I've been "In the Wild"....Del!

Well, I got back to SVL Thursday at 4:30. After I set camp up in a different locale, I took the Quad up to where I have been hunting/hiking. I sat out there till dark, jumped up one in the timber but couldn't see what it was and 4 on the road, all does. no bucks. Got back to camp and cooked up some spaghetti in the tent/kitchen, went to bed listening to the Dodgers...(hey, I was bored and alone).

The next day, by the time I got back to camp at noon, I had got my wish! No, not any bucks hanging, but it was raining like crazy. The bad news was, 4 cans of waterproofing did not waterproof the tent roof....I got problems. I re-arranged the sleeping area to avoid the leaks and cut 2 hefty bags and added some duct tape to cover my rack. I had 6 pans around to catch water, could have been interesting but Derek and Preston got in around 8 and had an extra tarp for the roof and that solved it. This was a great adventure. I guarantee I walked 25 miles this week. My pants will all fit better now for sure! But with the rain, came cold wet clothes. Good thing Mr Heater came along....a very good thing. I had clotheslines running everywhere.

It was a blast, I really got into it. It was like fishing or golf, you could commit your mind totally, and that's a whole lot better than nails, nails, nails! We had re-camped in the "upper camp". We used to use this site back in the day, when the lower site was taken, or someone had a lesser vehicle and didn't want to take it down "the sluice". This spot needs a little maintenance. Nothing a chainsaw cant handle though. It was good for Derek and Preston to spend that much time alone together. He's a pretty tough young man. He did need a little Grandpa Hobbs(Sr) action though. I mixed in a little of my own humor, but had to make a comment or two. At one point, Preston dropped a "Snickers" wrapper on the ground and was just walking on by! So I says, "Preston, look at that candy wrapper? Ya see it?Well, pick it up! Do ya want to be replaced by carts?" He was a little stunned until Derek started laughing and we explained the "Caddie Shack" reference. He got it then and kinda loosened up. We had been teasing him all week about loosing the quad key. Another little moment was when he broke my coffee mug. I was outside the tent when it happened. He swung around with his mini-mag in his hand and it hit the handle of the mug and just snapped it off. When I came in the tent, he really felt bad and apologized. I assured him it was cool and he was still kinda feelin' bad, so I says, "Hmmm, looses the quad key, and now breaks my favorite lake Oroville coffee mug....wow.......jerk." We all just busted up. It was a fun moment. It turns out Preston is a bit of a Jr Pyro and could not wait to have a campfire. It was way too dry until we were deluged Friday night and all day Saturday. That evening, it was mostly clear, so the Sr Pyro's decided that tonight was the campfire night. The old pit was almost non-existent by now so Preston made a new one using alot of those same rocks that my Dad put in probably 30+ years ago. Pretty cool.

So, on the last night, we finally had our first campfire, in Preston's new fire pit.

This was a great trip, we hunted our bahunkas' off! I walked 25 miles and had my index finger on the safety of my rifle for 51 hours and yet I still am "Buckless". I do love this Valley, I'll be back again. Anyway, got home to my bride and we're watching TALADEGA BABY! There's no place like home. Later.