From Girlfriends to God

When I was younger, I always dreaded it when my family would go camping. I loathed the idea of pitching a tent and "roughing it" for a night or two. I find it remarkable, looking back, that as an 18 year-old one of the fondest memories I'll possess of my final summer before college will be a camping trip.

Curtis Goble, Carrie Jude, Jamie Duty, C.J. Adams, Heath Wilson, Cameron Allen and Byron Meade. Those are the seven people I spent a night with at Yatesville Lake. All together, a combination of folks who very well represent the massive personality differences that can exist amongst an entire group of people who love each other dearly.

The party began at Wal-Mart thirty minutes before any of us laid eyes on the campsite aside from Byron, who went to survey and such earlier in the day and was waiting there for us. We were going to be camping the entire night. Therefore, we were justified in spending nearly 80 bucks on pillows, Mountain Dew, towels, hot dogs and buns, potato chips, marshmallows, chocolate, graham crackers, two bags of ice, a case of Sam's Choice water and mustard. Oh, and Cheez-its. Because if there aren't Cheez-its around, you aren't really camping, are ya?

We checked out, amid discussion between Duty and Cameron about whether the girl at the cash register was a 3 or a 4, both settling on 4 after a while. After paying, we loaded up the cars and set off for the campground.

The half a mile walk to the camp site felt longer each time I walked it, and I believe this feeling was consensual among all of us. Especially C.J., Heath, Byron and I, who around 2:30 AM would have to pack 50 lb stumps because we wanted to keep the fire burning into the post midnight hours out of want of heat and fear of bears. Those stumps may or may not have stolen from various other campsites

After pitching three of the seven tents available to us at the time (Curtis and I informed we were bringing three and that would be plenty. Some others apparently thought not), everyone except Byron jumped into the lake and swam across to the other side, doing a fine job of dodging any hazards that could have been in the water. You know, sharks and snakes and stuff. Legitimate concerns. C.J. found a log for Curtis and I to ride back to the other side on (due to a desire to relive the "It Got Sanked" day), and nobody ever got back in the water for the rest of the trip. Fishing was done in large amount, though, and absolutely none were cooked. *wink*

We played cornhole for a couple of hours. It was the first time I'd ever played while score was actually being kept. It took me a while to understand how it worked, but it made sense after I got a few rounds in. Curtis was my partner, and while we pretty much stunk it up the entire time, each game we played was exciting, all but one coming down to a point or two. What we lacked in skill (which Team Carrie/C.J. and Team Heath/Byron had plenties of) we made up for with competitive spirit and determination. And luck. Lots of it.

A hike was taken on the "haunted trail", which was really just a badly lit trail that didn't get any brighter with night's beginning. There was a "Blair Witch Project" quality about that whole experience, probably due mostly to the fact that Heath was recording parts of the hike and referencing the movie. Torches made out of Mountain Dew cans, a product of Jamie Duty's amazing ingenuity, lit the way (along with some flashlights) and allowed us some morsels of sight. The entire experience, with flaming shirts, flaming hair and flaming curse words abound, will be on YouTube in due time.

It was a little after the hike that we went scavenging for firewood. Myself and the others I alluded to earlier hopped into C.J.'s car and assisted in "gathering" fire wood that had been abandoned by people. We contemplated sneaking into the place where the park managers actually cut and store the wood they sell, but we decided against it once we found three stump-sized pieces of wood, each weighing over 50 pounds. For an out of shape guy who weighs as much as five of those stumps would have weighed, that was enough heavy lifting to do on a half a mile walk. I even took my shirt off for the occasion.

Carrie left for home soon after that, unable to spend the night with us. What followed next were several hours of man talk. I won't go into the details of what was specifically stated by which person, as I am of the belief that after true, pure love between two people, man talk is the most sacred object in existence, and the code of man forbids me to break its trust. I will say that many topics were touched, from the past to the future, from misfortune to opportunity, from girlfriends to God - very few stones were unturned that night. It was spectacular.

After someone heard growling in the woods, or claimed so anyway, man talk was over and it was time to act like men. We set up a perimeter wire using our abundance of Mountain Dew cans and kept the fire going with anything we had left - pillows, towels, potato chip bags - pretty much everything we'd bought earlier. But, what's $80 if it can't be burned to keep your face from being mauled by a hungry bear. Or squirrel.

Our fears settled and we drifted into slumber soon after. We awoke the next morning without much being said. It would be the last time some of us would see each other for a while, possibly forever. Yet, no sad feelings saturated the entire experience. It was just like we were back in A.P. English or A.P. Chemistry, joking around every minute and having a blast. Even when we revealed our introspective sides the night never felt depressing. Tender, perhaps, but never a downer.

Nope, we left with not much exchanged in the form of words but with a lot shared in the form of memory. The 7:30 AM sun shined bright on us that Friday morning as we each set out in our own directions, as everyone watched each other leave one last time.

Each direction was different, and will be for the rest of our lives. However, there's much to be said about a group of friends that can make a guy who used to hate camping long for another night like that. The direction I take has been painted with the memories that the guys I spent that night with and others have helped me make. I hope I have stained their paths just as much.

Prince Batman, AWAY!!!
Joshua Aaron Moore

Quote of the Day
"Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long you live." --- Author Unknown.