Memorial Day Weekend `05

I'm nearly all packed up and ready to leave for a relaxing 5 day camping trip to Nan-Scott Lake. This is a private lake near Marion Forks, OR, on property owned by my girlfriends family. This place has some interesting history as it's been in their family for generations. There is evidence of old timber operations, remains of ingenious water fed power generators, and the still operational Marion Forks Restaurant. There isn't much to the town of Marion Forks, but what is there is all closely tied to their family's history. Each time I go out there I see something new or hear more stories of their family. Someday I would love to document the entire tale, maybe even use it as subject for a documentary? Nan-Scott Lake CLICK HERE for pictures from last years trip. We are bringing several of our friends with us again this year. So it'll be a good chance to enjoy each other's company. Often on our trips together we are so busy with seeing sights, shopping, or other activities we don't really get a chance to socialize in-depth. So I'm also looking forward to some good conversations and bounding with my friends. I'm also going to try to document as much of the property as possible, there is so much there to see and learn about. Check back next week to find out how the trip went and to see some great pics. Have a great Memorial Day weekend everyone!

Tent Trailer

First off let me say that I am in no way a weenie ass that has to bring every luxury of the modern world with me "camping". I've always been disgusted by those individuals, and thought they had no place in the woods. However as I've seasoned a bit and have a family of my own I've come to the conclusion that there is in fact two types of camping. "Family Camping" (also known as "Car Camping") and "Rugged, Manly, Shit in a Hole, Sleep Under the Stars, Backpacking Camping". So I've become a participant in both. However even when I do go "Family Camping" I'm still a believer that you need to leave your modern day luxury items at home. That is why I don't want a fancy RV, all I want is a easy up hard shell tent. Something I don't have to spend two hours figuring out how to setup, or another four trying to tear it down in the rain and roll back up to fit into it's 1/2 sized tote bag. So the perfect fit is a Tent Trailer. I've spend some time scouring craigslist for a good deal on one. I didn't even care if it needed some restoration work. Finally on Monday I found a killer deal on a nice 1970's era trailer. Darci and I met up with the owner, got a full walkthrough on the thing, looked over every inch ourselves, and made a deal on it. This thing is in great shape, only some minor cosmetic work necessary. It's got very large beds, four to be exact, so we'll each have our own beds with plenty of room to spare. It's got battery powered lights and accessories, plumbing for water in/out, and propane powered stove. I'm not sure what all I'm going to keep and what I'm going to remove. I'm super excited about the amount of storage room in this thing. I can now organize and permanently pack all my camping gear in this and have it ready to go whenever needed. No more sorting through the multitude of gear to pack just what we need for the desired trip, and then trying to fit it all into the vehicles. We'll just pack some clothes, toiletries, and food. Then hook up the tent trailer and we're off! I'm definitely going to apply my master techie geek hack/mod skills and add some choice additions to this thing. First off is LED lighting to conserve battery power. For pictures, details specs, and a continuous log of work on this tent trailer click HERE.

Get Down with the Sickness

I'm finally getting over a horrid case of stomach flu, that I apparently caught from a friend while at a party last Sunday. Turns out her, her daughter, and her roommate all suffered through this the day prior. They thought it was just another 24hr stomach bug, however it's symptoms have been kicking my ass for the last 3 days. This has been one of the worse stomach bugs I've ever had. It started off with mild diarrhea, a queasy stomach, and a chill inducing fever. Next thing I knew I was running to the bathroom every 20 mins to either throw up or use the pot. Let me tell you how much I love the refreshing taste of stomach bile, or the soothing effects of having my digestive system power flushed Montezuma style. Money can't buy that kind of spa treatment! This has persisted for the last 3 days. I'm finally feeling better today and am back in the office, however I'm still not 100%. In an effort to kill this bug instead of passing it on to my friends I'm going to keep myself quarantined from them for another 48hrs. Hopefully Darci's constant decontamination efforts of the house will keep her protected. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Okay there are a few people, Hmmmm.... Maybe I should save a few saliva samples for future use?