Chapter 2, The Trip Begins
Bobby POV
It all started, on a beautiful day in the middle of my summer vacation from school. My uncle Ted was in town, doing some sort of community service, helping out at the local retirement home, and afterwards, he came over to eat dinner with me and my family. Everybody was there, except for my dad. He had to go away on a business trip, and I guess my mom had still not gotten over my uncle's Mrs. Nuggiefire incident, so she didn't go with my dad this time around.
"Yay! Uncle Ted is here!" I screamed, as he walked into the door with a huge grin on his face.
"Yep that's right Bobb-o, and you know what time it is?" Uncle Ted asked me.
"Time for noogies!" I replied.
"Time for noogies!" Said uncle Ted, as he gave me a noogie and sat down at the table, where mom was serving us cod casarole.
"Dig in everybody now, I've prepared your favorite, cod casarole." Said my mom.
"I'm not hungry sis, I'm too excited to eat." Said uncle Ted.
Now when my uncle is too excited to eat, it means he's got something really big planned. The last time he acted like this, me, Kelly and Derek all accompanied him on a ski trip and I had to come to the rescue when my brother and sister failed to listen to the rules given by the ski instructors.
"Oh boy are we going on another skiing trip?" I asked excitedly.
"No dweeb, it's summer time, it's the wrong time of year for a skiing trip." Derek replied.
"Well Derek and Bobby, you're both right. No, we're not going on a skiing trip, rather, Bobby, you and I have been invited to go on a camping trip." Said Ted.
"A camping trip? Wow cool!" I said.
"For the blaze of corn muffins who would invite you and Bobby to go on a camping trip now?" My mom asked.
"Well sis, you know how I've been doing some volunteer work at the local retirement home? Well, the grandparent I offered to keep company during the day is none other than Tommy and Dil's grandfather, Lou Pickles. Well, he was planning to go fishing this weekend anyway, on account that his wife Lulu is going to be out of town visiting her sister, I guess she's dying from cancer in the hospital or something, and wanted to be there during her fcinal days of life. Well since Lou already had his mind set on going fishing, I thought, I could use some fresh air in the great outdoors, so why not. At first, he and I were going to take this camping trip alone, and then, I was like, this would be a great opportunity for me and Bobby to bond, but we wouldn't want just Bobby to be the only kid now would we. So Lou spoke with his son Stu and daughter-in-law Didi, and while Stu, Didi, and Dil along with their other friends attend the grape festival this weekend, grandpa Lou is going to bring Tommy on the camping trip, so you'd better get packing Bobbo, cuz we're leaving bright and early tomorrow morning." Said Ted.
"Oh boy this is going to be so much fun! Thank you uncle Ted." I said excitedly, as I finished my meal faster than a speeding bullet, and ran up to my room to start packing.
I knew I'd need a lot of important things, so I packed everything I could think of. My door stop, my bottle cap collection, and my marbles. I was about to see if I could borrow Derek's rock collection when my mom walked into the room.
"Goodness Bobby, what is all of this stuff in your bag now?" Mom asked.
"Stuff I need to go camping." I replied.
"Oh now dear, um, you're not going to be needing any of this stuff. Here, I got your new Captain Squash sleeping bag, and here's a couple of days of clean clothes, your pajamas, and your toothbrush and toothpaste now. That's what you need on a camping trip." Said my mom, as she dumped what I had packed in my bag out on to the bed and packed everything she named off.
"Leave it to moms to know what you need for these things." I thought to myself, as I got ready for bed, eager for the next day to come so we could leave for our camping trip.
Once I was tucked into bed, I turned to see my brother across the room, reading a comic book.
"What are you staring at dork?" Derek asked.
"Nothing, I'm just, really excited about going camping that's all." I said.
"Oh yeah? Excited to be in the woods with sticky fingers?" Derek asked me.
"His name's not sticky fingers, his name is Tommy, and we have lots of fun on our adventures." I replied.
"Oh yeah? Well just wait and see how much fun you have, when you two become, the lost boys." Said Derek.
"The lost… Boys?" I asked hesitantly, as Derek was starting to scare me, just as he usually does.
"Yeah. On a warm night, just like this, two little boys were out camping in the woods, around you and sticky finger's ages, when they got separated from their parents. Then, if getting sprayed by a skunk, nearly drowning, getting struck by thunder and lightning, and coming down with bad cases of food poisoning and poison ivy weren't bad enough, they got so lost, that they never made it home. Rumor has it that those boys may still be lost in the woods somewhere, and if found, you'll either get a reward of ten million dollars, or cursed with bad luck for the rest of your life." Explained Derek, as I continued to trimble beneath my covers, a bit nervous about the upcoming camping trip.
"I knew it, even at age six, you're still a little baby." Said Derek teasingly.
"Uh… I'm not a baby." I replied, still trembling.
"Oh yeah? Well just don't let sticky fingers grandpa or uncle Ted out of your sight, or you might be doomed for the rest of your days and nights! Ha ha ha ha ha!" Scofffed Derek.
"Derek? Are you teasing your brother?" Mom asked from outside the door, overhearing everything.
"No mom." Derek lied.
"Go to sleep you two, Bobby's got a big day tomorrow now." Said mom from outside the bedroom door.
"Yes mom." We both replied, before rolling over and going to sleep.
It took me a little while to get comfortable, but I finally got to sleep, and soon, the next day arrived. I was so excited about going camping for the weekend with my uncle Ted, Tommy and his grandpa, I completely forgot about Derek's story. I got out of bed, got dressed, and tried to eat my Captain Squash cerial really fast, till my mom stopped me as she was worried she might have to give me the hime lick remover. So I reluctantly slowed down, finishing my Captain Squash cerial. Once I was finished, I found my uncle Ted in the front hallway, with a tent in one hand, and an ice chest in the other.
"Come on Bobbo, it's time to hit the open road." Said Ted excitedly.
I picked up my sleeping bag, the bag with all of the stuff in it that mom packed me, which she also put in there my swimming suit and towel, when she heard we'd be going to the lake, and Ted and I headed across the street to Tommy and Dil's house, where Lou's station wagon was parked in the driveway.
"Come on Scout, let's get you in the car." We heard grandpa Lou say, as he was strapping Tommy into his car seat.
"Well good morning Louie, ready to hit the open road?" Ted asked.
"The name's Lou! And yes, let's get you two into the car and we'll be on our way." Said Lou, as he and my uncle packed our stuff into the back of the station wagon, and I went around to the opposite side of the car from where Tommy was sitting in his car seat, and got in next to him.
"Hey Bobby, ready to go camping?" Tommy asked me.
"Yeah! It's gonna be so much fun! It's gonna be an adventure!" I said.
"Yeah! I'm excited!" Said Tommy.
"Me too!" I replied excitedly, as Tommy's grandpa and my uncle got into the car, Lou started it up, and we pulled out of the driveway, and headed off on our camping trip.
It was quite a drive, as seems we were riding forever, so I finally decided to speak up.
"So uncle Ted, are we going back to Canada again? Will I get to speak cantadian again?" I asked.
"Wow! You've been to Canada? Me too!" Said Tommy.
"Yep, I sure have. And in Canada, they speak cantadian, eh? Get it? Eh? And they like Hockey and maple sirup. And then there's a lake monster, and it rains, and, everybody told stories about me when I was little like you." I explained.
"Wow neat! My daddy toldid us we were driving back from Canada that time when my grandpa gotted separated from us and it was up to me and Chuckie to get him back. We threw all sorts of stuff out of the window so my daddy would see it in the rear view mirror, till he finally stopped, and, I guess we were all the way in Canada, where they have a choo choo which me and Chuckie road up to my grandpa who fell over a water fall in this huge barrel." Tommy explained.
"Oh wow! So, are we going to Canada? Will we get to see grandpa Lou go over a barrel in a water fall and ride a train?" I asked.
"Nope, not this time I'm afraid. Instead, we're going to red oaks forrest, up in Northern California." Said Ted.
"Red Oaks Forrest, we're not going to that overgrown redwood forrest. We're going to my favorite fishing spot of all times, bate woods." Said grandpa Lou, as they stalled at the first intersection we saw for miles.
"Oh come on Louie, can't we be adventurous and go up to Red Oaks Forrest? If we turn right it will take us right up there." Argued my uncle Ted.
"That place is a dump! We're turning left and going to Bate Woods." Argued Lou.
"Red Oak Forrest." Argued uncle Ted.
Tommy and I continued to listen to those two argue back and force about where to go camping, till out of frustration, grandpa Lou turned right instead of left at the intersection, after getting fed up by the long line of honking traffic that had stacked up behind us as a result of us stalling at the intersection, only for the two of them to argue at the fork in the road, taking us to Red Oaks Forrest.
"Red Oaks Forrest, here we come." Said my uncle Ted, as grandpa Lou sped down the highway, on to a dirt road, which led us into the deep deep woods of Red Oaks Forrest.
We finally found a parking space, unloaded the station wagon, and soon, our big camping adventure, would really begin, as this, was only the beginning.
End of Bobby POV
And how will it go from here on out? You'll have to wait until. The next chapter, to find out!
Author's Note: So, what do you think so far? Did you like the references made to the Rugrats episode, "Where's Grandpa?" As well as the Bobby's World episodes, "Bobby Hits the Slopes," and "Fish Tales?" And as for Lulu having a sister, I made that up, as the only thing I recall ever learning about Lulu's family during the series was her having a great niece named Taffy, but that was it. So yeah, as far as I'm concerned, her sister that she's gone off to visit in the hospital while Lou takes this camping trip with Tommy, Bobby and uncle Ted, is my OC. Anyway, I shall have the next chapter up shortly, so please, do stay tuned!