Journal

A weekend full of ups and downs

So before we headed off to go camping at Ledges, Shannon got the bad news that her grandmother (paternal) was having some hospital troubles and it looked as though it was just a matter of time before she was gone from this world.

Shannon still wanted to go camping, since this would really be her only vacation during the year...

So we continued on. Shannon had her cell phone and I did as well.

We headed up to get there around 3 or so, getting a call from Chris and Dave, stating that they wouldn't be making the whole trip on their bikes, so they'll be waiting for Holly to come get them. We hiked into our campsite and setup our tent. We started to build a fire with the limited amount of wood we had around us. We made some flames.

The rest of the camping party arrived and we helped them bring their gear in.

So camping frivolaty ensused. For dinner, I preped the ingredients for silver dollars (meat (sausage, ground beef, Parmesan, red pepper flakes, basil and pepper), onions, potatoes (pepper, olive oil), carrots and corn). We wrapped them up in tin foil, put them in the fire, and let them cook. They turned out fantastic. That plus many more beers and scotch, we were feeling pretty happy. Shannon and Holly turned in as the night grew more and more cold.

After a while longer, the men finally went to bed (after taking their sleeping medicine (ask Dave)).

I got to sunggle right into my mummy sleeping bag. it was the first time that I've really gotten to use it, the last time it was out, it was not near cold enough to even think about using it. It was quite warm. I took my arms in and out of the bag all night to control my body temperature. In the near freezing, if not freezing temperature, we were fine.

I got up first in the morning and spent quite a bit of time to my self, watching the dawn and the shadows move.

After a while the rest of the camp started moving. And eventually we had scrambled eggs and potatoes for breakfast. Afterwards we drove a bit to go hiking to find the Lost Lake. It was about a half mile hike, up and down many of the steps that Ledges are know for. Pretty landscapes, lots of scenery and a found like. Unfortunately for me, somewhere in there my shoe decided to attack my big toe, and to my surprise later, my sock became bloody...

Anyways, we headed into Boone, and picked up a few things and headed back to the campsite to make lunch. Chris drove Dave back down most of the way to Des Moines and came back. On his way back I got a joyous text message from Brandon, stating that, much to the odds makers misfortune, the Cyclones had pulled out a victory over the Hawkeyes!

woooooooooooo!

Anyways, we played some games, and some rain came, so we headed into Chris and Holly's supersized UFO tent and protected from the elements, we played some Yahtzee and then the card game Golf. After the rain stopped, we built up the fire again, and I made some brats (boiled in onions and beer, then grilled). We chatted around the memorizing fire until we started to doze off (me first) and then headed to bed.

The next morning, I started a fire (grunt man start fire) and had a nice one going while we ate breakfast. We moved our things back to the cars and packed up. We walked past several disheartened Iowa fans (hee hee) and headed back home.

We got home and setup our camp gear to fully dry out. Shannon called her mom and got tentative details on the funeral arrangments for her grandmother. So our busy, coming week, turns into a very busy one. It makes me sad that I won't be able to support Shannon directly, while this is happening. So she'll be heading up there, and I'll be headed on a business trip.

Ahh well...We're all packed up and ready to go our various paths. Shannon's warned her work...I feel bad for the cats. 2.5 days gone...followed by another period of being gone.