Camping

Well I just had a panic filled 10 minutes. I was filling out my "New Employee" packet for Kings Island and I was reading over the things I am required to bring to orientation. One of them was my social security card. I have an old zippered bank pouch that contains all of our "important" documents. Like the 10 to 15 active credit cards that we never use. It is amazing to think that I have over $40,000 at my disposal. Fortunately they all have 0 balances, we just keep them for emergencies. Also in the pouch is my old Air Force Dependant ID card (I looked so cute in that picture), my old college ID's, Matthew's old college ID's, old library cards from every county we have lived in, and various season/annual passes for Kings Island (I have my first one -1984), Sea World Orlando, Walt Disney World Orlando, Six Flags Over Georgia and The Beach Waterpark. The pictures get progressively worse the older I get. I guess that's why I keep them. ANYWAY. All of that and no SS card. I look up online to see what one does if one loses their SS card. Wait 2 weeks for a replacement to be sent! I don't have 2 weeks! Orientation is on Sept 6! Where else would I have put the damn card? Why in a purse of course. I must have needed it to get my KY driver's license. I throw every purse in the closet onto the floor and go through the wallets. My beloved Louis Vuitton purse held my beloved Louis wallet (both 15 years old and still hanging on. for that price they better last forever!) which held my SS card. Thank god! I feel better now.

We went camping this weekend. Just for one night actually. Turns out it was more of a reconnaissance mission than anything else. We camped HERE. It was quite nice actually. Our site was right next to the water. It was a rocky beach, but a beach nonetheless.

It took us about 3 1/2 hours to get from Ft. Wright to Lake Cumberland near Russell Springs, KY. Not bad. Most of it was on "Scenic Routes". Which we usually dread on road trips because that is just another way to say Long Winding Roads That Take You Completely Out of Your Way. But on this trip, it was nice. Along the way we saw several hearses advertising the Hustonville Haunted House. For a small town Haunt, they seem to put a lot of effort in to it. Makes me think it might be quite good. I would love to see it, but I don't think I will be able to make it down there. Plus driving 2 hours for something that could possibly suck is enough to really make me put this one on the back burner. But I am impressed with their Web page alone.

We get to the Alligator 2 Dock around 12:30 and check in. I had called my friend Gayla earlier in the week and told her I would call her when we arrived. The one pay phone at the dock is not working. And of course my cell phone does not work down there. Oh well. I thought we might go into town later in the day and I will call then. Matthew was anxious to get the jetski in the water and play. Guess what! It wouldn't start! Great! We pull over to the parking area and he tries to jump start it. Still nothing. He decided it needed to charge awhile. So we go back to the campsite and leave it hooked up to the car while we go swimming and finish setting up our camp. Bijoux went swimming too. She still doesn't seem to like water much. But she is just a baby. Maybe she will learn to like it.

After an hour or so, he went up to check on the ski. Still nothing. He then determines that the jumper cables are a cheap piece of crap and we need new ones. So we journey into town to find KMart. We buy new jumper cables and let the ski charge while we eat at Long John Silvers. When we go back out, the ski starts! Yay! So we go back to the marina to put it in the water. It is now around 4pm. (3pm by their time though) Before we completely unhook it from the trailer, he tries to start it again. Nothing but a click. By this time I am starting to get mad. Even more so when he says, "I guess I should have checked this before we left. Since we don't use it much, the battery needs to be trickle charged overnight before using it. Remember, we did that before we went on the houseboat trip last year." He knows this. I have no idea why he didn't take care of this before we left. I was pretty pissed and convinced the trip was ruined now.

In typical cockeyed optimist Matthew fashion he says "Let's not worry about it. Let's just go back to the campsite and swim. Hang out, relax and enjoy the solitude." The campground was pretty empty for one of the last weekends of summer. I would say only about 5 or 6 sites were occupied. So that's what we did. Oh - I forgot to mention that I did finally get ahold of Gayla. After many pay phone attempts. At K-Mart, the gas station and Long John Silvers. I did not realise it was a long distance call. So I had been dialing it wrong. Anyway, she said they would stop by later on. She did not want to come out in the heat. M'kay.

Around 8pm we start a nice fire and cook hotdogs and beans. Ahhh...the outdoorsman's diet. After we ate, we had an unexpected visitor. A skunk! I saw him run behind our tent, but thought I was seeing things. Then he came around front and knocked over Bijoux's food bowl. I grabbed her before she could go after him. The last thing I need is for her to get sprayed. I held her in my arms while Pepe LePew chowed down on her food. She just growled at him.

We sat by our fire for another hour or so and started to get tired. It had been a long day. It was getting late and I was wondering if Gayla was going to show up. Will this be another person I have to write off? I am so tired of being disappointed by people. It's just not worth it. But she finally showed up just as we were getting ready to go to bed. They stayed for about an hour or so. I always wish I had more time to spend with her. Our visits are usually so limited and by the time we get comfortable, it is time for one of us to leave. Of all my childhood friends, I think she is the one I most like to spend time with as an adult. Don't know why. That's just the way it is.

We woke up around 7am the next morning and were packed up and ready to go by about 11am. We got home around 3, unpacked, showered, gave the dog a bath and did one load of laundry. I like things to be put away as quickly as possible after returning from a trip. Otherwise it is likely to sit there for days. We were too tired by then to cook so we went to Longhorn for dinner and got back in time to watch Sex and the City. Ahhh Mulder. You are looking a bit older, but I still love ya.

So all in all it was a good trip. At least I found out I love that campground. The location is awesome! We have also both decided we need a bigger boat. Definitely by next summer.

Back to the bit about writing people off. Before we left on our camping trip, Matthew called his brother Greg (Julia's husband) to ask if we could possibly borrow his boat. It would just be nice for all 3 of us (me, Matthew and Bijoux) to be on the boat together. The jetski is fun, but it's not very convenient sometimes. Greg's reply "That's a hard one. What if we go with you?" NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! No way. Matthew told him "OK" though. Later Greg called back and said they could not go and "As hard as it is to say no, it is harder to say yes". WHATEVER. All he has is a rather old, small, jet powered sportboat. Not a million dollar yacht. And don't you think if we damaged it in any way we would take care of it. This is your family. That just really pissed me off. We have loaned our jetski to one of Matthew's co-workers. A very nice guy and Very Responsible. As anal as Matthew and I are, I was really shocked that Greg had a problem with this. Have I mentioned FAMILY? So...after this and the Julia incident a couple Sunday's ago and their all take/no give general attitude, I have gotten out my red marker and they are on the write off list. Am I over-reacting? Maybe. But that's just the way it is.

Paul Simon wisdom and thought for the day -
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore."