On The Road

Ok, I know I have only 2 posts in July so far. But I think the reason is because I've only worked 3 days this entire month! Man, a person would start to think I was enrolled in the Andy Camann School of Life! J/K Shaft. Anyway, lots to talk about, discuss, update. Where should I start...

FIREFLY LAKE TRIP
It is a right of passage that every summer Amber's family and I go up to Firefly lake north of Minocqua for a family camping vacation. I think this started when Amber was a wee lass and has continued every year since. I love traditions like that. This is my 4th year up there.

The Coffee
Every morning, Amber's dad, Dick, and I get up at about 6:45 and brew our selves a couple cups of coffee. I may have never mentioned this, but Dick brews the most perfect cup of coffee in the entire world. It is what I look forward to the most when I come home to Neenah. That first cup of coffee in the morning. The conversation. The newspaper.

The Dog
After coffee, Dick and I take their dog, Abby, for walk around Firefly Lake. It is a small lake so walking around it takes about 30 min. or so. Abby is a Golden Retriever about 6 years old. She is an amazing dog. We call her the super diving rock dog. If you throw a large rock in the water (the size my head) she will dive down into the water, no matter how deep and fetch it for us. No joke. We always get stopped by people on the shoreline amazed by this talent. I'm sure we could make money of this dog!

The Jeep
After the walk, before Amber and Amber's mom Marcia, are up, we take the jeep out. Dick has a 1994 Jeep Wrangler. When I first started coming up here, the first morning, Dick too me out to learn how to drive stick. That first year I must have konked it out about 40 times in 4 days. Now I'm a pro. We go off roading on any trail we find and discover new lakes.

Ice Cream
Every night we are camping we get ice cream after dinner from a different place. Either McKay's, Hoggie Doggies, Susie's or Mad Dog Jakes. I don't even want to know the total calorie in take of this trip but it is ridiculous. I went running a few times just to burn off a few of those scoops!

Amber
Amber really surprised me this year! In all the past years, I've had to sleep alone in the tent because Amber wanted to sleep in the RV camper her parents have since it's more comfortable and convenient. There isn't room for me in there. Well this year was different. She decided she would stay with me in our small tent. We had an air mattress and sheets and I wasn't lonely any more! It even stormed crazy hard on Friday night and there was a bit of water in the tent and our sheets got soaked and there wasn't even a complaint! What a trooper!

Swimming
I've been wanting to get better at swimming over the past few years but haven't had the chance or time. Since there was a nice calm lake by our campsite I decided to have Amber help me perfect my strokes. Amber is a very good swimmer and was one level shy of becoming a life guard. She helped me "perfect" my front crawl and breast stroke. She also demonstrated the butterfly which is absurd and I see no reason for it since it's so tiring. but she's good nonetheless! We also had swimming races. We did a 40m front crawl and 40m sidestroke. I won both, but barely. It would be fun to do a relay sprint triathlon with her someday. Just gotta find a biker!

The Mallow
Never have I ever made a more perfect roasted marshmallow than I did on Tuesday night. It was crispy on the outside and the inside was uniform gooey goodness. Just melted in your mouth. You definitely want me at your campfires. For sure.

The Albino Deer
The the second time in three years we saw an albino deer crossing the road near Sayner. IT was amazing. Marcia had a camera with her and got a good photo. She was so flustered it took her about 30 seconds to turn the thing on. A few miles down the road we saw small black bear cross the road. Nature!

The Accident
Unfortunately on the drive back home from ice cream one night, we got caught in traffic from a car that got flipped over on a curve on a lonely county road. A wreck on the highway. No paramedics or fireman where on the scene yet. Just onlookers with cell phones. There was a person lying in the road. An off-duty cop told us to turn around and head back. When he ambulances and fireman came we decided to get out of there. We hoped the young lady was alright. The next morning we went to the corner store and they said that the girl died on the scene and was a 20 year old from Appleton who didn't have their seat belt on. I never heard the cause of the accident. Here is the only thing I could find in the paper: http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080716/APC0101/307160012/1007

The Tick
After we got back to Madison on Wednesday night and finished packing, I had to go to the bathroom. Amber was taking a shower so I went in the guest bathroom. While I was on the can, I saw a black thing near my belly button, I tried to flick it off and it wouldn't come off. I looked closer and it was a tick!! I quick ran to the other bathroom and told Amber to get a tweezers to pull it off me. I had pee all over my boxers as I ran to the other bathroom and Amber was laughing very hard. She got it off me and we burned that sucker in the kitchen sink. It was sweet.

Great trip overall and look forward to next year already!!

I really missed my music on while I was away. I would intentionally not ride my bike the showers at night so I could listen to a few songs on my iPod. Man, music sounds so much better when you're walking alone underneath that big bowl of stars. When I got back home I played on the piano since I hadn't done that much in July. It felt great. It's always good for me to step away from it for a few days and then play again. Ideas come flowing. I had these two song I had written music for but never finished. I decided to try to put them together into one song and it worked perfectly. Magic!! The melodies flowed right into one another. Maybe in 2018 when I finally complete my recording you'll be able to notice which song it is...

On the beach at Firefly I read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. Great, great novel. Possibly one of the greatest of the last 50 years or so I hear. It was an crazy book but the language and descriptions of jazz in the book are incredible. I'll think I'll read a few more of his books.

Only a two day work week now. I'm not gonna complain...

As always, stay tuned...