29 May – (posted on 4 June 2022)
Yesterday, a local driving thru our empty campground told us a good fishing spot was a 1/2 mile down stream when the tide was in. He also asked if we had seen any bear tracks along the creek. We said noooo, we haven’t then he was quick to respond to say well you will when you get downstream. Just talk loud, they won’t bother you. Now I’m thinking how does he really know that. I think this guy may have been having some fun with us… We are prepared for bears, as we had bells on our backpacks,
bear spray, an airhorn, and our Garmin Satellite communicator just in case.
So Virgil and I went on a scout mission to see if we can find a suitable trail for the hike. We walked the road for about a mile, all the time watching the creek get farther away. Not only that, there was huge bog that ran parallel with the road between us and the creek. We got back to the campsite and told the ladies to gear-up we are taking a hike thru the creek and the woods.
So in Lewis and Clark fashion, we all got our wellies on ( really need some hip waders) and began hiking the rocky and muddy shore of the creek. I lead the expedition down the bank and thru the rushing water that was not over the ladies wellies (theirs are shorter than Virgil’s or mine).
We hiked a good way crisscrossing the stream staying in shallow water, until we couldn’t. We climbed back up the bank and trailed it thru the forest. Ya know, Lewis and Clark did have natives with them that knew the land and to help with the portages. What the hell, we can do it.
Along the route the terrain opened up into to large lush green
meadows filled with wild flowers. It was like the scene in the Wizard of Oz when it turned to color! Some flowers were blooming and some not quite ready yet. We were surprised to find wild Iris’ plants everywhere, called Beach Head Iris, many Chocolate Lilies, Purple Nootka lupines, Yellow Marsh Marigolds, and Purple Common Butterworths. Thanks to our expedition party and the U.S. Forest brochure for identifying these beautiful flowers, because I didn’t have clue.
Continuing on we had to cross another little stream and then we felt like we were there. We arrived to that place the local told us about. YES! The ladies stayed on the bank of the large colorful meadow fishing from the bank, while Virgil and I went up stream.
After a few hours of not catching a fish, we decided to hike back to the homestead. Where the heck is Uber when we need them? Virgil led us safely home taking a different path and all was well. OBTW, there were no bear sightings on this expedition. Once home, it was good to take those wellies off and relax. Awesome adventure and we had terrific weather.
Later that day, Ann Marie heard a noise in the cabinets of the Bigfoot. I was outside somewhere, so she looked around the cabinets and could not find anything. She kept hearing the noise so she took a video of the cabinets so I could hear what she heard. When I returned, we watched the video and she convinced me to empty the upper cabinets looking for an uninvited guest. We found no evidence, and put it all back.
We had happy hour with hors d’oeuvres tonight. A pretzel stick stuck in the middle of a 1-square of baked spam. Man what you talking about!
The four of us played a few card games on the picnic table, using a camouflaged tarp as our fine table cloth. Another awesome day. It has been about a week with out good internet. Time to find some signal to post some blogs.
I’ve been writing a makeshift journal in Notepad, until I can get on line again.
Life is good.
At 0100 I woke up to a scratching sound in the “other room”. Mind you I can literally jump from my bed into the kitchen. So I crawled out of bed, yes, this is a truck camper, to get out of bed, you either “skootch” your butt across the bed, or you lay on your belly, then crawl backwards till you fall off. I digressed.
Yep, so I hear a scratching sound from above the stove vent hood. I get my headlamp and a small flashlight and I look up through the fan blades of the exhaust vent, nope don’t see anything. I decide to turn the fan on to mince the mouse up a little bit. Nothing falls out, but the noise stops.
I hear a scurrying of little damn feet but can’t determine from were. So I start rummaging through the same cabinets my wife had me empty to find nothing, when all of a sudden, a mouse is standing behind me as it just crawled from under the bathroom door. Now how did it get clear to the opposite side of the truck condominium? So with jiu-jitsu speed, I reach down to grab the little varmint, but some how he saw me coming and he scurried not under the door, but through the small furnace vent at the bottom of the wall which is right across from the stove.
Okay, now I see, he is using the furnace ducts as his Eisenhower Interstate System (without the pot-holes). I think crap, Ann Marie is still sound asleep in our raised no poster bed, (which I need to keep her that way til this bastard is gone) but there is furnace duct in the bedroom. I quickly grab some gorilla tape from the drawer and climb over my wife’s legs to the corner of the bed, and tape up the furnace duct. Still sound asleep and so far no mouse in the bed. That’s all I need is for her to get up during this time of the hunt. So now I wait…
The Bigfoot has a dining room slide out, and when the slide is extended out, it exposes about 18 inches of floor. This part of the floor is raised up from the main floor by about 6 inches. So I was standing on the ledge, giving me just the tactical advantage I needed to slay this behemoth when he enters the floor again.
Well it is 0210 now, and I know I can’t just go to bed. Thinking to myself, what in the world am I to do. The only solution I had was to pack up in the morning and go by some mouse traps. OBTW, I have a very good record of capturing and killing the rodents. 3 for 3 over seven years… Oh crap there he is, this time, he exits out the furnace vent close to the outside door. We walks over to the door then ran back into the highway system. He wants out! That is it! Now all of a sudden I’m thinking like a giant rat ( hey no comments) and I open the outside door and within 1 minute, he exits out the other vent and walks along the wall until he steps over the threshold, and SLAM I close the door ! Yep, 4 for 4.