Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Apparently So

Every other black person who I've told about this past weekend (Thursday through Monday) seem to all ask me the same question. Do black people go camping. Well, since I'm black and I went along with some others, I guess the answer has to be a resounding yes. I was a camping virgin, but I actually had a great time. At first when some friends bought the idea to me, I did Diva's infamous ::sideeye:: because I was not really feeling giving up the Sealy Posturpedic in exchange for ingrown tree roots and gravel.

We went to Wally World to make preparations and purchases. As God would have it, we bumped into a black lady who was a camping expert. She told us everything that we needed to do. Oh I left this part out. Of the three guys, none of us had been camping before. She even took us to her car and gave us three checklists of stuff to bring and directions to a local camping site. The place was only about 1.5 hours away. So, we had no camping experience and didn't even know where we were going to go to camp. I'm so glad we ran into Marcia for two reasons. One, she was able to share her wisdom about camping with us. She absolutely loves it. That totally came across while she was speaking. ::Sidebar::While I was listening to her--the passion with which she spoke about camping, I kept thinking to myself that she should start a business. I told her that. She told me that her father had been trying to get her to do that for a while now. I told her that my being a complete stranger and delivering to her the same message was confirmation of the vision. Habbukah, baby.::end sidebar::The second reason I'm glad we ran into her is that it reassured me about the feasibility of this whole endeavor. Prior to hearing her share her positive experiences and give us tricks-of-the-trade, I was still kinda leery about going. When we parted with her I was kinda hype.

So we arrive on Thursday around three in the afternoon and pitch the tent. The setup with quite simple. I had no idea that the tent was just one piece of material sewn together. For some reason I thought we were going to have to put on multiple pieces, but whatever.

That night we previewed the hiking trails and came back to fix something to eat. During the time there we ate chicken breasts, pork chops, hamburgers, zucchini and yellow squash. One night we took the chicken breasts, zucchini and yellow squash and put it in some foil with some Italian dressing. Banging! Here's a fire from one night with some food on the grill.

The next morning we went on a 4.5 mile hike that took us across the summit of a mountain. Yes, we went all the way up the mountain and back down again. Fortunately, for me and everyone else, while in the woods, I didn't see any bright eyes.

In this picture, notice the sign. Almost a mile high. I know that's nothing for a mountain, but I had to show proof.


I decided to stage a fake rock climbing picture, just in case I wanted to revel friends and acquaintances with tales of danger. Notice the strain on the face.

At some point during the hiking trail we ran up on a waterfall.

Somewhere during the course of the stay we went fishing. I didn't catch anything, but Dre did. Trav caught two fish but threw them both back. No picture for that. Actually we went fishing twice. The second time we went fishing I saw a water moccasin. It came up to the edge of the pond and I assume turned back. I say assume because as soon as I saw it swimming my way I straightway dropped my rod and put Carl Lewis to shame. If he saw me running from the snake, he'd give back his medal.

On a lighter note, I did manage to snap some Bambis who were all up and through them woods.

One night out there we ran into the lady from WalMart. We knew she was going to be at the same camping site because she mentioned it in the store. She invited us to dinner one night. We turned down the dinner invitation but agreed to come back for dessert. She made a strawberry cobbler. She was with two others. We all sat around the campfire laughing and telling tales. Good times indeed. Marcia asked us if we had made smores. I told her no and she absolutely insisted that we have some smores. They were a bit sweet, but at least I can say I've had them.

Somewhere during the camping adventure my phone got messed up. No one knows what happened. I've been in negotiations with Sprint for two days. My new phone should arrive by Friday. The whole Sprint fiasco is another blog post unto itself. After looking at my phone, they said they weren't sure if they'd be able to fix it. I was flabbergasted. Look at that picture. Does it look like I was interested in a repair? I've caught up on a few blogs. I should be making the rest of my rounds today.

I can say that this was fun for me. I'll do it again. Now I want to go ahead and cross some more stuff off my list. I need to skydive, hang glide and ski. Anybody wanna go?

19 comments:

CHA CHA said...

Um no...no ....and no, I dont want to try any of those things...Im scary as hell. I barely rode on the back of jet skis for the first time a couple of years ago..I might think about camping

Anonymous said...

Been camping once...was a chaperone for my Youth Group. Was interesting. We did a meal much like yours with the chicken and veggies in the foil packets.

What prompted ya'll to decide to go camping with nobody having any prior experience?

LMAO @ your fake rock climbing pic. I'm looking at it under serious scrutiny trying to find the realism in it. No such luck, lol. You needed to have your feet in a groove somewhere. Then it would have definitely been believable. But you get 3 cool points for creativity, lol.

Your Carl Lewis dash from the water moccasin....you know I had to google that to see what caused you to stop, drop and run. And after seeing that pic, I would've done the same thang! Holla!

And last but not least, Sprint. I've been with them bastards (excuse my french) for 7 years. Can't stand them! I love their service as far as coverage goes but customer service is horrendous. I look forward to that post about that fight with them. My suggestions, make sure those negotiations are in writing. I only communicate with those sneaky grubbers via email cuz they like to flip the script on ya depending on who you get on the phone.

Good luck with that!!

Anonymous said...

My bad, forgot one thing...I decided yesterday that I wanted to go skydiving. I really want to do Amazing Race cuz that looks like fun. Hang gliding sounds pretty good. Skiing...not a huge fan of the cold but I'd do it to say I've done it. I'm game!

RealHustla said...

Reading this post makes me want to go camping. Good thing I've already gone 2 or 3 times so I know to ignore the urge. The first time, all of the food and cleaning was handled for us by the experts. They tricked us into liking it, a little. It's too cold at night time and I can not get used to sitting in the complete darkness, fire's lanterns or not. In the day time, the sun is blazing and the tents are like little ovens. Since I was tricked the first time, I decided to go again, for the kids. Camping is no fun at all for the people cooking, cleaning, and organizing/entertaining the kids. All this in addition to the things mentioned previously. And oh, did I mention the mosquitoes? Insect repellent works well, but after a couple of days of spraying yourself with that stuff from head to toe, ugh! Maybe I need to try it without the kids one day.

Chris said...

You a better man than me. I get nervous when squirrels are hopping around so I don't know if I could be in the woods with the potential for something bigger and scarier.

And the Rock climbing pic is hilarious, I could see you telling the story now..."and as you can see here, My hands were in so much pain and my feet went numb climbing this rock, but I made it like the brave camper that I am."

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

yep
we hunt and fish
and chew tobacco too

One Man’s Opinion said...

Yeah, black folks camp. When I was in my twenties, I was a camp couselor with the Fresh Air Fund, up in New York City. The whole purpose of that camp was to give inner city kids the camping experience. It was fun, when I was having to yell and break up fights.
I'm glad you had a ball, nice fake rock climb. LOL. As for that other crap, sky diving and such...you are on your own, buddy. And I thought we shared a kindred spirit.

RunGirl. said...

@"I straightway dropped my rod and put Carl Lewis to shame. If he saw me running from the snake, he'd give back his medal" HIlarious!!!

I'm down on the hang gliding ... oh yeah I gave you a shot out as I drove through Greensboro on my way to Charlotte last weekend

The Jaded NYer said...

nature and I do NOT get along, but I have to admit- even with the snake scare this post makes me want to give camping another try...

Anonymous said...

I'll ski with you!! I've always wanted to.

Love the pics! My mom is going camp 4th of July weekends with her friends and she SWEARS this particular camp site is always filled with black ppl. In Seattle--thats pretty unbelieveable. It ain't like I'm gonna find out though...

mint julep said...

good for you....i didn't picture you camping but you've grown a lot since the old days at 500. lol. i actually love camping and wish more of my friends did. i spent many a summer at the girl scout camp on rosa dhu island. getting real close to nature.

JayBee said...

@still: stop being a baby. live a little! take the kids...they'll probably enjoy it.

@ieisha: just decided to go as a random thing. no real thought behind it other than it was something we had never done and are open to trying new stuff. no one is really feeling me on the skydiving thing though. my rock climbing pic looks fake? i'll contact my photographer post haste. this is probably year 4 for me with sprint...they get on my nerves, but i ain't going anywhere. oooooh i typed that thing about the skydiving before i read your second comment. i'ma look up the info and get back with you. don't chicken out!

@realhustla: don't be in the tent during the day. hike, fish, run, rock climb, shop--do something. the mosquitos can be annoying, but i'm from the c-port, so i'm used to mosquitos.

@chris: that is my exact script that i was gonna use. lol.

@torrance: i haven't done the hunting thing. maybe i'll put that on the list too.

@one_man: the twenties--many many moons ago, i presume. stop being a b*tch, one_man. me and ieisha are going. surely you'll join us. at least consider hang gliding...that's not as bad as rock climbing.

@rungirl: straightway. suddenly. i just needed to make it clear that there was very little time between me eyeing that thing and my feet taking me in another direction. 'preciate the shot out! when i gather the information i'm gonna do a post with the info and ask people to sign up. you're already on the list.

@jaded: it really wasn't that bad. the snake scare did put me in another place...i was shaking and a little disoriented...but all in all...

@gotta: aight...i'ma add skiing to the information dig. when i do the post, just sign up to say you're coming. maybe we should all do a blogger meet up thingamajig. i'm not really seeing the 'filled' with black people thing in seattle, but, i guess stranger things have happened.

@mint: yeah, you gotta expand your horizons at some point. try new stuff. it was fun, but something i'm looking to do on the regular. i'm still partial to the sealy.

@

Mizrepresent said...

How cool is that...i think i would love camping, but i don't do bugs, especially mosquito's. Have a great weekend. You are quite the adventurer!

Brittany said...

I never would have made it. Camp was bad and I hate outdoors. Your better than me.

Ladynay said...

You can have ALLASDAT! I am glad you crossing things off your to do list tho' that's hot!

Smore's are yummy dude what you talking about! Try em with dark chocolate...YUM!

Xem VanAdams said...

Ive NEVER once been Camping, and its an Xperience I WANT to Share with a Lover or Close Friends, within the Next 2 Years.

KUDOS to You for Taking a Stab at Something New.

JayBee said...

@miz: as long as you keep your tent closed, you shouldn't have any bugs on the inside. as an added precaution, you can burn the citronella candles.

@brittany: you could do it, especially if you've been to camp. what's going on with that grad stuff?

@ladynay: dark chocolate has always been my preference :)

@prince: i think as a first time experience it might be kinda neat to do it with close friends. you'll probably learn a little more about each other when you all are out of your natural habitat/element.

Jazzy said...

lmao @ Pocahontaz!

Strangely you described everything so vividly that I almost want to try camping. Then I remember that I've already been camping...and I HATE it. lol!

Crissy P said...

**Random**

LOL, wow.. the last time I went camping was right before I went in to highschool.. it was part of an upward bound program and we spent 6 days hiking a gazillion miles on the appalachian trail with 40 pound bags lol.. i think you got the better deal, not sure exactly what we ate but it wasn't anywhere near what you had.. but yea, hiking is fun-- the sleeping part, not so much.. then again, we slept under things that were basically tarps pinned to the ground.. i'm tempted to start training to try and hike a good portion of the appalachian trail (i wanna say all, but i'm not that brave yet LOL), but then again I'm something of a nature freak

.. as for skiing, DON'T DO IT.. your legs go different ways, the skis cross, and you fall-- hard.. snowboarding is the best tho =]
then again I'm pretty conservative.. no jumping, grinding, or tricks for me