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Saturday, February 17, 2018

PEACE and QUIET

     
      

                                           PEACE and QUIET



       I was sitting there in a typical camping chair with web straps on the seat and back. I was half awake and just a little more than half asleep (is that possible?). My wife Angie was in the trailer trying to get things in order after our arrival a short time ago.
   We had arrived at our favorite camping spot about noon on Tuesday. Years ago we spent many weekends here in this wonderful camping spot. However each year more and more people had found out about it and came on the weekend for a couple of day’s relaxation. Now on the weekend there were so many people here you could hardly find a place to park, or put up a tent, or at times even a place to put up a folding table and chair.
   So we had opted for Tuesday through Friday and it was like a completely different place during those times.
   (But I have got sidetracked here.) As I said we got here on Tuesday, parked the trailer, put up the canopy, and camp tables and chairs. We were ready for some Big Time camping and relaxation. 
   We have been camping here for years and it it is hard to explain the draw that keeps bringing us back to this spot. Of course the scenery of Mother Nature is one of the main attractions. It is hard to explain natural beauty like this, without your actually being there to look at it.
   The high mountain meadows, with aspen leaves, gold coated in the Fall, surrounded by green pines and a myriad colors and kinds of flowers in the Spring. Add a small patch of snow under a group of pine trees with water trickling into a small creek, as it grows larger and larger as it flows downstream. I guess this is a lot of what draws us back?
    I suppose there are all kinds of people? Some are desert rats, and some love the ocean's  and some like snow and some like rain, but my wife and I have always been mountain lovers. Of course we were a lot more active when we were younger and we could hike, but no matter our age or activity level we still love the peaks, streams, lakes and meadows of the mountains. 
    But I have digressed again, --- and this trip was to be a little different. We got our trailer all set up, had a cup of Hot Chocolate and went to bed.
   The next morning (early) we heard a rambunctious noise a short way from our camp site. I looked out the window, and you could imagine my shock , when I saw a young Mom pull up to a spot right below us. There were two kids in the pick-up truck with her. A boy and a girl, who looked to be about 10 or 12 years old. The pick-up was packed to the hilt with a tent, stove, a canopy and what in my younger day I would call a zillion boxes of of assorted sizes and shapes. I almost passed out on the site-- but what really happened was I just sat down on a log with my head in my hands and said,"OH NO! WHY ME.!'    

   What is going to happen to our tranquility? There goes our peace and quiet! One thing was obvious however, and that was it was obvious they had done this before. It was almost like a military set up. As soon as they got out of the pick-up the young Mom yelled, "remember the rules." I never did find out what the rules were. However every one else must have known what they were because she never had to repeat that call to action. As soon as they heard it there was no fuss  or argument. Everyone started unloading the truck and they seemed to put everything in an assigned place near by. It was almost like it was pre-planned, or they had done it so many times they knew exactly what they were doing without thinking about it.        
   When it looked like they were about ready to "pitch the tent", my wife stepped to our trailer door and gave me my first lecture of the week. She had always been a kind outgoing person, and it sounded like this was going to be a typical week (for her). She said, "Dad maybe you should go over and ask if they need any help putting up their tent. I'll bet that young Mom would appreciate it." Of course she almost always got her way with me, just by giving me one of her loving smiles, that she was known for.
   I shuffled over to the "tent pitching" and asked if I could be of any help? The boy immediately answered, "No thank you sir, we have everything under control, but thank you very much for asking." I just about passed out. Nobody had called me sir for a long time , and not to many had said thank you?
   I asked what his name was and he told me it was Robert, but everybody called him Bob. He also told me his Mom was Carley and his sister was Lillian, but she was called Lilly.walked up. She commented that it looked like we were all acquainted and thanked me for being so friendly and coming over to introduce us. Bob made sure I knew they would have to call me Mr. Wally or they would be in trouble when their Dad came, in a day or so. Lilly explained that their Dad made them call any OLD person Mr. or Mrs.. Well I laughed and said,"Well I guess that tells me what category I fit in. Lilly chimed in with, "yup, you do Mr. Wally, but I'll bet you are a nice man, like my Grandpa is. Well. I thought to myself, these kids sure know how to get on my good side in a hurry.
   I went back to the trailer and they went back to work. It took them a while, but it looked like they had everything under control and operational. It was not to long after that, it got real quiet and it looked like they were getting settled in for the night.
   They all went inside the tent, The lantern was turned down low, and I heard the beginning of a low murmuring. I looked at my wife and said, "If I was not so surprised I would think they are saying a prayer." Angie looked at me and said in her smiling way, "You would know for sure they are, if you would turn you hearing aids up?"
   We sat in our chairs under the awning, next to the trailer a short time and then got up to go into the trailer. As we went in Angie said,"aren't we lucky to have a nice young family camp so close to us. I had forgotten how nice it was to have some kids voices around?" Well, Wally was not sure how nice it was going to be but so far it had been just fine. As they went in the trailer, he mumbled, half to himself, "I guess we will know if they start yelling and screaming and running around at 6:00 o'clock in the morning. And Angie just looked at him and said, "Did you say something"--then she just smiled at him.  
   Well you could not imagine my surprise the next morning when I looked out the trailer window. There Angie, Bob and Lilly set at our table, under our awning and playing a board game and drinking hot chocolate, which I an sure Angie had just made for them.
   I got dressed and was tinkering around the trailer when I heard a knock on the door. I went over and there stood Bob. He was standing on one foot and the other and twirling his thumbs while looking at the floor. I asked if he wanted to come in  and he said he "guessed he did." We sat at the table and he got all the preliminaries out of the way--- He asked if I slept well---how blue the sky was--did Angie always get up before I did, was I really an Old Bear when I first got up---  it was obvious he had been coached a little. He explained he had asked Angie something and she said he would have to ask Wally. Then he just blurted out--- "Will you and Mrs. Angie come over and eat dinner with us tonight?"
   Just watching the misery he went through, jut to ask me that, how could I say anything but "of course, we would be happy to, and thanks for inviting us," Then Bob went on to explain that we were going to have brat-wurst, that was made by an old German Man who lived by them and it just had to be the best in the world. He also told us no one liked Sour Kraut so we would have sheepherder fried potatoes with the Brat.        
   Well we did go to dinner that evening with them and indeed it was delicious. It really may have the best Brat-wurst I have ever eaten, and I did not tell them that Angie did not like Brat-wurst!
   The next day we visited off and on. They went fishing and Carley waved at us as they left camp and came back "with a mess of fish" and big smiles on their faces. They spent a lot of tome just riding around in the pick up truck. It reminded both Angie & I that our family used to do that when we were younger. We used to stand in the back of the truck and look for deer. When someone spotted a deer they would pound on the top of the truck, the driver would stop, and we would watch the deer, until he got tired of entertaining us and either strolled or ran off into the trees. We also got some great pictures in those days and I noticed Bob had a camera, so I suppose they did also.  
   We visited Thursday and I took Bob and Lilly to a special little stream, that I used to fish in. However after walking the river banks for an hour or so Bob informed me that they would really rather fish in the lake, because it was not as much work and the fish were bigger.
   All five of us went on a ride in the afternoon. Angie, I and Carley squeezed in the truck seat and Bob and Lilly in the bed of the truck. Bob and Lilly wanted to show us some "beaver houses" and Bob explained to us how the Beavers built their own houses, and all about how they were constructed. He actually did a good job and knew a lot more about them than I thought a kid his age would know.
   Theodore (or Ted, as he asked to be called) pulled into the camp spot about 6:00 PM driving a SUV that looked like it had been rode hard , and put away wet-- Well it would have if it was a horse.
   We all got introduced and Ted invited us all over for dinner. It seems Ted wanted us to be introduced to the Best Brat-Wurst made in the USA. No one said anything about it until we were through eating and Bob said, "well Dad it was good but not as good as Mom cooked last night." Ted got a funny look on his face and then he realized what was going on and we all laughed about it off and on the rest of the evening.     
   We were talking after dinner and I commented that it was nice that he got away from work early so he could get here earlier that expected, to be with his family'
   While we were visiting I asked Ted what kind of work he did. Before he could answer Bob informed me that that his Dad took care of all the stuff where he worked. I looked at Ted and asked if he was the Maintenance Supervisor or what? He answered yes he was something like that, and yes he did take care of the problems so everything kept running smoothly. 
   It was getting late and we were leaving early in the morning so we all went to our portable bedrooms, in the mountains, and called it a day.
   We got up and had breakfast and then tied everything down in the trailer, and got ready to leave. Our new found friends all came by to say good bye, and wish us a safe trip. Ted also told us his last name was Blackstone, and I thought it was strange, after all the time we spent together we had never knew his last name. 
   He also told us that as we came off the mountain there was a mid-size town by the name of VELCOM. He suggested we stop at the gas station/convenience store and try some of their German Pastry as it is without a doubt the best in the United States. He laughed a little and waved goodbye as we left. 
   We did stop at VELCOM and the pastry was delicious, perhaps it was even the best we had ever tasted. I still think it had some kind of liqueur in it? 
   We also found out that indeed Ted was the maintenance man, where he worked, but he was also the President of a very profitable Construction Company. When Ted and Carley got married they had decided the wanted to raise their children in a smaller town. They bought a small struggling Construction Company and built it into a large regional company that was doing exceptionally well. And as Ted and Bob were both correct in Ted's job assignment, Ted and Carley did everything themself until they started to grow.
   And did we ever see them an the camping sight again? yes but only a couple of       times. And we stayed up each time and visited almost all night.
   And who run the Service Station--of course it was Carley's Mom and Dad.
   And who made the best Kraut & Pastry-- of course it was Mom and Dad.
And Angie reminded us every time we got together that the first words out of my mouth when I first saw them was were "OH NO! WHY ME!"

Wally Baldwin
17 February 2018