Hi guys, well it looks like I am back, sort of kind of, maybe. If you are the one faithful reader I have then you know I have been on what in some cultures would be classified as a vacation. Thursday I drove my Daddy’s land yacht RV to near the LA state line. Friday I drove to Florida for him before crossing AL, and back towards the LA state line to begin the what will forever be referred to as the “infamous camping trip of 2010”.
This was just before I spelled out SOS in driftwood
Even though I built my house way out in the woods apparently there is still an appeal to camping when you are a 9 year old boy. I remember taking my older 2 primitive camping with my friend Shannan and her 2 little ones for 9 days. It was awesome. By awesome I mean we were filthy covered in dirt and scars on our mental Psyche that no therapist can undo. Since that trip I have been derelict in my parenting camping duties. I take hotel trips and day kayak or canoe trips. When the Prince got a tent, mess kit and all the camping goodies for Christmas 2 years ago I camped with him on our land. Acres of woods with no street lights, that’s camping right? Sure we were just about 150 feet from the house but I turned off all the lights and made the rule we couldn’t go in the house for anything from 5pm to noon the next day so it felt like camping.
After his second super dull suck summer thanks to me and the dumb medical stuff I was way overdue on giving him an adventure that didn’t take place on Casa De Kirk .
To be honest this trip was not for me, this trip was for 2 men in my life that I would throw my body into a pool of alcohol and razor blades for. My Daddy and my son the 9 year old Prince. The Prince is the only Grandchild out of a large herd that my Daddy had not taken camping and considering my Dad’s age and health he wanted to make this trip special for my little prince.
some memories will stay with you forever I hope this is one of them
Here are some memories the Prince, PawPaw and the Droid shared that I hope I never forget.
1- Several walks a day, bring education on trees, birds and flowers.
2-Paw Paw showing you how to use his pocket knife to sharpen a roasting stick then letting you do it.
3- Kayaking with your dad
4- being allowed to kayak down a river by yourself
( *** that kayak busted the front windshield out of my mini van on Monday, any auto glass sponsors out there want to hit me up give me a call or email I am easy***)
5- checkers with PawPaw, there is no substitute.
There are a million more memories we shared over this trip. Knowledge was passed down from generations and love was in abundance. There was no wii, no xbox, no laptops, and no cell phones. None of us died from that. In addition none of us got poison ivy. Even though I did almost call the Coast Guard when the Prince and Droid took a bit longer than I thought they should to make it to the pick up point. The only bear was me, when I was woken up at 430am.
Thankfully my daughter Sam drove down 1 night after work getting in at midnight and then got up with Paw Paw allowing me to sleep until nearly 730am to which my dad proclaimed I slept the day away. Thanks Sam for taking a hit for the home team.
As far as the snake bite, I had considered faking one so I could go to an ER with AC and vending machines and checked with my twitter people and face book friends before I left and if it came down to it I would have done that. But actually I didn’t need to. If you have to ask me why, scroll through the pictures above again.
I hope each of you take a moment to let those you value, or those you love let them know how much and why today, maybe even share a memory with them.
