Lefty lets us down...so does Nellie...as does the weather

Owen has been looking forward to the last week of school for some time now. Not just because it is Final Fun Week but because we get to spend the last week of school camping since we needed to be out of the condo for the painters. Owen dreams of a life as a true dirt bag. Its kinda his style. We have been offered many a bed under friends' roofs or even just a place to park overnight but Owen wanted to spend the first night in the woods. We checked out Mike Harris CG thinking it would still be deserted this time of year but there was already a camp host parked collected $10/night. We feel it should be free to sleep in the woods if you are surrounded by thousands of acres of national forest. We drove up Moose Creek and picked the first pull off over the bridge with a bear box. (We may be cooking meat, you know) It is a great spot adjacent to trails and the creek.

First let me explain that before Tony left me in charge of "his" van he gave me a long lecture on stewardship and how this van was built the year he graduated from high school and there were procedures and rules and blah, blah, blah..............

Upon parking I immediately opened the glove box to retrieve a trail map and found I could not close it. I tried for a good 15 minutes and even called Tony (he informed me that nothing like that ever happened when he had the van; he has owned it for 3 weeks, mind you) for suggestions but the damn thing was stuck.

After hiking and then dinner preparation, Owen closed the sliding door to the steady wind and rain that had started up. When I went to open it 5 minutes later to let the dog in it would not open. It was locked and would not unlock. Another call to Tony. Disbelief on his part.

So I had to let Nellie in the front door. She was mid-air in her jump onto the front seat when the smell of unholy putrescence hit out nostrils. She was covered from head to tail in cow shit and looking very pleased with herself. By this time in the evening the temperature had dropped to the low 40s and it was apparent that I was going to be wading in the torrenting, snow-melt-frigid creek with my dog and a bottle of dish washing liquid. After 3 washes she was almost sufferable and I felt like there were knives stabbing into my body where it was submerged in water. The parts that were not submerged in water were soaked from what had turned into a downpour. Nellie was no longer looking so smug.

The rest of the evening was fun. We ate a dinner unworthy of interest by bears: tortellini with fresh parmigiano, steamed broccoli with a hollandaise sauce and scrambled eggs. We played bat gammon and read some chapters of Lassie Come Home. Uneventful.
The next morning as we pull out onto Old Jackson Hwy I smell gasoline and stop to investigate only to discover gas pouring out from under the carriage of the vehicle. This is never a good sign. Another call and Tony decides he will be taking off work to drive to Victor to rescue me.

Thanks goodness I am married to someone who can not only fix robots but 1984 VW Vans!!