Bang Your Head! (against a tree)

Having (barely) survived the first night, I was now loaded with caffeine and warm by the first and ready to take on the day. The first thing I remember hitting me was the smell. It was a bad smell, but a familiar smell from long ago. That camping smell of the cold early morning air, of other's starting fires, cooking breakfast, etc. was strong. As the members of our group rose one by one we started on the task of cooking some breakfast.

 Going camping is always a bit like going back into a time machine. Not because you're living the simple life of drinking coffee from a tin cup around the fire. But the people you're surrounded by feel like they're from a different time and place. And that would be more apparent at that night's festivities.



But let's not get ahead of ourselves. With breakfast now done, my buddy and me started the manliest of actvities (not involving firearms) SMOKING A PIECE OF MEAT! We had two bag of smoke chips (Apple and Mesquite) and a nice bottom round.

I was thoroughly impressed by my friend's ability to keep the smoker at a constant 200 degrees for almost nine hours. I marveled at the patience and dedication (and the meat).

As that smoked the rest of the day consisted of bike rides, playing catch, watching the kids on the playground and exploring the campsite. It also introduced the game that would become an addiction for the group but an obsession for my oldest daughter.

In consistent of two pieces of wood, one as a pole and the other jetting out from the top of the pole. The top piece has a string hanging from it, and at the end of the string a metal ring. The pole has a hook attached to it.  The goal is simply to drop the ring from the string and hook it on the, well, hook. Once my daughter hooker her first one, it would be a constant push to up her count throughout the weekend.

We even started keeping track of how many "hooks" you got on the side of the pole. Hey, simple games for simple times.

 As dinner approached we were discuss what the activities of the night would be. Earlier in the day when we were walking around the campground we came across numerous flyers advertising a live band that would be playing that night. What we didn't realize was, we would have no choice but to hear the band that night since they would be playing in the picnic area located steps from our campsite.

So we walked down to the store directly across from the picnic area and the kids and Ms. J partook of some pre-show ice cream. I had my back to the area when my wife quickly said, "Um did you see any members of the band?" I whipped my head around and was greeted with this:

This, my friends, is Jamie the Freak Cave, frontman of Freakshow. I'll let you absorb that picture for a moment. I'm particularly taken by his sheriff star.

The members hit the stage to the sounds of the Muppet Show Theme. I sat there stunned with they hit unleashed a flurry of one 80s hair band hit after another. He did pause between the first few songs to throw a garbage bag filled will Happy Meal toys on stage and invited children to fight to the death in order to retrieve one in a version of his own twisted Hunger Games. He followed this act by crooning the words to the Whitesnake hit "Slow and Easy". Which consisted of him belting "I wanna make love to you slow and easy" over and over again. You know, for the kids.

We could only take Freakshow for so long so we headed back to the site to make S'Mores and get ready for bed. We decided to take our chances with the tent this night so at least there wouldn't be climbing up and down from the attic in the camper if any kids needed to be escorted to the restroom. So it was with a tired head and the sounds of Quiet Riot blasting from the bottom of the hill that we drifted off the sleep.....


OHHH! Forgot to show you how the bottom round turned out.

That is how you smoke some meat!