on a hinge instead of the standard zippered tent door, making it easier for me to enter and exit, as I don't have to bend down repeatedly to zip and unzip the door.  It has plenty of headroom and is large enough for my queen sized airbed and the plastic drawer unit I use as my dresser on one side and either a storage and changing area on the other side or sleeping quarters for our youngest children.

My "camp chair" is my wheelchair. It's comfy, easy to move, and has footrests. 

We'll have a kitchen tent this year, set up with mini fridges, electric kettles, a rice cooker, a crockpot, and an Instant Pot. My children and husband will cook over the fire if they'd prefer, but I can cook meals more easily and safely without leaning over a fire in this tent with a six foot ceiling. I was lucky to have found it for sale used and in need of repair and that the fix wasn't too difficult or expensive. 

We'll have a private bathroom a short walk away. In normal years, we'd just share the public restrooms, but with covid-19 and its variants, that's just too dangerous for me, as I'm on medications that suppress my immune system. This comes with an extra expense, but is essential for me. 

The thing about vacationing with a disability is that it costs more because we need to make things as comfy and manageable as possible. Our tent was more expensive; our airbed is a higher priced, really comfortable airbed and not a camp mattress; I purchased convenience foods and electrolyte packets and lots of KT tape and other medical necessities; and we had to pay more for the use of a private restroom. 

All those extra costs add up, and for a low income family like ours, it's difficult to make this precious time happen.