Monday, July 13, 2009

Roughing It

The drive out there Saturday afternoon was uneventful. The campground was less than 90 minutes away. This came in handy on Sunday when we were all so ready to be home. But, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

Liz, Whitney and I had no problems setting up our tent. We put on our bathing suits and got to the reason we were all out there… drinking.

Saturated in sunscreen and bug repellent, we couldn’t have had a more beautiful setting. Our private camp site overlooked a beautiful pond. There were plenty of trees for privacy and we wouldn’t see another soul until 7:30AM on Sunday…. But, I don’t want to get ahead of myself.
We played washers; John and I are the champions. I got Matt a water gun for his birthday and he made sure everyone shared in his “gift.” Liz got him what she calls “lazy tennis,” two paddles where the ball, that came with it, sticks to them. Pretty awesome; very low energy – our kind of game. Steve took us 4-wheeling in the jeep and only lost the trail once. Jenni Rea taught me some of those fancy “hand clappy” things school girls do during recess.

I could keep going on about how awesome it was, but, let’s face it, I know that you want to hear about the snafus, the hitches and the wrenches that make any trip memorable. But, you’re gonna have to wait.

The evening was just a darker version of the gorgeous day. The moon rose a blood-red/orange color over the pond, as all the activity (swimming, playing, eating, hiking) wound down. It might have been the spell of the enchanted day or it might have been all the red bull drinks I was having, but I didn’t become sleepy until well after 4AM (I heard a rooster waking up off in the distance – it was time to go to bed). I was the last one to bed, so, I picked Rob off the ground, took him to his tent, picked up the cooler he knocked over, put out the fire with contents of all the abandoned beer cans and headed to my tent.

I never feel asleep, I had to pee badly and there was no way I was peeing by myself in the dark. I rested, perched precariously on the edge of the air mattress, spooning Liz, until I began to hear rumbles of a storm off in the distance. At 7:30ish, I recruited Liz to go to the bathroom with me, when I stepped out of the tent, I saw we had company. The owner had driven over to our site to warn us of a pretty gnarly storm about 30 minutes away. 60 to 65 MPH winds were forecasted. Immediately, I wake everyone else and we get to work on moving all of our stuff into our “emergency shelter area.” All this was was a giant tarp tied between the Jeep and the Van.

The storm came, it brought strong winds, lots of scary thunder and lightning (I swear there were a couple that sounded right above our heads) and almost 4 hours worth of rain.

So we all sat under the tarp, or "The Living Room," we dubbed it. Since there was still beer in the coolers, we drank it. It was cold and muddy. I was tired, hungry, wet & clammy and having a great time being stupid with my friends.

When the storm cleared, we packed up our stuff and began to break down camp. David, who drove Liz, Whitney and I, agreed to head home as soon as possible. THIS is the part where I was so very thankful we had a relatively short drive back home. In the words of my company – I looked “Busted.”

Once home, I took a hot shower, ate warm food and hunkered down on my couch to fall asleep while watching TV. God bless microwavable Indian cuisine, remote controls and Tylenol PM.

Happy Birthday Matt & Megan!!! I love you both, enjoy your day.

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