Brief Bit of Gauley

Car entertainment

"This is the summer that wasn't." - Ron Samlin over Fourth of July. We were talking about how cold memorial day was and how the temps seemed so mild compared to last year. Ron made this statement and it stuck with me. Come labor day, all the rivers were roaring with water, so rare for the end of the summer where we were lucky if we got in the two foot range on the Yough. And then we approached the third week in September, Gauley fest. Last year we spent five days getting to and from there. David and I paddled and enjoyed the cool mornings and warm days. Gauley, where the water is usually controlled by release from the dam. This week, though, the engineers were dumping what seemed like everything they got. This, along with rain spells caused the rivers, once again to be high and mighty. I had a thought earlier in the week before we left that if it was to be raining, Abi and I would stay home and David could go down without us. But, the report was fine on monday, 70s and sunny. By wednesday, it was to be scattered storms but a low percentage. So, we packed up and headed west and south. We were going to ease into the trip, driving enough hours to get to Abi's naptime and stopping for the day. We checked into a Hampton and the only plans for the rest of the day was swimming in the pool and finding dinner. The next morning we woke to gray skies and drove through intermittent rain. The gloom started to settle on me. What would I do with Abi if it rained all day? We got to Summersville and started making plans with the other kayakers. I scowled at the rain drops hitting the puddles in the gas station lot while we waited for our diner lunch. I knew there was a new bouncy house that just opened but that wouldn't sustain Abi for two days if the rain kept up. After dropping David off to decide his paddling fate with the others, Abi and I went back to the shack for a nap. When she woke up she was more interested in playing with her toys inside, lining up her mickey mouse clubhouse figurines throughout the shack. I noticed that the sky was mostly blue through the slit in the curtains so I had hope that it wouldn't rain the rest of the day.

After a while, I asked if Abi wanted to go to the playground and she did. So, we walked over to the playground within our Battlerun Campground. Last year there was a boy who came out of a nearby tent to play but this year there were no kids in sight. She played for a little while but mostly wanted me to push her in the lazy swing for thirty minutes (those new, fat, plastic swings where kids just sit without doing anything to make it swing. David calls it the parka lounger swing. Google: Special Needs Swings.)

Luckily, all this lounging and lazy swinging passed the time enough to get us to dinner time. Now that Abi likes and has the teeth for pizza, I wanted to try the pizza and ice cream order-at-the-window place down the road. Close to camp made it appealing. We sat and did play-doh for thirty minutes and then ate some pizza before hearing David was off the river. We headed back to the Abi shack and laid inside watching videos on my phone until they drove up. I wanted to build a fire and the car needed gas so David and Abi set off to take a shower while I headed off in search of wood. Unlike the state grounds we are used to, firewood is not easily found in Summersville, but finally another campground was selling wood. So I happily bought two bundles imagining the flames going as big as the metal fire circle would allow. Another annoying thing about this part of the world was that they trust you to pump you gas and pay for it later. Not used to the old days of no credit card swipers I went and stood in line to give them my card only to be told to pump first and then come back. Only a place that sells cold pop would be so 1999 (hehe that's my snarky northeasterner coming out).

Sully is watching us

david driving, abi photgraphing

David texted that there was no hot water in the men's side so when I returned we decided no shower for Abi. He also asked if I got kindling for the wood. Nerp! So, we had starter stuff (lint, cardboard) and two bundles of half wet logs but no kindling. This was shaping up to mirror the great fire starting fail of 2009 (that's a story for another time). So, David put Abi to sleep while I stubbornly tried to rip off pieces of wood from the drier wood to have kindling and tried starting the fire a few times but gave up and took a cold shower (no hot water on the women's side either). He gave the fire a go and a log caught once in a while but it was mostly a loss. We ended up watching Dexter on the DVD player in the dark. A white animal hulked down to the river's edge in the semi-dark and at first glance it looked like those little white dogs with the big fluffy tails. The moon was rising giving light along with the intermittent camp lights along the driveways. Later, david saw it up close as it was sniffing around the Abi shack and it turns out it was an almost all-white skunk.

Abi's Angry face - car selfie

In the morning I emerged from the Abi shack to news that the rain would start at 10 am and go all day. With a check of the river gauge it was decided that we would just try to go back home. So, after arriving a little more than 24 hours before, we packed up and hauled north and east. The rain started shortly after 9 and we stayed mostly ahead of the tumult that was heading northeast as well. We stopped at a burger king in northern west virginia to let abi run a bit in the indoor play structure and then at a walmart in maryland for her nap. David popped the shack up and Abi and I napped in the parking lot while it rained and the wind blew against the walls. And then we started the home stretch. I sat in the back and got plenty car sick trying to keep Abi happy. She watched Monsters Inc at least four times in the two day span of traveling we did.

We made it home by bedtime on saturday night. Gave Abi a bath (she was done with it after I washed her) and told her stories while she laid on her belly with her bear tucked under her arm. It was a disappointing trip but maybe we'll have better luck next year.

And that's how you write a post about a whole lotta nothing

Labor day 2013 Yough Trip

Reading back on last year's yough trip, I can see the evidence that it's easier this year. Last year we still put up the black sheet to coax Abi to sleep as we drove through the night to get to the campsite, but still took 7+hours. We couldn't drive very long before having to stop at a sit down place for dinner. Now, at 2.5, abi no longer sleeps in the car, hope as we might. But, she does eat a wider variety of crap food like pizza from Sheetz and McDs so we can keep driving and make better time. We set out at 3:00 and arrived around 9:00 - a mere six hours and in time for it to be fully dark. She got to see the stars for the first time and be able to acknowledge them. She walked over and said, "Look at the stars! aww boodiful."

This is all you get in Ohiopyle. BBQ and meat, meat, meat.

Heavy rain hit the region before we arrived and all the waterways were full to bursting. The yough was three times bigger than what we usually run. This allowed the creeks and smaller rivers to open up. David took the opportunity to run the Stonycreek at a higher level and to run the Lower Big Sandy which he hasn't run since we were married. Meanwhile, still in my vacation mindset from a prior week off from work, I poked and maintained the campfire for the majority of one day. My hair still smells like campfire. our clothes needed two runs through the wash to get it out.

Another day, I went to the closest large town 30 minutes away and the day was over before i knew it. I had no interest in gearing up and riding waves. My ankle was still sore from a twist so i wasn't interested in the what if river scenarios with a tender foot. This really made for a great weekend though. i loved not having to stick to a real plan except to pick abi up from the rural daycare David found. This gave us the option to paddle together if we wanted and gave Abi the ability to have toys and AC all day. Campers made plans of what they'd be doing while i walked between the wood pile and the fire all day, skirt pulled up from my ankles through the dewy grass. Janet made a comment that i truly was a fire bug to be hanging around the fire in the humid summer heat. I hadn't even noticed it until she mentioned it but then i noticed i had a nice sheen of sweat. Yet, i wanted that fire to be bigger and wider. We had it roaring at one point with all the brush that had been cleared out.

I guess i should stop talking about fire. it was really fun though to have that time to myself to delegate. i took a break from keeping the fire to see about a cake down in Ohiopyle. having done the thirty minute trip already that trip i was not interested in doing it again unless we had to.

people are always asking where we go to camp and never seem to know what i'm talking about even though i've been going there for eight years now and saying the same things:

Abi has to get a gumball every time we are in the Falls Market

them: where you going?
Me:to the yough
them:Where's that?
Me:Ohiopyle state park
them:Where's that?
Me:near somerset
them: (blank look)
Me: five hours away. 

I realize now that it seems silly to expect people to know where this is but i figured everyone had at least heard of somerset since Flight 93 went down there. or i at least figure they'd google it after the first time we have the conversation. I've decided that  from now on i'll just say the "pittsburgh poconos" for those who are from around the philly area.

Quaint Ohiopyle - not near ohio as much as 20 minutes from west virginia - in the Laurel Highlands. Once off the turnpike the 45 minute drive down two lane country roads is pleasant if you aren't stuck behind a slow driver. There are rolling hills and country homes.There is plenty of outdoorsy things to do - bike, raft, kayak, as the sign suggests. There are campgrounds, motels, inns, b&bs in and around town. The area has been using grant money from the state and have really been building it up into a cutesy family friendly place. They've added more parking, a playground, putt putt, a new overlook of the falls, and just an overall face-lift. The town is crawling with people on weekends. I never knew until i spent days not kayaking. So, everyone should come and support their local economy.

One of the fun parts of camping at the ranch is the communal food. Everyone brings something to share. This time, there was a vast saturday cookout with baby back ribs, chicken,chili, and salmon. Then, there was dishes like pasta and quinoa and bean chili for the vegetarians. People drove up and the ranch was filled to the brim with subaru and honda and SUV of all kinds all decked with boats of all colors. Abi hung as long as she wanted and then asked to go to sleep. It's quite amazing for a child to ask to go to sleep in the summer when there's so much going on. Perhaps she's an introvert and needs to recharge on her own. This may be evident in that she wanted to hang out by our camper while everyone else was hanging out by the fire ring. She wanted to play the game where one of us pretends to fall asleep and the other scares them awake.

Abi plays ball with Polo

While everyone else was at the fire, Abi wanted to sit "right here"

That night we all ate till we were extremely full in belly and soul. The best worst joke of the night was exuberantly and drunkenly proclaimed by our friend Charlie:

"A man walks into a bar... no a McDonald's...whatever you like. He says, 'i'll have a rum....................and coke.' the bartender says,'whats with the long pause?' and he says, 'I've always had them.'



oh by the way, it was a bear."

This will probably be my non-sequitor from now on.

Shots shot