Our very first 'fun filled' camping trip! If you like this story, please, please - comment! I have several more in mind.....
KattieLynn
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We had been married for about a year when this story takes place. I had gotten home from work and found Tucker's car in the driveway (we were renting a house with option to buy after two years). This, in and of itself, was unusual as I commonly get home before he does. I opened the door and shucked off my work gear, carefully storing it in the hall closet (and picking his up from the living room -- he STILL hadn't learned about putting his stuff away!). I didn't hear him in the house and, walking through the kitchen, saw him in the backyard, standing over the outdoor grill.
I walked out onto the patio, coming up behind him (as he usually does to me) and put my arms around him, hugging him from behind.
"Man, something smells good!" I said, peeking over his shoulder at the two sirloins he had on the grill. "Honey, is that all we're having? I love steak, but a girl has to have some veggies and potatoes, and I didn't see anything on the stove!"
"Ah, my little detective! Your powers of observation must be slipping! The microwave is humming on 'warm' with two big twice baked potatoes and, if you had looked, you would have seen the dining room table all set with a big salad, complete with 'Tucker's Magic Dressing', guaranteed to 'undress' you later on tonight!" Now, that was something to look forward to!
"When did you do all this? What time did you get home?" I asked, somewhat perplexed (and a little concerned. Tuck doesn't take time off too frequently!).
"Kevin gave me the afternoon for that special assignment I worked on last week, the one that took several hours longer than we anticipated to conclude. I figured I would fix my wife a great meal with the extra time!"
Now my curiosity was really pricked! Tucker is a great cook but, since we were married, he's made maybe three dinners! He must want something and I was sure to find out shortly. The steaks were just about done (rare, the way I like them) and he was urging me to go inside and sit down. He even had the "KP" sign we picked up on our honeymoon (one of those 'cuties' newly wed things!) flipped to his name, so I was off the hook for clean up! What more could a girl ask for?!
I went inside and washed up, sitting down just as he came waltzing to the table, balancing the platter with the steaks and the baked potatoes. He set the food down and we started to eat. "Anytime now," ran through my head, knowing he was leading up to something. We chatted for several minutes, talking shop. I could see he was leading up to something and hadn't quite found the right opening to spit it out. Well, I wasn't going to help him! Sure enough, we started talking about some of the people we know at work. That's when it just 'popped' out!
"You remember Bob and Melissa, don't you? You met them at the Christmas party last year."
Yes, I remember them. Bob was a nice guy and worked with Tuck on the same team. Melissa was nice enough but a bit 'chatty' for my taste. Nice enough couple though.
"Well, Bob and I had lunch yesterday and he was telling me about this great camp grounds they found. He was wondering if we'd like to go on a camping trip with them."
OK, now it was out! Camping? The only camping trip I was ever on was a one-week camp out with my Bible study group when I was a junior in high school! I remember resisting the advances of Scott, the preacher's oldest son (who wanted to 'preach', but seemed to think my ears were located somewhere in my panties and I would hear his 'message' SO MUCH BETTER if he could just get them off me!), and clouds of black flies! I think I still have bites on my ass that itch from those little bastards!
Alarm bells were going off in my head as I asked, "Where is this 'great' camp grounds? And when do they want to go? What are the conditions like there? Is it really primitive (like in outhouses!) or are there any amities (like real bathroom!)?"
"Oh, it's about 25 miles from here and they were thinking of this weekend. The weather is supposed to be great!" I could see that he was excited about the prospect of a weekend in the woods (my own sense of excitement was greatly tampered by the memory of Scott's roving, very insistent hands, and black fly bites to various and sundry tender parts of my anatomy!).
"He says we'll be roughing it." Now 'roughing it' with Tucker can mean anything from no electricity to mortar rounds falling around the perimeter!
"I'll find out tomorrow and let you know. What do you think? Are you interested?" he said, with a hopeful look in his eyes.
"Find out and I'll check my work schedule with Steve (my team supervisor) to see if he have anything scheduled for this weekend (I knew I wasn't 'on-call' for the weekend, but what I needed to do was check the state DEC site to see what the season was for black flies, deer flies, and anything else that might bite me in the ass!). If we do go, what about equipment and the gear we'll need?"
"Don't worry about it; I'll take care of everything!"
OH, OH! Warning, KattieLynn! Warning! The phrase "Don't worry about it; I'll take care of everything!" coming from a husband is very often the prelude to "Honey, have you seen.....", or "Kattie, do you remember where we put.....", or maybe "Darling, I can't seem to find the ......"! Now, don't get me wrong. Tuck is (or was!) a very organized person (for a man!). But, it seems that, ever since I came into his life, I've become the 'chief keeper of our stuff'! It's like he's surrendered control over where ANYTHING is kept (except his beloved tools and firearms, which he has categorized, stored away, and knows if they're moved even a fraction of an inch, at which time there is all HELL to pay!). I rolled my eyes at this one.
"Hey, what was that for?" he exclaimed.
"Look, Tucker, the last time we went on a trip, I spent more time tracking down your stuff than I did packing mine!" I rejoined.
"Oh, yeah, I remember. That was when we went to your folk's house. I also seem to remember that I packed everything I needed for a WEEK in one small roll bag. YOU, on the other hand, had THREE suitcases, one of which almost gave me a hernia when I was getting it upstairs to your old room!"
Now we're laughing.
"OK, but girls need more stuff than guys do. You don't want me to look frumpy, do you?"
"Well, no, but trust me; I'll take care of everything we need if you decide we can make it." Nice of him, to defer the decision to me!
The next day, I checked. Black fly season was over a month away. Deer flies were after that. There didn't seem to be problems with that. TICKS! What about ticks? Nope, they were not expected to be an issue this year. OK, so we were going camping. I called his cell (he was on assignment in the field) and gave him the good news.
"GREAT! I'll get with Bob and work out the details!" He was so happy and excited, while I wondered if I would be on Monday morning. Well, I was committed now, no going back! That night, I had this dream that a bear was chewing on one foot and this huge black fly was chewing on the other! What a way to 'anticipate' a camping trip!
For the rest of the week, Tucker kept disappearing after dinner, out to various sporting goods stores. The garage quickly filled with an assortment of camping gear (I was just DIEING to see his American Express bill for next month! That might put an end to his ranting over my VISA bill from a recent shopping expedition with the girls!). He raided the storage shed behind the house and all of our upstairs closets (and, I must admit, with only an occasional "Honey, where's the....?'), piling more and more 'stuff' on the floor. Jesus, from the mountain of gear he had there, you'd think we were taking a company of Marines on an invasion of a hostile coast! How would we get all this 'stuff' in the SUV? Well, it was up to him! ""I'll take care of everything" was going to haunt him!
Friday afternoon, I'm all packed and ready. Taking NO CHANCES, I've packed jeans and long sleeved shirts (as well as bottles, spray cans, and jars of just about every brand of insect repellent I could find in the drug store!). Home from work, a quick dinner, help the big baboon pack all this crap in the SUV (it all fit inside or on the luggage rack -- what a surprise!) and we're off to the woods (Oh, joy!). After a quick 'pit stop' (he rushed me out of the house so fast I didn't even have time to pee!) we arrived at the campgrounds. I must admit the entrance was nice. Lots of trees, a beautiful log cabin where we registered, a very nice, kindly looking elder man checking us in.
"Yes, sir! You got the spot right below Bob and Melissa! One of the two best on the grounds. Have a nice stay!"
Tucker went out to the car to get his wallet. While he was gone, I quickly asked about black flies (DEC or no, that thought still haunted me!). "Oh, no! Don't you worry your pretty little head about that, Missus! None of those pesky critters around here at this time of year!"
OK, so Grandpa Gump was reassuring me. I'd believe that when my butt was headed home on Sunday with no bites (at least none from the flies -- I had some plans about nips from Tucker!). The site was really beautiful, separated from Bob and Melissa's by a good 50 feet and under some trees. Now to get 'set up' (a technical term for lots of grunting, several curses because the various pieces of gear don't quite fit together, the tent pegs were too short to hold in the soft soil, and on and on!). Finally, we're done. The tent looks pretty stable and he had thought to pick up two air mattresses (which goes to show that he's obviously done this before!). I unrolled the two sleeping bags he had brought along and put one of his old t-shirts on top of mine, so I would have something to slip into before climbing into the bag.