The First Official Weekend of Summer

Well compared to the last several weekends, this one was pretty laid back. It started out by having to put in a couple extra hours at work Friday evening. I got out of there about 7:30pm and headed for home. Wanda wanted to go down to Clover Bar to get something to eat so that's what we did. By the time we got out of there it was already getting dark.

We decided during dinner to go to the late movie, probably not the best idea after a week's worth of getting up early, but we did it anyhow. We went to the Grand Haven 9 and saw "Cars". The show started at 11:35pm and lasted 2 hours. We were the only people in the whole theatre which is one of the best reasons for going to the late movie. It was a fun, animated film about a race car that falls out the back of his hauler and ends up in a town off the beaten path. As with most animation these days, the visual effects were stunning, even if the story line was pretty tried and true. By the time we got home from the flick in was 1:30am. I stayed up for a bit and then hit the sack cuz I was heading in to work at 7:00am.

I was at work by 7:00am and stayed until 10:30, trying to catch up on some details. After leaving work I made some stops for stuff I was going to need so that I could head up to the campsite with the camper and two dogs for the first official overnight stay. I'd called MarkE Thursday and Friday mornings to find out where we were at and to make sure the pad for the camper would be leveled and ready to plunk the camper down on when I got there Saturday. He assured me that it'd be ready so about 1 00pm, after spending a quick 10 minutes visiting with Jennette (and Ryan), who'd decided to come up for the weekend at the last moment, I headed off for Whiskey Creek.

The drive up to the campsite was uneventful, but when I pulled into the driveway at 5010 E. Meadowview Trail what should appear to my eyes, but a big ole pile of dirt....smack in the middle of the spot where I'd planned on putting the camper. Obviously ole Mr. MarkE isn't always to be believed. I got out of the truck and stood there for a couple minutes weighing my options and then decided to grab the shovel and start slinging dirt. So.....from about 2:30pm until 7:30pm, that's what I did, sling dirt. By 7:30 I was dirty, tired, sore and more than a bit irritated that my plan for the day hadn't even gotten off the ground cuz I spent the whole damn afternoon and evening trying to get the pad ready for the camper to be parked on it. Something that was suppose to have been done before I even pulled in the lot.

By the time I got the camper situated on the roughly leveled pad and got it set up, it was almost 8:30. I jumped in the van with the intention of going into Ludington to get something to eat and pick up a few things, but a couple miles down the road I said phooey, turned around and went to the lodge in hopes there'd be someone there to make a hamburger. Well, it was my lucky day, there was a young lady there who made a mean cheeseburger and a great chocolate malt. After the meal I was renewed, less grumpy and decided I'd take a second and drop in at the Fett's place to say howdy before going back to camp. The Mrs. was there so I talked to her for a couple minutes, but the Mr. was out cruising around with his buddies. After our short chat I went back to camp and quickly dug a fire pit and gathered some dead wood before it got dark. Mr. Fett showed up with his buddies as I was finishing up the firepit and introduced me to everyone. They hung around for a bit and then headed back out for another round of cruising. Once I got the fire going nicely myself, Mercury and Bailey all just kinda collapsed where we sat for the next couple hours. With the dogs there I didn't see much wildlife although we did hear a deer snort once and several owls hooted close by for awhile. No bears though and probably just as well, I'd been too tired from all the dirt shoveling to fight 'em off. Just about midnight we all gave it up and went to bed, thus ensuring, I thought, that we'd all get up early to head back home in the morning.

Sometime during the night it started to rain and by the time we got up it had made the area real wet. It was coming down pretty hard as I tried to get things around and packed up for the ride home. I decided I was leaving the camper up there, for better or worse. I was figuring it was about 8:00am or so when I turned on the cell phone to check the time....so imagine my surprise when the phone said 11:17am! Holy Moly I must've been tired. Slept about 11 hours straight except for waking up once during the night to make a short trip outside.

Well, I'd told Wanda I would be home by 10:00am to make breakfast for her, the daughter and grandson so needless to say I was on the shit list for not being there when I said I would be. By the time I got packed up, locked up the camper and made the trip home it was almost 1:00pm when I pulled in the driveway. Jennette and Ryan were at Gigi's house visiting so I decided to make something to eat and because I could....I made breakfast for myself and my four-legged friends. We shared pancakes and Bacon and after eating I went out and unloaded the van and put stuff away.

When Jennette and Ryan came back I spent a little time with them, but they were taking off back to Indiana when Wanda took off for Bingo so with Chris off skateboarding I was by myself again by 3:30pm. So, I took a shower, ran some errands and then decided to go down to Jeannies' for the Sunday night Cruise-in. I took Mercury with me and he made some new friends during the evening. I got something to eat, shot the breeze and took some pics like usual. I had one guy who volunteered to move his car over by the pond and trees for some pics so I said sure and fired off a dozen shots. I had some nice ones on the disc too, the only problem was that somehow this evening, I managed to reformat the disc rather than finalize it, which wiped out everything I did for the weekend. Aaaaarrrgggg....First time I've ever done that and hopefully it'll be the last time too.......what a pisser, can't believe I did that. Pretty much the same deal as losing a roll of film in the mail I guess, had that happen too in the olden days. :-(

It was 8:30pm by the time I left the parking lot and headed North for home. I cruised thru town once before putting the hot rod back in the garage. Then, to finish off the weekend I made a couple batches of Cookies, which kept me busy until the wife returned home. That pretty much recaps the whole weekend. This coming week I've got to get busy and finish choosing the route for our bike trip out to Western Wisconsin and the MIssissippi river. Right now though............it's time to get some sleep.

TC