CHAPTER THREE
Joe wakes to the alarm at 4:00 A.M. He is usually an early riser, but this is early, even for him. He thinks about sleeping just a little more, but thoughts of the coming weekend wipe that out completely. So he gets up, showers, shaves, dresses and heads to the kitchen for coffee. COFFEE! Oh good grief, he totally forgot about coffee. Not any coffee, but Bill's coffee. He won't sleep until next Wednesday! He gathers his things together, gets the steaks from the freezer and adds a few apples, just in case. Bill says he can cook, but he remembers only too well, the glazed duck incident. Maybe he'll make glazed fish this time. We're coming home Sunday night, I shouldn't starve before then. All set, he heads out to the lot to await Bill's arrival. He gets outside and Bill is already waiting.
"Thought you over slept. I was just thinking of coming up to wake you." He takes Joe's things and puts them in the car.
"It's only quarter to five Bill, you said five. You're early."
" Couldn't wait to get going, I knew you'd be excited, too. It's a beautiful day Joe. Just look at that sky!"
Joe looks up, all he notices is that the moon is still out. Beautiful day? Maybe, once the sun comes up. He looks at the car, with the canoe strapped on top. It didn't look all that big, and it was aluminum. Guess he was expecting birch-bark. I hope Bill really knows what he is doing. Joe sighs, and gets in the car.
"Guess what Joe," Bill asks as they head for the highway, "I brought along a thermos of my famous coffee to drink on the way!"
Great. He wonders if it's too early for a beer.
The drive to Big Bear took about two hours. It was a nice day as Bill had said, and not much traffic this early, so they made good time. They arrived at the campground just before seven. Bill had a Park sticker on his car, so all they had to do was register. They chose a site in a remote area, that was near the lake. That way, they wouldn't have so far to carry the canoe and fishing gear, Bill explained.
Bill gets out of the car and stretches, looking over the site.
"Isn't this beautiful, Joe? And so quiet, I just love it here, especially in the early morning."
"You're right, this is nice. It must have rained here last night, everything is wet." Joe comments, looking around.
"That's dew, Joe, morning dew. It'll dry soon, with the sun."
"Oh yeah, right. Don't notice it much in the city, I tend to forget."
"No, you don't. You can miss a lot, in the city. Well, lets get unpacked and set up the tent. All the sooner we can begin to enjoy all this."
"OK, where do we start? You're the boss here." Joe looks around, thinking, maybe this won't be so bad after all. For the first time he is actually glad he came.
Bill was busy unpacking the car, spreading things on the ground. He seemed to be searching for something in particular.
"What you looking for, Bill? Can I help?" asks Joe. He doesn't know what needs doing, but is willing to do whatever Bill wants.
"I'm looking for the tent….ahhh, here it is. We'll get this up first, then we can unpack the rest."
He lays what Joe assumes to be the tent on the ground, then climbs into the back of the wagon, still searching for something.
"Now what are you looking for, I thought you said that you found the tent?"
"I'm looking for the stakes," comes his muffled voice from inside the car.
"Oh, they're in the cooler where you told me to put them. Want me to get them out?"
Bill climbs out, holding a canvas bag. He shakes it, making what's inside rattle.
"Tent stakes, Joe, not beef steaks. We need these to help hold the tent to the ground. Now, where should we pitch this thing?"
Bill stands there surveying the site, trying to find the best location. "What do you think, Joe?"
Joe looks around trying to figure out what Bill is looking for. It all looks the same to him.
"How about here?" he points to a spot in front of him.
"Joe, see that circle of rocks? That's the fire pit. You don't want your tent that close to the fire pit, do you?"
"Oh, no, I guess not. How about over here, there's nice shade from that tree there."
"Well, that's nice, but see how it slopes? You don't want to turn over in your sleep and roll out and land in the lake, do you?"
"No, I think I'd really like to try and avoid that, Bill"
"I should think so. Well, how about this spot, Joe? It's nice and level, no rocks, no slope."
"Looks fine to me," he says, lighting a cigarette and tossing the match to the ground..
"Joe, what is the matter with you?" Bill shouts at him.
"Not a thing, Bill! Why, what did I do?" A startled Joe, looks around to see what he could have done.
"What did you do? You threw your match on the ground!"
Joe looks down at the discarded match,
"Yeah, I always throw them on the ground. So what?"
"Well not here you don't. You want to start a fire and burn down the whole State Park?"
Joe looks at the ground again, noticing his shoes soaking wet from the dew, and thinks, I couldn't start a fire here with a lit match and a can of gasoline.
"No of course I don't, Bill, I just wasn't thinking. Sorry."
"Well, you better be careful, if a Forest Ranger saw you do that, you'd get a citation. You don't want to have to explain to them at work that you tried to burn down a forest, do you?"
Joe shakes his head, no. There's a lot of things that he doesn't want to explain at work, including this whole weekend.
"OK, let's get this tent up. He pulls out what appears to be a large tarp, and spreads it on the ground. "This is the base for the tent," he explains. "It will help keep us dry. Next we spread the tent over that." They each grab a side and lay it over the tarp. Bill grabs the bag with the stakes and tosses it to Joe. "Open that, and give me the mallet and one of the stakes." He tells Joe. He opens the bag removing the items Bill wanted and hands them to him. Bill places the stake through a loop on the corner and pushes the stake into the ground, securing it with the mallet. Working their way around the tent, they get it all down tight. After that Bill attaches the metal frame work and the center pole that raises the tent. All accomplished in just minutes. Joe is impressed, and says so. Sometimes he can forget that Bill is actually quite competent. He finishes his cigarette and is about to toss it when he becomes aware of Bill watching him. He looks around for a place to discard it, but is not sure where. He's just considering sticking it in his pocket when he see's Bill pointing to the fire pit. Joe nods, and after grinding it out on a rock drops it in. Bill smiles and gives him a thumb's up sign.
Once again Bill is digging in the car. He comes out with two large red folded plastic items.
"Your mattress Joe, one for you, one for me."
Joe begins to unfold his.
"A little flat, isn't it Bill?"
"I keep forgetting I'm with a virgin camper. You blow it up, Joe, so you can sleep on it. See, there's the valve, just open it, and blow."
Joe looks at the valve, then back at Bill,
"Are we having fun yet, Bill?"
Bill just laughs and sits himself on the picnic table and starts to fill the mattress with air, Joe follows with his. After a few minutes the mattresses are only half full, but they are both red faced and winded.
"I usually bring a bike pump to do these, but I forgot it." says Bill, slightly out of breath.
"That's OK, all that oxygen was just sitting there in my lungs anyway, I wasn't using it. I need a break." Joe sets the mattress on the table. He looks around the area.
"You looking for something, Joe?" Bill asks.
"Yeah, just wondering where the men's room is." Joe inquires.
Bill just looks at him, wondering if he's joking or not. Not, would be his guess.
"You city boys! Pick a tree, Joe. There's plenty to choose from," Bill makes a sweeping gesture with his hand. "Any tree."
Joe looks around and then back at Bill, with 'You're kidding' written all over his face.
Bill takes pity on this novice.
"See that stand of pines there Joe?" he says pointing to them. "Just behind them you'll find the outhouses."
What I need to find, is a bus heading for home, he thinks as he makes his way to the pines.
Joe returns in just a few minutes. Bill inquires if he found what he wanted.
"Yeah," says Joe, "next time, I'll look for a tree." He sits to finish his mattress. Bill had finished his and was opening the sleeping bags to lay on top. Joe finally finishes with his and Bill puts them & the bags in the tent. Joe just sits for a minute, he's feeling a little light headed.
Bill comes walking over to Joe and hands him the boots he borrowed.
"Put your boots on Joe, we'll take a little hike before lunch."
A hike? I was thinking more like a nap. OK, hike it is. If I'm gonna drop dead, might as well see some scenery in the process.
Joe takes off his tennis shoes and lays them on the table in the sun, hoping they will dry by the time they return. His socks are wet. Glad Bill warned me to bring extra. He fishes out the dry ones and puts the wet ones with the shoes. He puts the boots on, lacing them up. They were a pretty good fit, actually comfortable.
Bill hands Joe a canteen with a strap for carrying. He looks at it questionably, then looks at Bill.
"Water, Joe," he says.
"Oh, I thought it was coffee."
"You want coffee instead? I can do that, but I think the water is better for you."
Joe slips the canteen over his shoulder before Bill does fill it with coffee.
"Nope, water's just fine, Bill."