The Working Vacation

Well as I figured it’d be, it was a very quick week that just passed by. I did my two days at work, although neither one of them was a full day….got sent home early both days so they could turn off the lights and shut off the air compressor. I was out of there Tuesday afternoon by 2:15 and went straight home to load up the truck with tools and dogs and headed out of town about 3:30pm.

Wanda beat me to camp and had things opened up by the time I got there about 5:00pm. We set about getting things organized and then had to make a run to Bonsers for groceries so we could fill up the fridge with needed items. By the time we got back it was getting quite cloudy and thunder was rumbling off in the distance so we got busy making supper before the skies opened up. It wasn’t long after we finished eating that it started to sprinkle and from then on thru most of the night it rained, thundered and lightening. At times it was a torrential downpour but we all stayed safe and dry under the canopy until it was time for bed.

We woke up the next morning to gray skies but by noon the sky was blue and it stayed that way pretty much for the rest of our time at camp. The 4 days we were there went by quickly and the standard routine was wake up, take the dogs for a walk around the area, make breakfast and then spend from late morning until supper time working around the campsite on various projects along with throwing the ball or Frisbee for the furkids whenever one of them dropped their toy of choice at my feet. The biggest project we completed over the 4 days was to clean up the huge brush pile we had and mow and rake down the whole hillside on the east side and claim it as part of the “yard”. I also got the stone and mortar fire ring done and it looks pretty good. Once the mortar has cured a bit I’m going to brush off the loose and excess stuff from the rock faces so the rocks are more prominent, but it looks impressive in the middle of the clearing.

I believe it was Thursday morning I got up early (6am) and went for an extended hike. It was quite foggy and made the hike thru the woods even quieter than usual. We hiked around the lake and thru the hillside campground before coming back to our place for breakfast.

Friday zoomed by just like the previous two days and before we knew it, it was Saturday morning. We hung out at camp until about noon and then resigned ourselves to packing things up, turning things off and locking stuff up so we could head for Grand Haven. We got back to town about 3 or so and the rest of the day was spent pretty close to home.

Sunday was bike trip day to Big Rapids for the Eckels / Fortin family reunion. Myself and Chris were heading out of town just about 10:am and made it to the folks house just a bit before noon. We followed the folks over to Aunt Lucy’s house and in the space of the next two hours we chatted with relatives and ate a bunch of good food. After the long drive to get there I wasn’t in a big hurry to leave but I was in the minority. Seems like most folks that came, ate and ran…by 2:30 most everyone was already gone. I always thought that a reunion was more about getting caught up on other folks lives than eating but maybe I was wrong, again. Anyhow, we hung around for a while longer with the few folks that were left. I talked with Cousin John, whose wife recently divorced him. He came with a new girlfriend and one of her kids. I talked a bit too with Uncle Sonny about motorcycles and the economy. Uncle Sonny’s kid, Mark was there with his daughter, who’d just graduated from high school. I hadn’t seen him in a long time. I did Mark’s wedding photography, but I couldn’t even tell you what year it was although I do remember a lot of details about the event itself. About 3:00 or a bit after me and Chris decided to say our goodbyes too and then made a stop at the folk’s house for a half hour before making the run for home.

On the way home we felt for awhile like we were in one of those Psycho driver movies. We’d made a stop at the gas station on the east side of the Muskegon River and as we made our way out onto the road again there was a semi coming down the road. I had plenty of room to pull so I didn’t give it a second thought until we got about to the river and I looked in my mirrors, which were full of semi grill. The SOB was right on our butt. I pulled ahead a bit going up the other side but a mile down the road he was right on our backside again. The speed limit there is 55 and I was doing 60 / 65 so I figured I was going fast enough and he could just cool it. It’s not like it’s a highway, it’s a two lane blacktop country road. So we kept on at a constant speed and when we got to the straight stretch that leads into White Cloud this moron in the semi makes an attempt to pass us! All of a sudden I realized he was in the other lane trying to go around us as we went up a grade. I maintained my speed and he had to drop back in line. That was amazing enough but a couple miles down the road when he made a second attempt he came a bit too close to the bike. Chris hollered at me and so I picked up the pace and he had to fall in line again. As we came into White Cloud I was mentally preparing to deal with this asshole when we reached the stoplight, but he hung back until the light turned green and then we had to go south and he headed north. I don’t know what the hell his problem was, but he was in too damn big a hurry for the road he was driving on. After that experience the rest of the ride home was safe and sane. We’d met our idiot for the day and made it home clear without any more excitement. The rest of Sunday was spent doing the typical stuff, laundry and dishes and before I knew it, it was time to wake up from my chair downstairs and go to bed. A full work week dead ahead and the mini-vacation break already a memory.

TC