Well, last week I left you with a bit of a cliffhanger by telling you I was going camping and that I would fill you in this week on what happened. According to my calendar it’s Thursday, which means I’ve kept you waiting four days longer than expected.
As with any story, there’s a cast of characters:
Amy – she made her first appearance on this blog not long ago and it was at her
behest that we went camping. We’ve been seeing each other, there are no labels to anything, just seeing what’s what.
Dee and Doo – (not real names, natch) Amy’s step kids. Really her ex-husband’s kids but somehow she managed to be able to get joint custody…don’t ask. One’s 12 (Dee) and one’s 9 (Doo). Full of life and questions, they are awesome kids.
Joseph – Think old school Chicago gangster. Only speaks when he has something important to say, other than that he just observes. Great guy, probably mid-50s. I enjoy this man’s conversations greatly.
Nicholas and Felicia – Nicky is Joseph’s best friend, he’s about my age. He’s a great guy with an AWESOME sense of humor, like me. His girlfriend’s name is Felicia, she’s 11 years his senior but also has a great attitude. When we first met it was like finding a lost sister. We rib and harass each other constantly in a very good natured way.
Tanner – about 27, seems like a nice guy. He’s touched so it takes some patience and time to deal with him.
Mel – ‘leader’ of the camp out (I use that term loosely). Had the ‘inside scoop’ on a camp ground where we wouldn’t have to pay.
S – Mel’s daughter, about 10.
Kristy – Lady friend that Joseph brought with him. She acts VERY young for her age. I put her at her mid 20s when I met her, later on during the trip I found out she was in her mid 30s.
K – Kristy’s son…he’s 12…
As you can see from the cast this went from a simple camping trip to a complex one in no time flat. When this camping trip was originally planned, it was going to be four of us. The kids, Amy and I. Then it grew and grew and we got stuck with what we had.
Friday:
We had asked for Mel to meet us at her place early in the morning. We still had some stuff that wouldn’t fit in my car and wanted to use his extra van space to handle it all properly. He showed up an hour late. We managed to get all of the gear into his van that we needed to and we were off. This is where things, things really went wrong really fast.
The campsite that we were going to was one that only Mel knew about. So we were forced to follow him over there. The downfall of that was that the gentleman was driving for himself and not thinking about the other two cars following him. So if he was in a turn lane where the three cars were waiting in line and he got a yellow, he wouldn’t stop and wait, he’d take the yellow and leave us behind waiting for the light change again. Most people at this point would pull over and wait for the rest of their party, he would just keep going.
Majority of the drive before we hit the rural area was playing chase and tag. He got on the express way and we’d have to wait for the light. We’d call to see how far ahead they were and they would be six exits up, ask them to slow down. Call again, not seeing them, and instead of being a steady six exits up, they were 8 exits up. My little Saturn was cruising at 80 MPH and still couldn’t catch up to the guy. We were upset.
Finally managed to get him to stop, talked to him about keeping us in sight, remembering we were following him. It happened again.
We hit the rural area, about 45 minutes into the trip. This is when I notice something new. Since I’m the lead car behind Mel I’m seeing first hand just how BAD his driving is. Now I don’t mean tail gating, I can understand it if not condone it. No, I mean this guy was all over the road LITERALLY. We’re in the right hand lane and he’s pitching to and fro from the medium to the left lane. I don’t mean a little bit either, I mean he almost ate the guard rail a couple of times.
We had split up the kids, the older boys Dee and K, were with us in my car. S and Doo were in Mel’s car. Watching him weaving in and out of traffic was a big issue. Here comes Joseph. He’s been driving behind me this whole time, no worries in the world, just watching out ass when he goes from 80 to about 95 to pass me. (2 lane blacktop) Mel’s driving has freaked out Joseph enough that he makes him pull over and takes Doo out of the van and puts him in his car. Yea, it was that bad.
After about 2 ½ hours of driving we finally find the spot that he’s looking for and I will admit that it’s indeed a nice spot, to be sure. Do a little hill, next to a creek, huge trees giving a canopy, it’s great. This is when I kinda start taking charge. I instruct everyone to get their tents out only at first. We need to set up the tents so we can put things where they belong once we’re ready.
It takes us about two hours to set up camp. In that two hours we put up tents, bring down supplies, put together a little ‘cooler’ in the river, and make fires. I feel like we accomplished a lot and I’m burnt out. So I decide to take a nap.
Forty five minutes later Doo is at my tent door telling me that there’s a Ranger wanting to talk to me.
Seems that this sight that Mel had been so used to using for years and years had been sold as private property five years ago…he’s been to that camp site, six years ago. So we had two hours to pack our crap and go up the trail about 2 miles to designated camp sites and pay the 10 dollars a night it would take for us to stay there.
The fun’s just starting…
To be continued…
As with any story, there’s a cast of characters:
Amy – she made her first appearance on this blog not long ago and it was at her
behest that we went camping. We’ve been seeing each other, there are no labels to anything, just seeing what’s what.
Dee and Doo – (not real names, natch) Amy’s step kids. Really her ex-husband’s kids but somehow she managed to be able to get joint custody…don’t ask. One’s 12 (Dee) and one’s 9 (Doo). Full of life and questions, they are awesome kids.
Joseph – Think old school Chicago gangster. Only speaks when he has something important to say, other than that he just observes. Great guy, probably mid-50s. I enjoy this man’s conversations greatly.
Nicholas and Felicia – Nicky is Joseph’s best friend, he’s about my age. He’s a great guy with an AWESOME sense of humor, like me. His girlfriend’s name is Felicia, she’s 11 years his senior but also has a great attitude. When we first met it was like finding a lost sister. We rib and harass each other constantly in a very good natured way.
Tanner – about 27, seems like a nice guy. He’s touched so it takes some patience and time to deal with him.
Mel – ‘leader’ of the camp out (I use that term loosely). Had the ‘inside scoop’ on a camp ground where we wouldn’t have to pay.
S – Mel’s daughter, about 10.
Kristy – Lady friend that Joseph brought with him. She acts VERY young for her age. I put her at her mid 20s when I met her, later on during the trip I found out she was in her mid 30s.
K – Kristy’s son…he’s 12…
As you can see from the cast this went from a simple camping trip to a complex one in no time flat. When this camping trip was originally planned, it was going to be four of us. The kids, Amy and I. Then it grew and grew and we got stuck with what we had.
Friday:
We had asked for Mel to meet us at her place early in the morning. We still had some stuff that wouldn’t fit in my car and wanted to use his extra van space to handle it all properly. He showed up an hour late. We managed to get all of the gear into his van that we needed to and we were off. This is where things, things really went wrong really fast.
The campsite that we were going to was one that only Mel knew about. So we were forced to follow him over there. The downfall of that was that the gentleman was driving for himself and not thinking about the other two cars following him. So if he was in a turn lane where the three cars were waiting in line and he got a yellow, he wouldn’t stop and wait, he’d take the yellow and leave us behind waiting for the light change again. Most people at this point would pull over and wait for the rest of their party, he would just keep going.
Majority of the drive before we hit the rural area was playing chase and tag. He got on the express way and we’d have to wait for the light. We’d call to see how far ahead they were and they would be six exits up, ask them to slow down. Call again, not seeing them, and instead of being a steady six exits up, they were 8 exits up. My little Saturn was cruising at 80 MPH and still couldn’t catch up to the guy. We were upset.
Finally managed to get him to stop, talked to him about keeping us in sight, remembering we were following him. It happened again.
We hit the rural area, about 45 minutes into the trip. This is when I notice something new. Since I’m the lead car behind Mel I’m seeing first hand just how BAD his driving is. Now I don’t mean tail gating, I can understand it if not condone it. No, I mean this guy was all over the road LITERALLY. We’re in the right hand lane and he’s pitching to and fro from the medium to the left lane. I don’t mean a little bit either, I mean he almost ate the guard rail a couple of times.
We had split up the kids, the older boys Dee and K, were with us in my car. S and Doo were in Mel’s car. Watching him weaving in and out of traffic was a big issue. Here comes Joseph. He’s been driving behind me this whole time, no worries in the world, just watching out ass when he goes from 80 to about 95 to pass me. (2 lane blacktop) Mel’s driving has freaked out Joseph enough that he makes him pull over and takes Doo out of the van and puts him in his car. Yea, it was that bad.
After about 2 ½ hours of driving we finally find the spot that he’s looking for and I will admit that it’s indeed a nice spot, to be sure. Do a little hill, next to a creek, huge trees giving a canopy, it’s great. This is when I kinda start taking charge. I instruct everyone to get their tents out only at first. We need to set up the tents so we can put things where they belong once we’re ready.
It takes us about two hours to set up camp. In that two hours we put up tents, bring down supplies, put together a little ‘cooler’ in the river, and make fires. I feel like we accomplished a lot and I’m burnt out. So I decide to take a nap.
Forty five minutes later Doo is at my tent door telling me that there’s a Ranger wanting to talk to me.
Seems that this sight that Mel had been so used to using for years and years had been sold as private property five years ago…he’s been to that camp site, six years ago. So we had two hours to pack our crap and go up the trail about 2 miles to designated camp sites and pay the 10 dollars a night it would take for us to stay there.
The fun’s just starting…
To be continued…
1 comment:
LOL
all I can say is... that sucks!
Hope it gets better for you all
_raf
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