The Evils of Scrabble

8/8/14
What a great night’s sleep. Probably the best one we had in spite of the leak in the air mattress and the 3 AM motorcycle roaring down nearby 199. But I still got up early and wrote in the peace and quiet of the forest. Breakfast was the next agenda - pancakes, maple syrup and eggs. Food always tastes better camping - no matter how simple. Showers taken a trip to Crescent City was in order - Nancy was craving tomatoes and the closest towns (stores, not really towns) have no produce. The Safeway there filled the need plus corn (or cron as it was called in Jefferson, Oregon), celery and salad greens for the evening dinner. All in all the trip took an hour or so. Back at the Panther it was now lunch time. For some reason camping is more about the meals than any other activity we do as humans. Like I said - must be because food tastes so much better. But now it was time to deal with the poor flaccid air mattress - it now looked so sad. Super glue and duct tape - the greatest inventions humanity have devised over the millennium - solved the problem. Now our mattress, filled with air, stood erect and proud. I felt like a gratified parent at our child’s soccer match. Did I mention lunch? Chicken salad sandwiches - roasted chicken from Jefferson (was that a hemp flavor I detected) made with the recently purchased celery and a side of corn (cron) chips and Laughing Cow Cheese - what’s so funny about that.
Off to the swimming hole. My real goal for the day was to go to the beach, swim and get some sun. The reality was our swimming hole was a tiny sand bar with a throng of middle aged moms and their kids trying to drown themselves in the glacial pools. In spite of the potential for disaster it was wonderful. The refreshingly frigid water and warm sun revitalized our camp dusted bones and the Sandy got another chance to not enjoy swimming. Energized from the swim and hike - what to do next? Take a nap, of course. The honest agenda of camping: eat, luxuriate in nature and sleep - “just the facts, mam”. Speaking of eating - dinner - hotdogs roasted over the open fire, warmed buns, condiments, fire roasted Cron, camp beans flavored the the breakfast maple syrup and salad greens vinaigrette - with the purchased tomatoes.
After dinner activities: guitar (how come it sounds so much better camping) and - dare I say it - the Evil Scrabble. Nancy jumped out to a mighty, insurmountable lead right off the bat. After that my will was broken - 3 letter words were all I could muster - after all what can you spell with a Z, a Q, a X and four I-s.