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still in the midst of vacation
Aug. 9th, 2015 03:19 pmAnd having a great time. For different values of "great." We departed around noon on Sunday, and arrived at my friend Geriann's place by 8pm. Everybody unwound, slept and woke the next morning ready to go. We consulted maps and headed out to the woods.
It was tricky. Roads out there aren't marked, and there are lots of spur two-tracks that split off and meander through heavy brush and muck. We finally found the creek we were looking for, but the bridge over it was only a foot bridge, so we loaded up our backs and carried everything to what we figured was either State land or the land we're hoping to buy. We found a fairly flat area with not too much brush to set up camp, and we got the tents set up, got the fire pit dug, and got all the gear sorted. First night was set for easy grub -- hamburgers, zucchini fried with bacon and it being my son Jake's birthday, a cake that my mother had sent. There was Jake and his partner Victoria, Mike and me, Luke, Trentyn and Zary, Carl and Crystal, and Seth, Jereth and Eilie.
The boys had a great time putting sticks in the fire, and then toasting marshmallows. Late, after the sun went down, there was a great activity on the road with ATVs running up and down. A pickup truck had got stuck in the ford and they had to bring a front-in-loader to pull it out. In the hubbub, an ATV stopped and a fellow told us we were on his land. We apologized and he was gracious. We pulled out our maps and he showed us where we were -- about a mile north and half a mile west of where we thought. We promised the guy to pack out in the morning and do a good job cleaning everything up, and thanked him -- he nodded and waved us off.
During the night, a light rain began to fall. It smelled wonderful, a soft pitter-pat on the roof of the tent, and I snuggled into my blankets and went right to sleep. Around 4am, I rolled over and realized that I was laying on the hard ground -- the air mattress had sprung a leak. I got up to pee in the bracken. The moon was as bright as a spotlight. I crawled back into the tent, wriggled around for a while trying to find a spot where I wasn't being poked with sticks or a rock, and fell easily back to sleep.
In the morning I was able to get a fire going and we breakfasted on bacon, eggs and toast. The kids were amazed at toasting bread, threaded onto long, thin sticks, over the open fire. We broke camp and loaded up again -- it was a 1/2 mile hike to the cars, and we'd have to make two trips. Just as we were loading up for the first walk, it began to rain again, a soft rain that over the next hour soaked us to the skin.
Cars finally loaded, we lunched at McDonalds, let the kids run around the playland a good long time, and since it was still gently raining, we went back to Gerianns for the night.
Tuesday morning, maps were again consulted and since we'd driven over so many of the various trails, the maps made more sense. But since it was still raining, we headed into town.
-- more later --
It was tricky. Roads out there aren't marked, and there are lots of spur two-tracks that split off and meander through heavy brush and muck. We finally found the creek we were looking for, but the bridge over it was only a foot bridge, so we loaded up our backs and carried everything to what we figured was either State land or the land we're hoping to buy. We found a fairly flat area with not too much brush to set up camp, and we got the tents set up, got the fire pit dug, and got all the gear sorted. First night was set for easy grub -- hamburgers, zucchini fried with bacon and it being my son Jake's birthday, a cake that my mother had sent. There was Jake and his partner Victoria, Mike and me, Luke, Trentyn and Zary, Carl and Crystal, and Seth, Jereth and Eilie.
The boys had a great time putting sticks in the fire, and then toasting marshmallows. Late, after the sun went down, there was a great activity on the road with ATVs running up and down. A pickup truck had got stuck in the ford and they had to bring a front-in-loader to pull it out. In the hubbub, an ATV stopped and a fellow told us we were on his land. We apologized and he was gracious. We pulled out our maps and he showed us where we were -- about a mile north and half a mile west of where we thought. We promised the guy to pack out in the morning and do a good job cleaning everything up, and thanked him -- he nodded and waved us off.
During the night, a light rain began to fall. It smelled wonderful, a soft pitter-pat on the roof of the tent, and I snuggled into my blankets and went right to sleep. Around 4am, I rolled over and realized that I was laying on the hard ground -- the air mattress had sprung a leak. I got up to pee in the bracken. The moon was as bright as a spotlight. I crawled back into the tent, wriggled around for a while trying to find a spot where I wasn't being poked with sticks or a rock, and fell easily back to sleep.
In the morning I was able to get a fire going and we breakfasted on bacon, eggs and toast. The kids were amazed at toasting bread, threaded onto long, thin sticks, over the open fire. We broke camp and loaded up again -- it was a 1/2 mile hike to the cars, and we'd have to make two trips. Just as we were loading up for the first walk, it began to rain again, a soft rain that over the next hour soaked us to the skin.
Cars finally loaded, we lunched at McDonalds, let the kids run around the playland a good long time, and since it was still gently raining, we went back to Gerianns for the night.
Tuesday morning, maps were again consulted and since we'd driven over so many of the various trails, the maps made more sense. But since it was still raining, we headed into town.
-- more later --
