It was another gorgeous morning after a great night sleep. It’s so peaceful here.
I got up and went for a stroll down to the river bank. I noticed what looked like wild black raspberries on the ground. I’d seen these many times in the area growing up and have often gathered and eaten them. I looked around, but there were no raspberry bushes. I looked up and saw that these berries were not raspberries they were growing on trees above the path. They looked tasty, but I’m no fool, they could be poisonous. I brought home a handful along with a leaf off of the tree, posted the picture on my facebook page and asked if anyone knew what they were.
While on my computer I saw a city truck rounding the bend heading into the campground. My heart sank a little as I remembered I hadn’t checked in, or paid for the site. I crouched down a bit as they drove toward my site…they slowly drove by, went to the cul-de-sac at the end of the campground, turned around, slowly drove up and again went by. They looked like young men who were workers, not so much anyone who might be in charge. Minutes later they came back followed by a front-end loader and two other city trucks. They all slowly drove by, not paying any attention to me and began working on a project.
Throughout the day many official looking vehicles drove into the campground, all which concerned me a bit. I realized that most of them were people in company trucks who were playing hooky from work to sneak in an hour, or so of fishing. They park in the campground and use the path behind my bus. I learned to just be calm and patient when a new truck would roll in. I figured eventually someone would stop and bust me. I didn’t really have a good answer prepared, “I just got here”, “I was just going to check in”, “I forgot”, “I wasn’t sure how long I was going to stay and figured I’d pay at the end”? There were only two other campers in the park now. I figured if I was the only one I better register, or if the park completely fills up I better. Next weekend is the Fourth of July. I’m certain it will fill up then as there is a huge celebration in Saint Peter. The Forth is Saturday. Friday I plan on driving my Jeep to Saint Paul for The Taste of Minnesota Celebration and one last goodbye from my friend Cesar. I don’t really want to leave my bus here alone, unregistered for the whole day, especially as the campground fills up for the holiday weekend. If I make it until then I’ll probably register before I go to Saint Paul.
I needed a few supplies, so I went to the grocery store that we shopped at when I was growing up. It didn’t give me any wicked flashbacks. It had been remodeled, who knows, maybe a couple of times by now. I tried to remember what it used to look like.
I was just going to go to the store and head back to the bus, but reminiscing made my curious, so I drove all over town. I saw the house I grew up in, schools, playgrounds, and businesses downtown. I drove by old friend’s houses slowly and wondered if their family’s still lived there. It was interesting how things had changed, yet once again stayed the same.
Back at the bus it was finally time to fix the leveling jack. When I hit the buttons I learned that now only one jack out of the four was functioning. No problem, I think I can fix them. Before I could get to them I noticed a facebook message from Thalia, a girl that I had known as a very small boy. Her mother used to babysit me. We had just reacquainted on facebook. I learned that she had traveled the world and was now looking to settle down a bit. Opposite of where I found myself in life, yet intriguing. I wanted to learn from her experiences. She was headed to a local bar for a few drinks. I remembered seeing a sign on my drive, “1/2 price Pints of Guinness 3-6pm”. That sounded perfect, so we met at Patrick’s.
When I walked in I recognized her right away. She is Hispanic with long flowing black hair and now covered in gorgeous, colorful tattoos, very intriguing. When we were little she was always more mischievous than me and it appeared that things were still the same. She had red streaks in her hair, beautiful lips and a perfect, almost fake smile. I was going to get a Guinness, she asked if I had ever had a Black and Tan. I never had, but had been curious in the past, so I thought, “No time like the present”. We got our drinks, went out on the patio and sat with her friend JR. The conversation was really fun and it was great to chat with her after all these years. I had a couple of Guinness’ after the Black and Tan. After a couple of hours, they had to go. Slightly buzzed I headed back to the park which was only about three blocks away. While walking home I was thinking about the tab. Hers had several “Taps” on it. I assumed they had put my beers on her bill, so I just paid it. It was only like $15 and that didn’t add up. I think I paid her tab and completely walked out on mine inadvertently. Buzzed and feeling good I kind of wanted to go back later for “Chicken Wing Night”, or their “World’s Best Burger”. Either I could go back and settle up, go back, ignore the situation and see if they remembered me, or never go back.
As I approached the bus I saw smoke and was surprised to see that the big log was still smoldering away in the fire pit. It was about two feet long now instead of three.
I’m always nervous when I leave the bus unattended while not checked in. There was no note on the door, or any sign of anything unusual.
I decided to just stay in that night and try to look up old friends.
I got up and went for a stroll down to the river bank. I noticed what looked like wild black raspberries on the ground. I’d seen these many times in the area growing up and have often gathered and eaten them. I looked around, but there were no raspberry bushes. I looked up and saw that these berries were not raspberries they were growing on trees above the path. They looked tasty, but I’m no fool, they could be poisonous. I brought home a handful along with a leaf off of the tree, posted the picture on my facebook page and asked if anyone knew what they were.
While on my computer I saw a city truck rounding the bend heading into the campground. My heart sank a little as I remembered I hadn’t checked in, or paid for the site. I crouched down a bit as they drove toward my site…they slowly drove by, went to the cul-de-sac at the end of the campground, turned around, slowly drove up and again went by. They looked like young men who were workers, not so much anyone who might be in charge. Minutes later they came back followed by a front-end loader and two other city trucks. They all slowly drove by, not paying any attention to me and began working on a project.
Throughout the day many official looking vehicles drove into the campground, all which concerned me a bit. I realized that most of them were people in company trucks who were playing hooky from work to sneak in an hour, or so of fishing. They park in the campground and use the path behind my bus. I learned to just be calm and patient when a new truck would roll in. I figured eventually someone would stop and bust me. I didn’t really have a good answer prepared, “I just got here”, “I was just going to check in”, “I forgot”, “I wasn’t sure how long I was going to stay and figured I’d pay at the end”? There were only two other campers in the park now. I figured if I was the only one I better register, or if the park completely fills up I better. Next weekend is the Fourth of July. I’m certain it will fill up then as there is a huge celebration in Saint Peter. The Forth is Saturday. Friday I plan on driving my Jeep to Saint Paul for The Taste of Minnesota Celebration and one last goodbye from my friend Cesar. I don’t really want to leave my bus here alone, unregistered for the whole day, especially as the campground fills up for the holiday weekend. If I make it until then I’ll probably register before I go to Saint Paul.
I needed a few supplies, so I went to the grocery store that we shopped at when I was growing up. It didn’t give me any wicked flashbacks. It had been remodeled, who knows, maybe a couple of times by now. I tried to remember what it used to look like.
I was just going to go to the store and head back to the bus, but reminiscing made my curious, so I drove all over town. I saw the house I grew up in, schools, playgrounds, and businesses downtown. I drove by old friend’s houses slowly and wondered if their family’s still lived there. It was interesting how things had changed, yet once again stayed the same.
Back at the bus it was finally time to fix the leveling jack. When I hit the buttons I learned that now only one jack out of the four was functioning. No problem, I think I can fix them. Before I could get to them I noticed a facebook message from Thalia, a girl that I had known as a very small boy. Her mother used to babysit me. We had just reacquainted on facebook. I learned that she had traveled the world and was now looking to settle down a bit. Opposite of where I found myself in life, yet intriguing. I wanted to learn from her experiences. She was headed to a local bar for a few drinks. I remembered seeing a sign on my drive, “1/2 price Pints of Guinness 3-6pm”. That sounded perfect, so we met at Patrick’s.
When I walked in I recognized her right away. She is Hispanic with long flowing black hair and now covered in gorgeous, colorful tattoos, very intriguing. When we were little she was always more mischievous than me and it appeared that things were still the same. She had red streaks in her hair, beautiful lips and a perfect, almost fake smile. I was going to get a Guinness, she asked if I had ever had a Black and Tan. I never had, but had been curious in the past, so I thought, “No time like the present”. We got our drinks, went out on the patio and sat with her friend JR. The conversation was really fun and it was great to chat with her after all these years. I had a couple of Guinness’ after the Black and Tan. After a couple of hours, they had to go. Slightly buzzed I headed back to the park which was only about three blocks away. While walking home I was thinking about the tab. Hers had several “Taps” on it. I assumed they had put my beers on her bill, so I just paid it. It was only like $15 and that didn’t add up. I think I paid her tab and completely walked out on mine inadvertently. Buzzed and feeling good I kind of wanted to go back later for “Chicken Wing Night”, or their “World’s Best Burger”. Either I could go back and settle up, go back, ignore the situation and see if they remembered me, or never go back.
As I approached the bus I saw smoke and was surprised to see that the big log was still smoldering away in the fire pit. It was about two feet long now instead of three.
I’m always nervous when I leave the bus unattended while not checked in. There was no note on the door, or any sign of anything unusual.
I decided to just stay in that night and try to look up old friends.
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