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Published: January 28th 2007
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Maintenance time!
Poor man's bike stand. Jo just lubed her chain and was trying to keep it clean. Jo and Shawne say...
Day 39 & 40
November third and fourth, 2006
Two Day Mileage: 3.6
Total Mileage: 1607.65
Flats: 0
Total Flats: 44
When we awoke, we knew that today was chore day. Chug and Sandi let us use their laundry detergent to wash our clothes, so we did all the laundry. Jo ran into town and bought some more groceries, and we walked the banks of the beautiful river, talking of snorkeling if it had been just a little bit warmer. It was dreary and threatened rain for most of the day, though the sun did poke it's head out for a few hours.
Jo put her new tires on her bike. We used the internet and updated some of the blog (Thanks, Chug!). Shawne wrote more in the journal, and we headed back to use the internet again. Just as we started, Chug asked us if we'd like to go for a ride in his truck to see some deer. Ride in a truck? It sounded like fun to go sightseeing, and...we could ride in a truck! We readily agreed.
He said he'd take us out a nearby road, but it only went for nine miles
Time to put them to the test!
Jo is now Armadillo Equipped. and then ended. Jo's immediate thought was, "Oh, that will take far too long. Thanks, but you don't need to go that far out of your way." She laughed at herself when she realized she was still thinking in biking terms. Nine miles each way was a two hour trip by bicycle, but only took a few minutes in a vehicle!
As dusk fell, Chug showed us not only whitetail deer, but a new kind of deer called Axis deer. Axis deer are spotted, even as babies, and they all have six-point antlers. Because they are not a native species, there is no season on them, and supposedly they are great to hunt. Chug said he'd like to show us something else, so as dusk fell, he pulled over and pointed to the right. We looked out the window and saw kangaroos! Dozens of kangaroos stood up and stared at us with their little front paws tucked together. He said there are also giraffes at this ranch, but one recently passed away, and the rest were already put up for the night. If we'd been through there earlier, we would've seen the Russian boars, but they were in bed, too.
Didn't you know?
Of course they have Kangaroos in Texas. DUH?! We had a great time.
Chug said he used to live in our home town in Nevada, and asked if the Truckee River was still as beautiful as he remembered. We had to admit that we don't go to Reno very often, and couldn't honestly answer him.
By the time we got back to the Camp and started using the internet again, a group of men entered looking for a cabin. We didn't want to be in Chug's way, so we tucked the journal away and turned off the internet. The men marveled at our trip, and one asked if we "used a lot of vasoline", animating his question by rubbing his derriere. The other men broke into laughter and told him that was too personal of a question. The man turned bright red, embarassed. He wasn't trying to be rude. We laughed along with the crowd, but then an awkward silence fell over the group...
"Well, it was nice to meet you all! Time to go to bed now!" Jo said cheerfully as she pretended to shoo Shawne out the door. The whole group burst into laughter again as we left.
We crawled into the tent in the cover
Our tent site
Nestled between two cabins. of night with clouds hiding the starlight.
.........
We woke to find that the sun had risen at some point, but it was a cloudy, lazy day, and impossible to tell what time it was. More chores were in store for us. Shawne fixed the brakes on both bikes. We were journaling when Sandi said, "Knock! Knock!" outside our tent. We poked our heads out and she told us that since it had been drizzling all day, they felt bad for us, so they opened up a cabin for us to stay in at no extra charge! We quickly moved all our gear inside, thankful for a warm, open space. It had five beds, and a little round table with four chairs. We were delighted to also find a refrigerator, a microwave, and a heater! Unbelievable generosity!
We put our milk, eggs, leftover butter, and hotdogs into the fridge, and immediately curled up on the queen-sized bed and fell asleep. We have no idea how long we slept.
When we awoke, we went firewood gathering in the rain, and made a quick trip into town for more groceries.
We worked on the internet some more, and watched a little TV
HOW COOL!
Our own cabin? WOW!!! in the warmth of the office. Chug again offered to take us back to the kangaroos so we could get better pictures, but our camera was completely dead. He even offered to let us use his camera, and said we could download the photos to the blog when we got back. We politely declined because we had more work to do, and he sounded busy as well. He'd burned a pile of brush and trees earlier in the day, and though we missed the fire, we could still see it smoldering at the other end of camp.
As Shawne was cooking dinner, Jo went to put in another load of laundry and retrieve the camera which had been charging in the office for several hours. Chug was sitting in the dark by a giant barbeque. It was so big, it was on wheels and had a hitch attached so it could be moved via truck. Chug showed Jo that he was barbequeing some Axis deer meat which a hunter brought to him today. Jo said she'd like a picture of him and his wife. He asked Jo to knock on the door to their house and ask her to come
out.
Sandi answered the door wearing a cute, soft-looking shirt, and a pair of shorts.
"Awww, you're already in your pajamas," Jo said, "I was hoping to get a picture of you and Chug."
"I'm...not really in my pajamas," Sandi replied smiling, "come on in and I'll change."
Jo tried to walk up the stairs with one foot, since the other was firmly planted in her mouth. Jo made small talk about the beauty of the area, and how thankful we were to be there. Sandi followed Jo outside and posed for a picture with Chug in front of the still-cooking Axis meat. Chug offered us some meat, so Jo went to get Shawne since he was still cooking dinner at camp.
Shawne declined the meat offer because he was already in HIS pajamas, so we ate a dinner of meat and jalepenos mixed with beans and wrapped in a tortilla. As we were cleaning up, Sandi walked over with a plate of meat and a huge piece of homemade cake.
This was the third homemade gift she'd given us. The first night we were there, she'd made us a loaf of banana bread which was so hot and delicious,
we ate half of it on the way back to our tent. Earlier this afternoon, she'd given us homemade stew, and now barbequed meat and freshly baked cake! When she left, we talked about how kind they've been to us, and how we truly felt adopted by them. We could have stayed for a week!
We marveled yet again at the kindness of strangers, and wondered at the beauty and warmth of those who live in this amazing country we call home. We dried the tent by our enormous fire, and rolled it up. We packed away our sleeping mats and bags, preparing to leave in the morning come rain or shine.
We were so happy, and so grateful as we again curled up in that huge, comfy bed (with real pillows!). We went to sleep as we listened to the rain drip off the eaves and onto the air-conditioning unit with a small -tink- -tink- -tink-...
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niki bird
non-member comment
Thank you for such an interesting and complementary description of our area! We love it too. And Sandi and Chug are great people! See Sandi almost every day cleaning cabins or caring for the campground as we do our morning biking to Camp Wood. I simply marvel @ her energy and had no idea that she did that much cooking and baking to boot! wow! Niki & Don