Oh yeah! I forgot about 'Staggering' part 2

We had it all figured out. Planned to perfection you see. See? I pasted our itinerary :)

Itinerary:

Wednesday

10am: Canadian Tire trip for last minute camping gear

10:30am: Yank out hair and scream at incompetence of employees

11am: Carry big honking cooler full of more gear onto mass transit system

noon: Pack car

1pm: Depart for five hour trip

2pm: Stop to scour child vomit from everything including her

2:50pm: Dodge to back of nearest building to smoke a bowl in the desperate hopes that it will put you to sleep until your timely arrival. (no, I was not driving)

3pm: Feed sick child Gravol and resume travel

7pm: Arrive in the right county & get lost as fuck

8pm: Arrive at Kaleidoscope in time to raise moon base in a heavy down pour. Tent? No. Moon base.
See?

First, notice this nice family milling about their dry and sunny campsite. Fucking bitch-ass punk-ass happy people.
Moon Base: 17 x 16.5' x 74" h (5 x 5 x 2 m)
Sleeps 10 people and one large dog
Pet den can be used as a storage area for coolers, bags etc.
Coleman WeatherTec system (fat lotta fuckin' good that did us)
Easy set-up design with colour coded poles (provided its not pitch black in the best shower pressure you've ever had)
Room divider (to keep the 200 gallons of water on that side)
Fire-engine red and light beige
5-year manufacturer's warranty

9pm: Swim out of finished moon base, across site to appease exhausted, crying children (I felt bad for them. We all had many reasons to cry at that point).

10pm: Get kids lulled to sleep in a preset tent not being used by a fellow camper & reach for the relaxation sticks in pocket

10:04: Meet with security at the front of your tent regarding the increasing ferocity of the weather (heavier rains with high winds). Discuss pros & cons of moving children to the trailer in the site next door

10:30: Meet with security at the front of your tent regarding the increasing ferocity of the weather (heavier rains with high winds, lightning and golfball-size hail). Follow orders to move kids to trailer

10:40: Meet with security again regarding the further increasing ferocity of the weather (add tornado warnings to previous grocery list). Follow orders to carry kids to basement in a large house 200 yards away through all that shit in the pitch dark in your underwear and water up to your shins

10:50pm: Arrive in basement thinking you'll get to sleep to find a throng of children bouncing off the walls, scarfing popcorn & watching movie after movie. This, of course, means the youngin's in tow aren't getting back to sleep anytime soon.


Thursday

12am: Wander upstairs after mostly drip drying, to the living room where you'll watch the weather channel for three hours as if they'll tell you something different other than "your fucked" if your willing to wait just ten more minutes. Occasionally you'll check on the kids in between, finding them glued to all things Frankie Muniz.

3am: Finally, for fuck's sake, find your way to la-la-land.

8am: Wake, drink coffee gifted unto you & scoop kids, return to camp bearing soaked clothes, soaked kids and all of your bedding - also soaked :) Assess water, wind and hail damage. Miraculously find dry clothes in your bag and build camp with a new love for life and nature


God, I love this shit.


11:00am: There is no 11am silly! Time stopped as soon as you became welcomed in the natural surroundings in which you plunked yourself. Fun huh?!













yes.











So after all that, there was no more itinerary.
"What do you want to do today, Love?"
"Dunno. Somethin' later."
"Cooool."


And some things happened. Good things for the most part.

It was a 5 day weekend of freedom in comparison to the 3 contribution of my time to the Waste Management Crew of Hillside '06
(which didn't suck, mind you)

Yet free time is free time and a precious thing at that in my version of the world. There was no order to it for me other than sleep when your tired and eat when you're hungry. If it sounds fun, do it. *breathes long* yes. This is what I waited for.
The day after the monsoon the Sun was so bright and warm that it made the past 14 hours of my life melt into a dream at best. I helped prepare & eat lunch after finding a huge metal sheet of refuse in the forest which made a perfect sun-dryer for our beds n' such.

Damn. That was the wildest weather I've camped in. That was so exhausting to even recall that I feel the need to stop here and promise a part 3 to this epic vacation... If there is such a thing. Plus if I made this post any longer, ya'll might not finish reading it :)



love,
HH