Google+

Pages

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Man-Camp 2010 - The OTHER Half-Day of Nature (Part 4)

What??? Are you still here reading about our boring camping trip?  I would stop writing about it but I'm in too deep now.  I have to finish!  So just sit back and enjoy part 4 of 5.

When we last left our heroes...

We decided to go hiking.  We had just hiked the day before so it probably wasn't the greatest of ideas.  But we were in the wilderness... what else was there left to do?  We had firewood and our clothes were drying.  So we decided to hike farther down the trail to see what else the mountains had to offer.

Since we were in the valley between two mountains, the trail generally followed a mountain stream about 50ft away.  A very COLD mountain stream.  I remember it being cold the last time we were there because we all bathed in it's Arctic frostiness (not at the same time, mind you).  It was Spring we when made the trip last time but I promise the water could have held an iceberg or two if it had been deep enough.  So there would be no stream bathing on this trip.  I would be carrying this manly musk back home with me.  And that's the way it should be!

The other two people (the Scoutmaster and the Dr.) who were veterans on this trip wanted to find a little water hole they had found before.  They remembered how cold it was but they didn't care because there was a deep pool of water to swim in and a little waterfall to accent the scene.  It all sounded fine and dandy but I wasn't going to get in it!  One of my friends wondered why.  So, I told him.

You won't hear me do this a lot but I'm going to make a racial (NOT racist) statement here.  I don't know a lot of black people who enjoy water.  And I'm going to go out on a limb and say YOU (as in ANYONE reading this) don't either.  Sure, you might know one or two but they are about as rare as the elusive jackalope.  I'm going to let you think on that one for a moment.  Now, to add to the thinking process, how many black people do you see at the beach?  THEN think to yourself... How many of those at the beach do you actually see in the water?  I'm going to guess (with confidence) that you won't find too many.  Years ago there was a HUGE argument about the TV show Baywatch (I told you YEARS ago) not having many black people represented.  People were calling the show racist (NOT racial).  Personally, I think they were being pretty accurate.

Racial (NOT racist) statement part two: You don't see a lot of black people in places where it's cold.  Do we need to take a break so you can think about this one too?  We are just not fond of cold ANYTHING (minus drinks).  When you watch the Summer Olympics we are everywhere.  When you watch the WINTER Olympics we are not even at the indoor events.  We don't ski.  We don't play hockey.  We don't ice skate.  And I will repeat this...  You might find your one or two but you will not find a number that's even statistically recognizable.  I don't know why but that's just the case.

Now combine the two previous paragraphs and tell me if you have ever seen a black member of the Polar Bear Club.  Just the thought of that BLOWS my mind!  I can't imaging perfectly sane people WANTING to strip down to almost nothing in subfreezing weather and jumping into a pool of water that's probably colder than the subfreezing air.  I can't even wrap my brain around that one.  I'm sure there is an exception but I have looked at photo after photo and have yet to find a single one.  (This might be a good challenge to my readers.  If you have a pic of a black Polar Bear Club member, send it to me.  I would love to see it just so I can mark it off of my bucket list.)

And THAT'S why I didn't care too much about the swimming hole.  It wasn't even something I was going to look back on years later and go, "Man, I wish I had risked hypothermia and drowning just so I can say I did it." But I'm not a party pooper so I was on the lookout for it as well while we were making out way down the trail.

I'm not sure how far we went (but it wasn't even a mile) when the Scoutmaster thought he saw it.  So he went to investigate.  And by investigate I mean he cut through the overgrowth to get to the stream and starting making his way back upstream.  I think we all learned a lesson that day. We learned that is a lot has changed since we were here during our late teens.  After going from rock to rock (then eventually just walking in the water itself) he realized he couldn't find the original spot.  Too much had changed.  But, of course, he wasn't going to let that stop him.  So he and the Dr. found a different spot.  And all was well... until the next trip when they try to find this NEW spot again.

I decided to make my way back to camp.  So did the Rookie.  We made it back and enjoyed the last few minutes of direct sunlight left in the day.  The swimming hole adventure didn't last as long as I had expected it to so the other two were back at camp not too much longer after that.  It was definitely lunchtime.

This is also when we got to what the camp was really about.  As we ate MREs (the same food that the fine soldiers of the US military enjoy) we finally took a few minutes to just talk.  We talked about life.  We talked about politics.  We talking about the state of the US.  We even talked about time travel and physics (that conversation didn't last long).  We talking about where our lives are and how different it was the last time we were in the exact same spot.  We talked about the Butterfly Effect.  We talked about religion.  We talked a little about everything and a lot about nothing.  That was easily my favorite part of the whole trip.  There were a lot of funny and crazy things that went on in the VERY short time I was there but those conversations were the most memorable.  If life sees to it that we NEVER get to go back again, I will at least have that moment to keep me company.

Everything was going great until people started showing up.  Apparently, everyone got the memo that I was going to be at that particular campsite and wanted to come and see if the rumors were true.  Of course, THAT wasn't the case (I don't think) but people did start showing up.  As stated in an earlier camping post of this trip, we saw very few people the last time.  We also didn't have to share the area the entire trip.  Now, already, on this trip we had another person sharing the area (the Fisherman) and other people were coming through OUR campsite.  We didn't mind the Fisherman being there because he was.. well... out fishing pretty much the whole time.  But we had a few smaller groups of people come through first looking for a good campsite.  We directed them away.  Then a larger group came through looking for the same thing.  We gave ALL of them the "this is OURS, go get your own" look.  And they all obliged.  That was until the LAST group showed up.  I can't remember what group they were with (mainly because I didn't speak that much to them) but they decided to make our cramped campsite even crampier. (For some reason, spell checker didn't like crampier.  Oh, well.)

We didn't know this new group of people so we didn't trust them either.  (That meant all of us kept our weapons of choice close just in case.  My little knife was easy to conceal.) We also noticed that they were ill prepared to camp.  They were fine for hiking but not for camping.  This is especially true since there was a frost warning in the area for that night.  I kinda felt bad for them and so did the Scoutmaster.  So before going to bed, he made sure that the fire was a large, good one and that they had plenty of chopped wood ready in case they needed it.

We decided before we went to bed that we would move the tent a little.  I spearheaded this movement because through the course of the day I found out that not EVERYONE was sleeping with a root in their side.  So we moved the tent and changed the sleeping arrangement.  I really felt good about the new move until it was time to go to bed.  I put my sleeping bag in it's new spot.  I placed my trusty knife next to where my head would be for quick access. (You can't trust those squirrels.  Every good camper knows that!)  I get in my sleeping bag and there it was.  Mr. Root's cousin.  ANOTHER FREAKIN' ROOT!!!!  You've got to be kidding me!  Was this thing following me?  I moved my bag around to try to find the best spot.  But even the BEST spot left me with a root press in my back.  I just had to make do.

There was a problem with this night's making do with the root.  I don't even know if this is medically possible but I'm blaming it on THAT root even if it's not!  But for some reason, that root in my back kept making me have to go pee.  And I'm not talking every 30 minutes to an hour.  I'm talking like 5-10 minute intervals.  There were several problems with that.  I didn't have my glasses on so I couldn't see.  The tent was dark and I was on the side away from the entrance.  So that meant every 5-10 minutes I was getting out of my WARM sleeping bag, putting on my shoes, stumbling over everyone, opening the tent (letting in MORE cold air and making me have to pee worse), making my way down a trail (blind and in pitch darkness), peeing, making my way back (under the same conditions), opening the tent again (more cold air), stumbling over everyone, taking my shoes off, getting back into a (NOW) cold sleeping bag, and finally snuggling up to my favorite ROOT in the whole wide world.  I don't know how many times it happened as I stopped counting at 42,007.

I'm sure this ritual was annoying everyone but no one said anything.  The Scoutmaster DID finally offer me a foam padding to go under my sleeping bag.  It was something short of turning water into wine (probably not a good analogy for someone who was peeing a lot).  But it worked!!!  I didn't have go pee after that.  Granted, it could have been the fact that there was ZERO water left in my system after the many, MANY trips to the bark covered port-o-potty.  But, as I said before, I'm blaming it on the the root.

I would like to say that things ended there.  We were in the tent.  It was dark.  It was cold.  It was time to sleep.  But someone decided to put the final exclamation point on the evening.  Someone... And I'm not naming any names because that would be RUDE.  Isn't that right, Scoutmaster??? Someone decided that the night wasn't complete until someone sounded the evening tuba.  Someone (Scoutmaster) ripped on of the loudest, most explosive farts to finish the day off.  Does everyone remember that we were in a closed tent to keep as much of the cold out?  Nothing says camping like trying to decide of you want to freeze to death or die a painful death from paralyzing gas of a butt bomb.  The rest of us zipped up our sleeping bags over our heads and prayed for mercy.  Sometimes that's your only option.  It did, however, insure that if someone or something was going to attack the campsite that night we were protected by an invisible field of toxic gas.  Sorry other campers... you have to get your own!

That simple (yet hilariously disgusting) act also led me to believe that, though, there were a lot of things different on this trip from when we made it almost 20 years ago... some things were still the same.

Stay tuned for Part 5 and FINAL chapter of the Man-Camp 2010 Saga.

24 comments:

  1. i never need to go camping if i want a butt bomb. haha husband has woken me up a time or two getting ready for work. one time, i almost threw up haha i find i'm running to the bathroom more often if i'm very cold, but since you said it stopped after having the foam mat, i have come to conclusion that you are just plain WEIRD lol

    ReplyDelete
  2. LOL! I don't blame you one bit about the water. I LOVE water - but I HATE cold. Cold water is only slightly below throwing up on the list of things I detest most. A gazillion years ago, hubby and I took a trip to the ocean just before he left for basic training. I'd been to the gulf many times in my life, but never the ocean. It was Florida - it was summer - the water was FREEZING. I don't care if I ever see the ocean again.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lol.. Funny.. Yes you are right about the water conspiracy.

    And reading this series is leading me to believe that men like to fart a lot more than I thought they did

    ReplyDelete
  4. It could be that black people are smarter than white people. I mean seriously, the white guy that thought up the Polar Bear Club (and it was obviously a guy!) was not exactly a genius, let's face it.

    I can't believe you found ANOTHER root after moving the tent! That is too funny. (I can say that because I was not not sleeping on it.)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Damn you! Now I have to scour the internet for Polar Bear Swim pictures. I think black people just have more sense then the rest of us - if we were meant to hang out in the water we would have gills. Did you ever run into a rabid squirrel or maybe a pissed off chipmunk? Tell me you used the knife for something!? I think after about an hour of trying to sleep I would have used the knife to rip out the root - right through the tent.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The male bonding exercise of farting! Some things are the same all around the world!

    ReplyDelete
  7. was sleeping with a root in their side........ when I read this I had to shake my head in agreement as I had experienced this once.
    Well written.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @ciara - There are several people that will agree to the fact that I'm weird. But it's cool that you were able to figure that out with just the root. That's impressive!

    @SandyAnnDee - My first trip to the ocean was about the same. We went to Carolina Beach and it was late Spring. We didn't know that the water even had the option of being cold during that time of the year. But it was. It wasn't the best experience for someone who doesn't like the cold or the water.

    ReplyDelete
  9. @Sy - You have NO idea! There was a lot more gas being passed but I didn't mention ALL of it. The post would have been completely about that!

    @Missy - Finding another root after moving was freaky. And I think I was the only one with one in my back that night. One friend also had a root the first night. But I don't remember if he did the second night. I started feeling like I was being targeted by a rogue tree.

    ReplyDelete
  10. @JoJo - We never grow up. :)

    @lizziehoop - Don't hurt yourself looking for those pictures. lol. I guess you will have to wait for the final chapter to see if any woodland creature perished by mine sword... I mean... knife.

    ReplyDelete
  11. @Spencer Park - I think that would solve a lot of the worlds conflicts if the leaders of the countries got together for a good fart session. I think they are all a little uptight. It's a little hard to be too serious when people are popping off gas every few minutes. I think would be great fart therapy for the world.

    @Haddock - You can't talk to the root. You can't reason with it. It's literally a "thorn' in your side. It stinks!

    ReplyDelete
  12. He he he...exactly why I don't like camping. Good thing the conversations made it worthwhile. Next time though, maybe you can still have those awesome conversations without having to endure the roots, the cold, and the fart bombs. :D

    ReplyDelete
  13. @dark_chocolate - What conversation would be complete without a fart bomb? I mean, honestly... women...

    ReplyDelete
  14. Que, after reading your response to SP, I am officially requesting a post from you: Please describe a UN meeting set back on target by a good fart session.

    I know I'll laugh, but I'll also be trying not to gag.

    ReplyDelete
  15. @Missy - That might be a good idea. I will have to look into it. Thanks! :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. @Artemis Clover - You are correct. I can see my friends and myself at 80 and the same things will be happening.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Camping with men but no nose clip? madness!

    ReplyDelete
  18. @Glen - I have already purchased some for next year. I can't believe it's not already included in a base camping kit.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Camping wouldn't be camping for me without a root in my back. Regarding the black people and water question. When I was at boot camp, and everyone was required to jump into the water with all their clothes on (and their pack) every single white and hispanic soldier did it without hesitation. I'd say maybe 30% of the black soldiers outright refused. One actually froze on the high dive and wouldn't even get down (until he was dragged down by a drill instructor). I never had much interaction with black people growing up, so that was something I was definitely not expecting.

    ReplyDelete
  20. @Keith - Thanks for helping me prove my point. There is just something about it. I'm not sure what it is but as a general rule, black people and water don't mix. Thank you again for the testimonial.

    ReplyDelete
  21. i think i must be part black...i really HATE going into the water at beaches, can't swim well, and HATE anywhere that doesn't have a temp of at least 75 degrees lol

    ReplyDelete
  22. @ciara - It's possible. Genealogy is a tricky thing sometimes.

    ReplyDelete