On The Verge of Tears

There were a lot of circumstances that prevented the backpacking trip I had planned this weekend.  We were supposed to be partying Friday night, then waking up early Saturday and driving to Atsion.  Four to six of us were then going to take a five mile hike with all of our camping gear on our backs to the Mullica River campground.

It is a vehicle inaccessible site and so once we were in, we were in for good.  The plan was to set up our tents, gather firewood, make lunch and dinner, and generally enjoy the outdoors.  This campground has no water, toilets, of other luxuries at all.  We were all looking forward to roughing  it for a month and a half.

Then, as we made some preparations  on Thursday night for the exciting weekend ahead, Kreg got a horrible call.  His shop was on fire and those were about the only details he got.  He rushed off with Kat to Hainseport to see what the hell was going on.  It wasn’t good.

I didn’t see them again for the rest of the night, but several calls from them confirmed the worst.  It was indeed his shop that burned.  It was no small fire.  All his work inside was destroyed.  His tools were about the only thing that made it out still usable, and only after several days of cleaning.

At noon on Friday, as I enjoyed a beer at a local bar, I got the news from Kreg that he was bailing.  I should have expected that he would.  I would have in his shoes.  He had way too much to take care of at that point.  I was just hoping he was going to blow off things for a day or two and let things settle.  Within and hour or so, I decided to call off the trip.  It was probably smart that I did.

That afternoon I got to plant my garden and all my annuals.  Pictures to follow soon.  I originally was planning on feverishly planting so that I could pack our backpacks and head out in the morning.  Due to our postponed camping trip, I was able to take my time, and Monika and I had a leisurely afternoon instead of a hectic one.  Later, we had a small camp fire at our house, and then another one over some drinks at Rob’s.

The weather was supposed to be windy and rainy.  We had originally decided that we were going to go for it anyway and hike through the rain and have a hell of an adventure on Saturday.  Well, in the end, it never rained.  But, there was a hell of a windstorm that not only would have scared the hell out of us had we slept in our meager tents surrounded by trees that night, but also spread a forest fire through the Pines.

Instead of gathering firewood Saturday afternoon, Monika, Schmoo and I went to Philly to see Julia Nunes, who I was originally pissed I was going to miss due to the camping trip.  It was a 4 pm show at North Star Bar in Fairmount because it was all ages and only ten bucks.  We got there in time for the opening act, a guy from Philly name Lucas Carpenter, who you can also check out here (all the loops were made on the spot, not pre-programmed).

I was glad we made it for him because I thoroughly enjoyed his show and got to meet him after his set.  We also got to meet Julia afterward along with the other 60 or so teenagers that were at the show.  We picked up a few of her CDs…

Monika, Julia and Maya on a Saturday afternoon.

and got some photos, too.  It was a great afternoon in the city and at least softened the blow of missing our hiking trip considerably.

Later that night we hung out with Marla and Rob and Kreg and Kat over a campfire and some cigars.  At least we got outside for another night and had some more outdoor time.  The next morning, neither me nor Monika had to work, which was why we were originally going camping in the first place.  But, even though we didn’t have to work formally, I had tons of stuff to do around the house and yard.

I worked in my garden, did laundry and dishes and the normal boring crap. But, I did finally finish and mount the huge wooden gear above my garage.  And, after discovering some directions online, I made some of my own recycled bottle tiki torches.  The details of how to make these is in a coming blog post.

I had a great weekend after all, but at the expense of my best friend’s shop and a potential epic weekend that could have been.  Hopefully both will be resurrected in the future, better than the original, and everything will work out in the end.

This entry was posted on May 12, 2010 at 7:02 AM and is filed under Good Times with tags atsion, Batsto, Camping, Hiking. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.