feeding the fishes.

Well It seems that I have survived my camping excursion. Actually it was a really fantastic trip. The ride out to the Island which is 68 miles from Key West was pretty eventful except for the occasional passenger of oriental decent who had to toss his or her cookies off of the back of the boat. There were quite a few. We arrived, unloaded all our camping gear and commenced to setting up camp. I had purchased an Eddie Bauer tent of Ebay a few years ago and this was the first time that I had the chance to use it. I really didnt have any idea after this time had passed as to what kind of tent it was, but I thought I'd give it a try. Turns out that it is big enough to sleep 4 to 6 people, and is tall enough that you can stand up in it. The down side is that it is almost all mesh and you have to attach the rain cover if you want any privacy at all. Luckily all the parts were there including the stakes, which was a good thing because they were having 45 mile an hour winds on the island, and there were only two campsites that had windbreaks, both occupied when we arrived. Our tent was in the direct path of the winds all nite long, it flapped and shook and shuddered like it was going to blow right off the island with us in it, but it held. I couldnt believe it. I really did expect it to blow away. I can only think that it stayed staked to the ground because all that mess on the sides just let the wind blow thru it like a freeking gale all nite long. Truthfully, the hanging accessory bag that we hung from the ceiling blew back and forth in the breeze all nite long like a hammock for you camping gear.
Oh I forgot to mention that one of the engines on our boat was smoking like a coal fired locomotive by the time we arrived at the island, I do admit I did feel a little apprehensive when it left us there on the island, with just the rangers and 8 other campers. We enjoyed sandwhiches and lite lunch on the ship before the ship headed back to Key West, and spend the rest of the afternoon hiking around the island and Fort Jefferson. It is way cool, I probably too 50 pictures of different stuff. So far a pretty good time was being had by all. Around 10p.m., Dave decided to make dinner. Italian sausage and sauteed vegetables. Great idea, but we hadnt planned on the gale force winds and we had to use the grill at one of the campsites with the windbreak. We tried to no avail to start ours, even starting the charcoal in the tent in a steel pot and trying to transfer it to the grill. I'm sure that to the rest of the campers we looked like a couple of green horns. Huge tent for two people, cant get our own grill started and trying to cook by a battery lantern that gave off just enough light to find the grill. I was a GREAT nite. I had the best time. We got up early the next morning, had scrambled eggs and bacon, and packed up for the trip back home. I was extremely impressed with myself because I managed to get all the tent parts folded up and back in the original bag.
Now for the really fun part. Our boat didnt come back to get us. Seems like nobody really didnt why but it was either the smoking engine called it quits, or the weather was too bad. You see the waves on the return trip home were REALLY REALLY big. 15 to 20 foot swells, and the captain of the tour boat that we were hitching a ride on was really crabby at the start because on the way out half of the passengers got sick and were hurling up all over the boat. Which brings me to some questions that I dont really understand. The waves were great and the boat was rocking up and down like a first class roller coaster ride, splashing everybody with water.
Before were 10 miles from the island the hurlers were at it again. Here is what I dont understand, most of the people that were losing lunch, were the same group that lost breakfast, and you should have seen them at lunch. Piling their plates like they werent going to get to eat again for the next week. And 8 out of ten hurlers were oriental. You would think that a culture that eats mainly fish, lives on an island and are supposed to be some kind of master sailors from history could handle a little rough seas, but nope. One lady, skinny as all hell managed to fill 7 bags. The back of the boat, which is where they all line up hoping to keep the rest of us clean and away from the odor, looked like an add for free flights to Japan. And they have no natural sea legs, it was GREAT fun watching them trying to negotiate to the back without falling flat on their skinny little asses. One guy spent half of the time rubbing his girls back and holding her hand while she let her rip about every 10 minutes only to join her on the rail a few short miles later praying to the goddess of white paper bags. The rest of us took turns standing at the rail, wind and sea in our faces, much like a dog with it's head stuck out the window tongue wagging in the breeze as if he had good sense. I have to admit standing on the front of the bow, was some of the best fun that I have ever had. I stood the whole trip back, all 68 miles and 2.5 hours. It was probably the best two days that I have had in years. I cant wait to go back and stay on the island when I have more that just a couple of days.
I'm on my way home now. Sad that my trip is over, and really excited to see Hannibel and Shooter, and the rest of the beasts. I guess its time to get them ready for the upcoming shows. Oh yeah, and I get to race my car in about 3 weeks.