We, meaning any combination of the Baird, Coonen, Paschal, Rutz, Swope, McMillin families and other various people, have been going camping at Hurricane Campground in Jefferson National Recreation Area, in the south west tip of Virginia for over 40 years. There are now occasionally three generations in attendance.
The trip used to always be the second weekend in August. However, schools began starting in late July so now the weekend varies. Coonens used to live in Ohio and then they moved to Utah. Every January now, they reach out to the group and let everyone know what July weekends work for them and we all plan accordingly.
Over the years there have been so many laughs and adventures. Most you wouldn’t appreciate unless you had been there. Some, however, I think I can sufficiently convey and you’ll appreciate the humor. I’ll start with the weekend of cliches.
It had to be Ben and Sharon who started it. I know there was a conscious decision to use as many cliches as possible throughout the weekend. Let me tell you, it was brutal! We were sitting in the campsite and a young couple come walking by with a tiny dog. (Yorkie or something along those lines.) Someone said hello and commented on the dog. The couple burst out-“We were just at the bath house and there were a couple of people getting water and they asked us where the batteries went in the dog!” We sympathized with them and they went on their way. We all immediately burst into laughter knowing it had to have been Ben and Sharon. A few minutes later Ben and Sharon returned to the campsite where we were all hanging out. Ben started talking about this couple with a tiny dog and how he and Sharon asked them where the batteries went. We told them about how we had said hello to the couple and they had told us about the incident. It was a great laugh, not just because it happened but because we knew the story before Ben and Sharon returned to the site.
Then thee was Ben trying to build a fire. As usual it had been rainy at some point and there wasn’t much dry wood available. Ben was doing his best trying to start a fire while Jim was working on getting dinner ready. Jim was giving Ben a hard time and finally Ben Blurted out, “Damnit Jim! I’m a fire builder not a god!” We still use that line today.
Cliches abounded over the course of the weekend and it was good to be back together with old friends, in the woods, sharing time and laughing.
My Patio 