So it started as I predicted - late. Dave asked me what time I thought we would be heading out and I said 2:00pm. He said no way, Caleb wants to leave by 7:00am. I told him that I highly doubt that will happen. So he tells Rachel to come over at 8:00am. I tell him that
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Dave gets ready as Rachel arrives, Late. Caleb finally gets up and says that he was up at 7:00 but no one else was so he went back to bed. Basically a lie. I was up around then and nothing was moving. So maybe, just maybe, he was up but just didn't hear anything. Whatever. But still, the plan was for him to get ready first, not for us all to get up at the same time.
So we hit the road at around 9:30, but we have to stop for snacks and such first. Rachel also wants to mail a letter. tough luck on that one. On the interstate we go. I15 isn't really that bad. One bad accident slows things down but that is basically it. Pretty smooth.
We play different road games along the way, sing Paul Simon songs and such. Eventually, we stop at a rest area and throw the disc for a while, cursing ourselves for not setting the vcr so we could watch the Wimbledon final when we got back. Dave and Caleb get into a quick battle of catch in the air and throw before landing. I cant play because of the knee. Crap.
We stopped at Calebs grand parents to shmooze (since it was their cabin that we were going to go to the second day for fishing) then hit the road again. This trip wasn't exactly well planned as evidenced by our stopping to shop for food and Caleb buying a sleeping bag. We ate a quick lunch at burger king (i had two burgers and a large fry, but who cares?) and then went to the cabin real quick to check out the lay of the land.
While there we threw the frisbee around for about an hour and then went up into the canyon to claim a camping spot. Dave is new to the four wheeling thing and Rachel is a cry baby whimp. Whenever we would get to a hill or a deep trench that had to be straddled Dave would stop and go into low -- Rachel would whine about stopping and going back. Caleb and I would taunt Dave until he would go on -- Rachel would mope. Basically, a two-fer victory. We get Dave to go on and at the same time upset Rachel. Bonus.
Eventually we made it to a spot we thought was a good place to camp. We had a good open field to throw disc in (see a pattern yet?), trees on either side to give us shade and wind break. There was a fast moving creek that was pretty good size right near by (but not too close) to give us a cool air flow. So we stopped there. We decided that we will not drive out to see the fireworks, I think the main reason is that none of us wants to listen to Rachel squawk about it.
With this decision under our belt, we threw disc for about another hour then gather wood. Well, Dave and Caleb gather wood. I stay at the camp since my knee wont allow much in the way of activity. I started a fire to make our dinty-moore beef stew. Yummie.
Dave decided to not set up a tent because we should all sleep under the stars. Which was fine with me since i didn't have a tent anyway. So we all claim our spots. Then the cows come. Yes, I said cows. Not one or two, but several cows. Creeping closer to our campsite. They want our creek. Eventually i scare them away as they were just getting to close. Rachel uses this as an excuse to whine (one of the few times she had an excuse, seems she doesn't usually need one). The bugs have worn her down and she is afraid of the cows so she and Dave sleep in the Cherokee.
If I ever have to spend an extended amount of time with her again I think there will be blood. Most likely not mine...
The next morning the sun comes up (it does that) so i get up. Everyone else is asleep. I am starving but the food is in the Cherokee, so I just do a little hiking, well actually walking. Ok, I basically just went around the field to see what I could see. After that got boring I claimed a chair and plopped down in a well lit area to read.
After about an hour and a half of reading Dave finally wakes up. Is this camping? No. Anyway, we decide to try and get a fire going but the dew was so heavy that we couldn't get one going in time to get good coals to cook on before Rachel started whining about being hungry. So Dave broke out the camp stove and we cooked breakfast on that. Then of course we had a fire for no good reason so Rachel whined about the smoke. I wouldn't let her ruin the fire and my morning with it. So she mopped.
After breakfast we threw the disc a while then packed and headed into town. We wanted to get fishing licenses and ice cream. Seems they are "famous" for their ice cream so we must get some. Turns out it is pretty good but it is mostly famous for having square scoops. We played the lotto while at the ice cream and gas station. Dave bought two tickets and from this he managed to go through about 6 free tickets by spending his one or two dollar winnings until he eventually lost. Caleb bought five tickets that brought him twenty six dollars in winnings. Not bad.
We then headed out to fish. but the cabin wasn't open yet since Caleb's grandparents weren't there yet. It actually was a house and not a cabin by the way. Very nice. So guess what we did? We threw the disc around. I was trying to teach them how to catch a blade but they are both cowards. A blade, by the way, is a frisbee thrown so that it comes straight down on its edge and it comes down VERY quickly. It isn't easy to catch and even when you catch it right it can hurt. The webbing between your thumb and first finger often will bruise from it.
Anyway, Caleb's grandparents eventually arrived and so we were able to fish. They said we could use the trailer to sleep in, but that the water and all doesn't work because of the flood. This is becoming less and less like camping but at this point you take what you get!
Caleb taught me how to use a fly rod which was fun. The bugs were fierce. Not so much mosquitoes as may-flys. They don't bite but are so
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After Rachel got done whining about being hungry and dirty and begging for an early shower at the grandparents house, we went out to eat. I had this enormous chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and salad. I could not finish the steak. Caleb on the other hand had prime rib that looked like it was half of the cow. He finished it and the rest of my steak. Impressive.
Here is an interesting side note, the rest rooms were label "pointers" and "setters". Pretty funny huh? so, at this point i had eaten two hamburgers, dinty-moore stew, eggs and bacon, hot dogs and beans, and chicken fried steak. As you might imagine, my stomach was turning over in my future grave. When we got back to the trailer I had to, uh, go if you know what i mean. I travel over to the grandparents house (they had said we could use their basement bathroom). At this point I am sure that I am about to burst, but someone is using the rest room. So I wait. I pace. I am trying to remember if one can die from holding to long.
I now see the errors of my ways and tell God never again. I shouldn't have eaten so much crap. Also, I always thought you could hold it as long as you want. Wrong. I am past the point of no return. Well suffice to say, if he had not finished and exited when he did there could have been a mess! Ugh, sick.
We sleep in the trailer that night. Again, is this camping? Again, no. I get up at around 9:00, which is pretty late for camping. I then sit and read for over an hour before anyone else stirs. Eventually, Dave wakes and asks Caleb about showering, Caleb says sure and they both promptly go back to sleep. A little while later they both go over to shower. This leaves me and Rachel alone. I talk for about 3 minutes and sensing myself being not the nicest I excuse myself to go out side to practice catching blades.
I was throwing the disc so far up it was probably dangerous, somehow, but at least I was outta the trailer. We all finish showering but Caleb is captured by the grandparents. I guess they felt it was a good time to lecture him on Mormanism. Rachel wants to just pack his stuff and drive down there and claim him. Dave and I think that maybe Caleb will want something from his bag so we shouldn't do that. Instead we should just walk down and thank them and sorta let it drop that we are all ready to leave. Rachel mopes and whines about this so we just sit. She then says, "why don't we just pack his stuff then he can get what he wants out when we get to Jackson Hole?" To this Dave, finally standing up instead of caving, says "why don't we just walk down there and get him?" He says "what are we gonna do". She says "sit". I can't stand it so i say i am gonna go down and talk to Caleb. Dave joins me. We go down and interrupt a lashing Caleb seems to be getting from his grandma and mention that we are all ready to go. So, after another ten minutes of talking Caleb manages to escape and we head to Jackson.
It is very nice there. Although the part we saw seemed like it was basically just a giant outlet mall. But still, it was fun. We ate a
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After some shopping we hit the road. We take 89 pretty much all the way back. This is very scenic but there are a couple bridges under construction that cause MAJOR delays. There is no radio channel most of the way so Caleb and I play "name 5". Things like "name five hamburger chains", "name five NBA teams to win more than one championship", "name five CEOs", "name five monsters", "name five ..." and so on. Interspersed were things like "name all of the NBA teams", "name three cities in Washington", "name three existentialists" and so on. Kinda fun to play as well as coming up with the questions. We also try games like "who sang..." and singing parts of the song. It is amazing how if just one other person knows a song you can basically remember all the words. Like we basically could sing all the lyrics to the songs on Graceland. Especially "you can call me al".
Eventually we make it home, unpack and quickly read the sports sections to find out who won the womens title at Wimbledon. I set the vcr to record sports beat while I go grocery shopping. Dave is consoling Rachel over something on the porch as she cries on and on. Then BLAM, the weekend is over.
Over all, very nice to get outta the city. I hadn't been beyond the city limits since Christmas so it was nice, but it could have been a lot less stressful if one member of the party had found something else to do. This makes two trips I have taken that have involved her and this is certainly the last. Caleb concurs and he has only been on this one trip! But, it was fun.
the end.
tom.