Tent Camping, or "trapped in a small space with Ben"

Ah the camping experience..... We recently enjoyed a few days out in the great wild outdoors.  There are many small lakes near our home so in the spirit of the "Stay-cation" we tried a local lake for camping. Unfortunately the lake has a rather obnoxious name. Butt Lake. Seriously? Was this named by a ten year old boy? Or more specifically was it named by my son? His latest obsession seems to be that charming potty humor we all must deal with at one time or another. With Ben, it is a constant. It must be part of his "no social filter" because once something is funny to him, it will remain funny for life. This is true even if it is repeated four hundred times. I live in fear that I will chuckle at some inappropriate time and that moment will be forever burned in his memory as a show stopper. In fact he did put on a show of sorts for us, around the camp fire he said that we should do a Family Stand Up Comedy show.....he turned out to be the only performer since none of the rest of us had material ready. Some of his jokes were pretty funny, however disturbing....not something I would be proud to write about that is for sure!
     The first night we all slept in one tent, and when I say all of us, that includes the three dogs. It was a bit crowded and well, smelly. Ben has had a bad run of being gaseous lately and he enjoyed the fact that we were all hermetically sealed in a little space with him. He is, as I said fascinated with anything gross. After a few moments of silence he said in a strange voice, "Anyone want to hear the story of my bowels?" The he giggled uncontrollably for a few minutes. Once he regained his composure he proceeded to tell us a charming story. (Again, I wont be repeating this....) He was thrilled. Sadly he has a very contagious laugh, so even if what he said isn't funny, its hard to maintain a straight face when he is cackling. So then, he thinks we are laughing at what he said! Just can't win.
We met some very nice people while we were up there and stopped by their home on the way out of town. While we visited I realized I had not done my typical, slide into the conversation that my son has autism. These folks had no disclaimer at all.....so when we all laughed at something the husband said I was horrified when Ben said, "OH that reminds me...."
Now let me explain just for the context here, that both of my children are famous for this...they will interrupt a conversation with some totally unrelated story. Since my daughter does it too, I am sure it is not a character trait exclusive to autism....
So what reminded my son of the story he wanted to tell was not what had been said, it was only that we laughed. He thought "oh laughter, something funny, I remember something funny, something Mom told me, we all laughed, we could do that again if I tell the story!"
I am convinced this is what went through his brain. So then he proceeded to tell a totally unrelated story about how when my husband and I lived together in a two story apartment my charming husband would chase me up the stairs slapping my legs as I tried to run. It was enormously annoying, which is I am sure why Ben finds it so funny. I have told the kids that we can't live in a two story home ever because their Dad is not to be trusted around stairs.
      We had just met these people, and again they did not have the Ben Disclaimer.... Surprisingly it still went well. I am going to try and just let it be. Just not say anything about my son and why he is the way he is.....This will be hard for me. Perhaps with a few more camping trips and meeting new people I will learn. Ben is already to head out for another family adventure. Long live the summer and my nutty little boy.