8 Days in the Wild

We returned last night from 8 days of camping, fishing, getting beyond gritty, and having an overall good time. This trip wasn’t like any other. We went to our favorite place, a little wildlife reserve called Kirch; it’s not much to look at usually, but this time it was very green and the sunsets were absolutely amazing, looked like the sky was on fire and then reflected off the lake. There were more people than we’d anticipated, usually it’s rather empty, maybe two or three other campers. By Saturday there wasn’t a free space and some people were being friendly and sharing.

The trip didn’t really get going until Wednesday because we took turns having something similar to the stomach flu, first him for a day plus and me for three. That part of it was hell. Nothing like diarrhea and vomiting in the wilderness. Woo. So our buddy Darryl came up Wednesday afternoon, which was good cuz Honey was bored to tears watching me lie there miserably. They went fishing and left me to my queasiness. I stayed in bed all day Thursday too. Walking the 100 paces to the outhouse was about all the exertion I could handle. So for me, the trip really started Friday.

We made friends with the guys in the camp next to ours, Mike, Gary, and Doug (the brothers) and Mike’s son-in-law, Jake. We’ll be seeing them again, either locally or out fishing. Little rowdy (I heard something about a penis in someone’s eye) but a good group.

I’ve learned something important on this trip, a couple actually:
1) I’m not a long-term tent kind of girl. I need something that closes reliably (the zipper on the door is breaking) and that I can stand up in without hunching to get dressed. 2) That many days without a shower are far too many; it gets the hair going down the road of dreadlocks, and the chaffage is unbearable. 3) The smell of fish (after filleting them) doesn’t really come off no matter how much soap you use and washing with lemons is a temporary fix. Mike showed me around his fifth wheel and I want one. I’d need a job first of course and I’m working on that, but it was really nice. We got home without a scrap of clean clothing and took turns spending over thirty minutes in the shower becoming human again. Honey tanned so much he didn’t realize it until he tried to scrub off the 'dirt' and nothing happened. I joke he’s a true Mexican now, the proper shade of brown. Anyway, overall it was a good trip. We caught some fish, brought some home, managed to survive being sick and each other, and made some friends. Back to lazy cloud watching.

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