32oneimthebomb

Spent Saturday hung over and didn't get much done other than some last minute packing for the camping trip, and a little food shopping.

Sunday I was running late and feeling a little apprehensive about the camping trip. Lana and I both knew it was going to be raining the whole weekend, yet we decided to go anyway. Were we crazy? Only time would tell.

OK, so I'd planned on getting over to her place around 11:30 am, but didn't even get out of my house until quarter after twelve. On my way out the front door, I realized that I couldn't find my keys..hmmmm..

I got over to her place around 12:30. No big deal, she was running a bit late as well. We did some last minute re-arranging of the food each of us had brought, and loaded everything into her car. Once we took off conversation seemed pretty lively, but quickly trailed off. There seemed to be some tension in the air and I was still feeling a bit of apprehension. In fact, part of me didn't even want to be going camping. But I still wanted to spend time with Lana, and I knew she really wanted to go. I hadn't eaten lunch yet, and she had seeped in 'till 11:15 and had no food yet that day so we stopped at an A&W for some lunch. She had the chicken strips and an A&W root beer, I had the deluxe cheeseburger, fries and an A&W. It was raining when we left the restaurant but things seemed brighter between us. I was still a little leery about camping in the rain.

We got to the camp ground and checked in. The though of rain consumed me. As soon as we pulled into our campsite I was anxious to get the tent set up right away; nothing's worse than setting up a tent in the rain. Since I hadn't had time to waterproof the seams of my new tent, she borrowed a tent from her mother. She set it up with a mattress and sleeping bags inside in no time. Good, one worry off my mind. From there my mind turned to building a fire before the impending rainstorm. Her mother was also nice enough to give us some firewood for our trip. However, it didn't burn very well. I was there at the firepit trying to balance my desire to use her mothers wood(to show my appreciation for it) and my incessant desire to get a frikin fire going so we could cook something. Lana was over me watching the whole time so it wasn't hard to show her that it wasn't burning. Once I told her I was going to try to start the fire with some wood we'd purchased from the campground instead the kindling was almost gone. I almost gave up. She was able to handle the smoldering chunks of wood better than I was due to the fact that she's spent years handling clay, pots, and working with kilns. After she'd gotten things arranged into an "A" frame over the few embers that were remaining...all that was left to do was fan them a bit and the wood took off. Score two for Lana! It was actually raining by the time we got the fire going but I'd rigged up a tarp over the firepit while she was setting up the tent so I guess I deserve a Score! as well.

While I was struggling with the fire Lana was busy wrapping cat-fish fillets, peppers, butter, and garlic salt into some tinfoil. We put the foil packets on top of the coals and let them cook while we played Mancala on the picnic table, which was also under the tarp. After checking the fish a few times we'd decided that they were done enough and settled down to eat. Delicious! After that I was able to relax. The rain no longer threatened any major goals. But just then the park ranger came driving buy in his truck and was announcing that there was a tornado warning in the area and that everyone in the campground was supposed to take shelter in either the bathroom or the "interpretive center". I don't remember exactly how our conversation went, but somehow I got the impression that Lana knew where the interpretive center was and that it was within walking distance. On the way there, we took a right down an unknown path, which lent credence to the claim that she knew where the interpretive center was. The path led nowhere, it just looped us back to the main road. By then the rain had intensified and was starting to soak through my water-resistant jacket. I was also starting to doubt weather she knew where the interpretive center was or not. Turns out the place was about three quarters of a mile away and by the time we got there I was completely soaked. I spent some time in the men's bathroom trying to dry out my t-shirt using the hand dryer so I wouldn't catch hypothermia and by the time I came out they had sounded the all clear and the place was almost deserted. Lana was no where to be found. I had been a bit cross with her earlier and visions filled my head of her storming back the camp site without me. But Lana's not like that and after I calmed down I figured she must just be in the woman's bathroom. She was. She was in there trying to dry out my jacket using the dryer in there. Sweet of her. As we walked back to the campsite together, still raining, we were half amused and half annoyed...at least that was my state.

Once we got back to the campsite I was hoping to get the fire going again in order to dry out a little bit. I tried in vain for about 20 minutes or so and then gave up. We waited out the rain under the tarp for a little while then transferred our bags from the car to the tent and went inside to try and get some sleep. I changed clothes in the tent and it felt much better having gotten the wet cloths off. I laid still for a while just building up some body heat and then we played dominoes by candle light before going to sleep. The candle was the type that is poured into a glass jar with a lid on it so it was relatively safe but I kept on and on like an overprotective camp councilor about how we should "be vary careful" with it. I was still very cold, but Lana was able to take care of that too. ;-)