Lloyd’s family likes to go on float trips. I have only attended one, and because there were Harsh Words in the canoe from Mr. Canoe Expert to his Novice Wife, I vowed to never sail with him again. (Also, I have some water issues.) However, this week his brother Aaron was coming for a visit and Lloyd had heard of ‘tanking on the Niobrara‘, and he wanted to do that. Lloyd assured me that the water was only going to be 18 inches deep for the most part, so if I got hacked off, I could get out and walk away.
Aaron wasn’t going to arrive until Saturday afternoon, and our destination was 4 1/2 – 5 hours away. We spent Saturday morning getting ready – buying food, looking for a new cooler, and …… I bought a new tent!! That’s the highlight to take away from this story, folks. I’ll gush about it later.
As it turned out, Aaron got to Seward earlier than expected, so we were all basically a caravan – Curt (a friend) and I in his truck with ALL the stuff, then Lloyd and Aaron a half hour behind, then Sam and the kids a few hours later. (They didn’t camp.) Ok…. maybe not a caravan.
It was a lovely drive, and the campground was great. We were very remote, and I couldn’t exactly remember the site number, and there was no cell service so I couldn’t call Lloyd, but in just half an hour they pulled up and it all worked out. Curt had his own tent, Aaron had his own tent, I had our brand new tent, and I brought the pop-up screened in canopy to keep the bugs out of the ‘kitchen’. (I’ve owned it over a year and this is its first official use.)
We set up camp, broke out the hot dogs and brats, made a fire then ate and drank until bedtime. Aaron had been on the road all day long coming from Missouri, so we sacked out around 10.
In the morning, I got up early and then had company for Council Fire, which was delightful. We made and ate breakfast, then broke down camp so we could get to the river.
More about that …… tomorrow.