Into Every Vacation Some Rain Must Fall

July 6, 2010 2:40 pm (1:40 local)

Well, I was bound and determined to have coffee this morning. I got up a couple of hours before Bob did and thought I would have a nice pot of coffee cooking for him when he finally woke up but didn’t happen. I couldn’t get the stupid burner to light. (Bob informs me later he has the knobs backwards which explains why I wasn’t getting gas on the back burner.) So being the resourceful person that I am I haul my ass to the (closed) camp store in search of a cup of coffee. Luckily there is a paper box right outside the door of the bldg so I buy a paper, head back to the site and start a fire. Yes, I give it the old college try and the second shot in less than 24 hours. This time, however, I am armed with news paper and a horrible jones for some caffeine. I carefully stack the wood over the newspaper, light that sucker, and go off to start putting together the coffee pot 45 minutes and one hell of a struggle with a hand-held air pump later I have some nice coals. On goes the coffe pot while I work on rearranging all the stuff in the back seat of the truck. Another 45 minutes later I have a VERY hot cup of coffee and a cigarette. Just in time to hear Bob announce that he has the Coleman coffee pot cranking and making coffee (which took him all of 3 minutes to get together and start up. Phhhttt). At this point it was a matter of pride to drink the campfire coffee, which I did another 15 minutes later due to the temperature being just north of what the Baptist preachers tell me Hell will feel like.

Starting to hit hill country; just crossed the Illinois river. It's starting to rain as if the very sluice gates of Heaven have opened up on our heads. We've slowed down to about 35 to 40 miles an hour because the rain is so bad we can't see. ("we" meaning Bob the Driver.)

4:55 pm (3:55 local)
Whoop Whoop! We’re in the Mark Twain campround and cave complex and I found a pizza joint that delivers! It rained like hell once we crossed the Illinois river so of course everything is soaked and there will be no fire anytime soon. I did get my marshmallows at the camp store(SmallMart; that cracks me up)although I just realized I have NO graham crackers. Shoot! Jesse gave be a jar of hazelnut/chocolate spread before we left and I thought I would have it as a snack. Back to berries for me I guess. Probably not a bad idea anyway since I am getting absolutely no walking time in. This is a pretty big campground so I plan on correcting that little problem in a hurry. We’re staying here until noon Thursday. We wanted to have a real honest-to-goodness camping day and you just can’t do it in one night. Jeff (in Denver) has to work Thursday anyway so we’re going to try and time our arrival to coincide with his leaving work. That way if we get lost he can come and fetch our outdoor selves. 

6:35 pm (5:35 Local)

Nothing screams “Camp out!” like a fresh pizza delivered right to your camper door. Hawaiian pizza with streusel sticks for dessert. I feel so primitive!

(on a side note; the pictures apparently must be loaded in a certain order. I noticed the last picture in the tale is first. i'll have to work on that. In the meantime,it's July 7 at 8 am and we're off to see Mark Twain and Molly Brown. (In honor of my friend and colleague Molly Dilger. heh heh heh) More when we can get it on here.)