Yesterday

So today it's raining here in wonderful Waynesboro, VA and as such I decided that I was going to stay in town one more day. It was not a hard decision. Camping out at the Y is great fun and free.

Yesterday was Mothers Day and my friend and fellow hiker Zen Master's mom and dad were going to drive into town to go to dinner. Asking me if I'd like to go along I said yes. Sundays in W'boro are pretty awesome. Almost everything is closed except churches and ethnic food places. There's a few chain stores like the grocery store open, but that's about it. That morning he and I had gone to Weasie's, the local breakfast joint, for breakfast so when his folks showed up at our YMCA/hobo campground we chose to go to the outfitter and give our appetites a little time to warm up to the idea of a free lunch.

We get to the outfitters at noon and I had no motivation for going there at all except that it was something to do and there's always the prospect of there being attractive ladies to respectfully notice. I do believe I mentioned this in an earlier entry. I did nothing but do my noticing at the outfitter while Zen Master realized upon arrival that he'd forgotten to wear his shoes (we tend to wear our camp shoes whenever possible) and as such his reason for being there was nil. So off to lunch we go. It was either Meditteranean a la Virginie or Chinese Buffet and as I had had dinner at the Mediterranean joint (called Chick Peas or something cute like that) the night before I thougt it suitable for a mom on Mothers Day.

We sat at a table and me and Zen Master did our noticing of the clientele while trying to pay attention to the conversation at the table enough to not have to become distracted from our personal tasks at hand or actally get involve in the conversation. It was impossible. We ordered our lunch which was a large pizza for all of us to share and we each got pita sandwiches of some kind. I got some kind of Lamb.

So after this we went to the vegetable stand because we'd all decided that we should use the grilling facilities at the camp site and make fajitas. Rumors have soared of my culinary ability and it's not hard at all to talk people into this. I'm just saying. So we get peppers and jalapenos and onions and cactus and decide to go to the actual grocery store later as it's pretty early in the day.

We get back to camp and ZM and his folks go back to the outfitter with his shoes to get the insoles he needs, but it's no use. He returns soon enough with nothing as there's nothing that fits his shoes somehow.

It's Sunday so there's really nothing to do as the library's closed, the bookstore's closed and so forth. The Y's open so some people go swimming. Me, ZM and Long Johns go to the store for the rest of the food and libation and haul it all back to the campsite. Sort of like bums.

We start in on the beer first, of course, and just chat the day away. It was a beautiful day and the sky was just the right amount of blue. The buttercups drifted over the ground all over the place and the reeds in the pond poked at the sky while the ducks behaved stupidly. Eventually dinner got started.

It was delicious. It's not that easy cooking on a grill with no real dishes or tools. Since we live in the wilderness for the most part we were able to manage. Or thought we were. We did fine. We had aluminum foil and so I roasted the corn, peppers and cactus and eventually got around to grilling up the steak. It was a great achievement as far as I'm concerned. To my pleasure, everyone agreed.

We sat around the table at the camp site like civilized people eating with our hands and drinking too much beer, perhaps, as the night lingered on. The weird guy who showed up that morning sat around moping and talking about jumping off a bridge (I wanted to push him off of one myself, to save him the trouble) but not even this could deflate our good time. Nothing would be able to.

It began to get dark finally and I started to clean up everything and everyone prepared for the night to settle in over us. I was putting my stuff in my tent when I heard a lot of ruckus going on in the bushes behind me by the river.

"What's that?" I asked Spielberg (another hiker) and he told me it was a hiker.

"One we know?" I asked him. He said it was.

I'd figured that whoever it was was stumbling around in the bushes looking to pee somewhere (old habits die hard and even though there's a port-a-john there...well that's just how we do at the moment. I'm not proud of it but it is funny.) and had forgotten there headlamp as it had just suddenly gotten dark. I decide to see who on earth it is and perhaps help them out.

I get around the corner where the bushes start and I see Zen Master looking up at me from a great distance.

"Are you in the river?" I ask him. He tells me that yes he is.

"Would you like a hand?"

"Okay."

So I give the poor guy a hand and drag him out of the river. The bank was pretty steep and somehow he'd managed to fall into the river and go completely in over his head and everything. No real reason for it, it just happened. After establishing that he was okay and not injured or anything I ask him if he needs anything. He doesn't, so I tell him that I won't mention this to anyone that he can do that on his own. They hadn't heard anything and they're all only about 20 feet away on the other side of the bushes. Amazing. I go out and sit down at the picnic table and a few minutes later ZM comes out wearing only his drenched shorts and dripping hair and says: "I'm not that drunk, but I'm all wet because I just fell in the river. I was just looking into my own little world and slipped down. But that's why I'm all wet and smell fetid."

The laughter went on for quite a while. It was hilarious and ZM managed to warm himself over the still-warm coals in the grill and put on some dry clothes. He smelled pretty bad, but I've gone into that before, too. We all stink.

Just another day in the life out here.

Later on,

Jonathan