We got everything packed the night before so that was done and ready to go. We had to stop and get fuel for the stove and then we were on our way.
As we are going along my wonderful husband hits the breaks hard and ends up in the middle section of the road ( you know the grassy area ) to keep from slamming the car in front of us because some morons cant drive around here. It scared me so bad all I could do was star and then the tears started.... and then I had to pee. I HATE HATE HATE to get that scared. And if I start to cry you know it scared me REALLY REALLY bad. Thank goodness my husband has good reactions and is a brilliant driver !!!!
Okay we get there .... time to get last minute things done so we can get started.... we meet Ken's friends Mike and his step son Gavin. We did our nice to meet you's and Mike goes back to getting his things ready and I finish up my few things. Then all of a sudden OUCH !!!! Dang fire ant bit my toe ( yes my toe , yes I still have my flops on .... yes I wait till the last minute to put my hiking shoes on ).... SMH ( shaking my head ).... this is gonna be a blast since its all starting out so wonderfully. Running late almost crashed on the way here and then ants .... ugh ..... this is gonna be fun .... LOL
Okay Mike is ready we pile up in the truck and off we go to our starting point.... We get there and backpack up and we start .... Im excited .... well for a minute.
As we are walking I thinking my gosh I must really be in rare form cause I seem to really be lagging this time. Shawn , Ken , Mike and Gavin are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY ahead of me .... hmmmmmm okay well I felt like I was constantly playing catch up with them and I was really starting to get tired and fast. Normally I lag behind but they are always within ear shot. But this time there was a few times they were so far ahead of me that I could no longer even hear them .... so what do I do ???? I keep walking my pace and get more and more annoyed. Then I just said whatever .... as long as I follow the orange blazes I'll be fine ... so whatever .... No my mood wasn't too good at this point. Im tired and crabby and I just want to get to camp... you know that place we cant find !!!!
Shawn , Ken and Mike all read the data book and none of them could figure out where we were. Thats a pretty crappy feeling ..... that feeling of being lost in the middle of the woods. Even though you know if you just follow the trail you will end up at the truck at some point its still a crappy feeling.
After not finding the point that we should have been at they decide to make camp someplace that we werent supposed to be camping ( again ). I get my hammock hung up and then go down and get coffee started. ( and as I open the bladder with the water in it for coffee it spills all over me .... uuuuggghhhhhhhhhhhhh now im soaked . then a while later while eating dinner I open my Dr Pepper and it spews all over me .... sheeesh you have got to be kidding me .... now im soaked and im sticky REALLY ???? SMH again )
We sat around Gavin's fire and talked and drank coffee and then ate dinner and then I decided to head off to bed. Im still really annoyed and hurting pretty bad and im just tired. As Im laying there I hear an owl hooting. Neat sound. Then all of a sudden I hear this most GOD AWFUL NOISE come from the trees in response to the first neat sounding owl. This one freaked me out because I have no idea what it was or where it was. So I hollar ( in a panic voice ) to Shawn and ask him what that was he tried to explain ( while him and Ken got a good giggle from my panic ) that it was just an owl, an older owl and yea whatever...( so glad I can entertain them when I get freaked out by all these critters LOL ) Im not laying way over here by myself while this "Old owl with what sounds like a sore throat hoots " Out of the hammock I go and down to the fire where Shawn and Ken were ( Mike and Gavin had already gone to bed ).
I sit with them for a while and Shawn and I head off to the hammocks for the night. I get in and the air is a little cool and a bit damp but it was tolerable.
I wake up cause I have to pee and Im so excited cause its a tiny bit bright outside and I think Ive finally slept a full night while out on a hike... I get up go pee come back look at my phone and its 1:13am. How disappointing ... Ive only slept 4 hours .... the rest of the night is no different than any other night for me out there ....I lay there wide awake all night long just waiting for sunrise. Only this time I am freezing. It was my own fault this time tho. I had my sleeping mat and emergency blanket but I didnt use them because I figured the sleeping bag would be enough .... WRONG !!!!!!! ( Note to self ... dont be stupid .... )
Well I cant lay there any longer so I get up and attempt to get this fire thing started .... no luck LOL Ken got up and had issues with it too but managed to get it going while I got coffee started because I knew Shawn would be up soon and that would be the first thing he'd asked for. LOL
And as I predicted Shawn woke up looking for coffee ;-)
We get food and coffee in us and start packing up and get the fire put out completely and get going again. And once again there they go .... I swear they thought they were running a race this time. I decided before we ever left camp that it was not an option for me to even attempt to keep up with them today. My hip was killing and it hurt to just walk much less run to keep up with them.
I started out lead but figured Id step aside and let them carry on I dont like to be the one to hold them back so ... someone else took lead ( dont remember who ). And just to clarify Shawn did drop back a few times to walk with me and so did Mike .... so I wasnt always alone .... they are all pretty good about making sure I am okay ....
After much confusion of where we are and where we are supposed to be we continue to move on and finally make it to the end. Thank God we made it cause I dont think I could have gone much more.
Now all that said this wasnt a bad hike .... it was just a hike not good not bad just a hike. I missed James out there this time.... wish he could have gone with us. But enjoyed my time with my husband and Ken and enjoyed meeting Kens friends.
This hike was very uneventful for me .... not many laughs and the only animals I saw were the birds. Saw a lot of hog ruts and armadillo ruts and cow poop but thank God no cows ( i hate cows ).
There were several bridge things and some strange steps to get across ( over ) the barbed wire. The scenery was beautiful out there. Much prettier than Ouchcala ( in my opinion ).
reading over this it sounds so negative and I dont mean it too sound like that at all. I just think some hikes are better than others and this one wasnt one of my better ones. LOL
And now Im gonna upload some pics and end with that. And add Shawn's link and Ken's link Just click their names :
Shawn
Ken
