Next Full Moon

Sunday, May 3rd Full Flower Moon

21 June 2013

a certain, vibratory tonic

 By now it's looking kinda shaky.

After the days, the out-of-town-guest departed, and we spent a night at home. The next morning, however, found us vacationing in our backyard- which is to say we returned to Arroyo Seco for more Good Times...


 The Big Dummy was pretty loaded this go round. I was unable to raise it from laid over without help. Gots to have the 4 camp chairs plus the cook stool, though. You know.








 4 days 3 nights. 4 kids 2 adults.  N___'s friend J____ joined us again! She's come along to Arroyo Seco twice now, and this is after her attendance at the Henry Coe climbathon. She is a welcome trooper. The kids have more fun when they have friends along. D_____ needs to get some tougher bros. At 8.75, J______'s buddies have some time to come along yet.





We are slowly loading the kids heavier and heavier. One of these trips the photos will reveal adults with little to no load and kids hauling it all...



 Check the technique. N___ has got it right for the heavy load lifting with the foot on the tyre. If it were me, I'd drop my ash for better leverage, though.





The weekend was real hard on the trash cans. And, I get the impression that the camp hosts are lazy.


We were glad we chose the days we did. Midweek is where it's at. Weekends are for amateurs.





Well, he's been watching a lot of The Karate Kid. It's a phase?



From the trash cans, there is some singletrack to camp.



I am proud of the load configuration this time. Of course, it is always evolving- unlike your "Freedom System" or your just plain "System". As a result, the chairs were cleverly lashed to the tail with a couple toe straps from the bottom of the outside chair to the frame while the other 3 chairs utilized the straps as their floor and the whole lot was then further strapped to the frame on top. If this sounds like so much words, just know it was real ingenious and outdoorsy.

I do have to tip the cycling cap to my in-laws, who schooled me in the fine art of straps through multi-week raft trips. Bikecamping with the Big Dummy shares a lot of features with rafting. It's a whole other level of options for taking more than the bare essentials. Come to think of it, we should start the Fantasy Dinner tradition on these trips. Bring your finery and get ready to party!



While waiting for stragglers at the turn-off, I noticed a tent down by the horse bridge. It was right on the beach, maybe 4' from the water. I thought to myself that it was a very foolish choice of site. Leaving aside the ethics of camping at the "watering hole", the beach is as public as can be. Folks are going to use it, and setting up there is setting up for conflict. Then here comes _oman:


who high-fived me as soon as he reached me. It was his tent. He was stoked to be out in the woods on a bike. Clearly, he's young and dumb. That's a pardonable offense, if you axe me.


His buddy rolled up with a more leery approach. He noticed me taking pictures and thereafter kept his head turned or blocked. I tried suss them without being a buttinsky. Their plan was to ride to Indians (roughly 14 miles with at least 1,000' of vertical) and back the next day on a 20" BMX and a clapped out department store Schwinn hybrid. I was politely skeptical. The buddy (no name given) had been out in the Ventana before, so even though their bikes were crap and in terrible shape I did not think they were going to break down and require assistance (which would significantly dampen my own Good Time, let's be honest) nor crash our party. I reckoned we could deal with the beach as it came up. We were headed further over, to the good spot for our campsite.






  It's a nice place to be.




2 comments:

irishpunk59 said...

damn Rev I'd be for some fantasy dining but way the hell up in Reno would make it little hard. Ever get the Reno/Tahoe bug up your butt let me know though I can't promise the Drug Interventionist won't chat you up again if you do.

rik van hooydawg said...

" The System " is all you need...