Assateague July 2007

If you want to review the Assateague posting from last year, click here.

Assateague July 2007

We had many more participants this year - it was out of control. This year we couldn't have asked for better conditions. The weather, the bugs - you can go camping in Assateague for 10 years in a row and never have such a perfect weekend. The temperatures were perfect, the slight breeze kept all the bugs away. The water temperature was a little chilly, but during the heat of the day it felt great once you got used to it. Activities this year included drinking, tie-dying t-shirts, volleyball, swimming, hiking (for some of us), water gun fights, kite flying, sleeping, drinking, drum circle, fire jumping, ambulance rides, drinking, eating, and of course - more drinking. Brad, the executive chef, had marinated pork tenderloin and sweet corn on the grill. We had sausage and burgers and dogs and bbq chicken...there was so much food.

Keith and Cham rolled up in the mini van about an hour before I got there. I got there on Friday afternoon. The drive down was stress free, very little traffic. This year, I wasn't to be outdone with the accommodations. I brought the Hyatt of tents - 10x12 with 6 foot ceiling, queen air mattress, full size pillow and battery powered fans. Complete comfort, and it was real nice. Next year I need some more sand stakes though. 4 was enough but if the wind was a little stronger, it might not have been.

Both nights we had a drum circle complete with bongos, guitars, and tambourines. Almost all of the LSD (lower slower Delaware) folks are in a band or came with someone who's in a band. All of us Univ of Delaware folks follow the local band scene pretty closely. I'll have a tribute to the bands at the end. Saturday morning, Keith, Cham, and I got up and went for a 9 mile hike on the beach. It was hot and difficult hiking in the sand but the breeze off the ocean felt good and it made me feel like less of a heifer after drinking and eating all night. The ocean felt wonderful after that. Gus and I ate an entire bag of cheesy poofs all by ourselves. Adam and I tried to swim out to the sand bar, but once we got out past the second set of breakers, I still couldn't touch the bottom and I started having flashbacks of the fin in the water I had seen last year so we turned back. I think the sandbar has moved since last year.

The group sites at Assateague are all right next to each other and the 5 sites share 2 boardwalks out to the ocean. When you stand on the boardwalk on top of the dunes and you look from site 5 (our site) across to the other sites, you notice a distinct difference. Koch, Lynch, and Carmine seem to always book our site next to the Christian singles gathering. Their site is clean and organized, with tents all in a row and all the food and trash cleaned up and put away. Our site looks like a bomb went off. We have food lying everywhere. Enough coolers to make a cooler fortress. The sand is stained blood red like a sacrificial slaughter occurred, but it's really just tye-dye. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll doesn't even begin to cover it. The rangers came over to our site to tell us to turn down the heavy metal, and their flashlights moved across the site and they looked at each other. These guys must be new. They didn't know about us from last year. The veterans must not have warned them. I think Ranger Ralph quit after our weekend last year.

Saturday night, Brad ended up at the ER for falling into the fire. See picture. He got a ride in the ambulance and a whole lot of morphine. I think it was a second-degree, borderline 3rd-degree. Good stuff. I don't feel like it needed to be said then, but let me just say - when you encourage drunk people to do stupid things, you're a guilty accomplice to the tragedy. You know Koch didn't need much coaxing to do it, and you know he's an accomplished fire jumper. Even drunk, because he has a lot of experience functioning while drunk. Brad, on the other hand, was too drunk to be fire jumping. That's all I'll say about that. The fire jumping shouldn't have even gotten started. After I took Brad to the ranger station, Ranger Garrett wouldn't let me drive my truck back to the site. He offered to drive me, but I said no, I'll walk. Keith took me back around to get my truck. On another note, Keith learned how to shotgun a beer this weekend and he was introduced to the musical genius of Buckcherry. He had never heard Crazy Bitch before, but he found it most enjoyable.

The next morning, I got up with the sunrise because I had to use the outhouse. I get into the outhouse and I hear clip-clop, clip-clop on the boards. I knew it was a horse. This horse decided he wants to stop and hang out right in front of the outhouse door. His rear quarter panel was right at the door opening with his tail swishing against the handle. I thought I might be able to gently encourage him to move but no. I thought about slamming the door in to his leg, but then I had a vision of him kicking the door in or knocking the outhouse over. So I started yelling at him, but he didn't respond to that either. So I waited. I waited for about 20 minutes. Then finally he decided to move on.

Timmy, Jeff, Adam and I went to breakfast at Dr. Unks on the way out. Jeff and Gabe are douchebags for going to Seacrets without me on Saturday afternoon. The bands that need love: Jerry's group Falon, Timmy's group Breath of Life, and Gus.

I had a great time, can't wait to see everyone again next year.

4th of July - Wildwood

This 4th of July I spent in Wildwood with my mom, stepdad, and sisters, their husbands and kids. They keep their Bayliner at Lighthouse Pointe Marina just off of Rio Grande. It rained a bit on the 4th, so we played a few hours of Corona Kickball down by the beach. Then we stopped at Uries to drink some buckets of Voodoo Juice. The rest of the weekend was quiet and relaxing. We went to Aunt Linda's 50th Birthday party in Deptford on Saturday night.

4th of July 2007