Not to mention the two cars!!!
(This describes a vacation in a place called ’’Eagle River’’ in Wisconsin.)
Went to a place called Eagle River, WI for camping. We were seven in two cars. We kept trailing the other car for quite sometime and suddenly we encountered a board saying Canada - 5 miles. Then we went a little closer to the other car and found it was not actually the car we should have tailed.
So the rest of our journey was done alone with the help of a map. We met the other party in Eagle River. We went to the camping site and put up the tents. One of us got a brilliant idea. ’’Let’s prepare tea.’’
We all praised him for his superb idea. He said somehow all his ideas had always been superb. The next problem was FIRE. There were some logs and firewood in that area. We gathered some together and the only thing we had to light them up was a matchbox. Unfortunately the previous day it rained cats and dogs in that place and so the whole place was damp. The match stick could not even heat the firewood.
An ad hoc trip was executed to the nearest city and some lighting oil was brought to the site. ’’The Spirit of the lamps’’ it read and gave out a very nice smell. We sprinkled the oil on the firewood and lit it. The oil burnt exactly for 25 seconds and then as usual the firewood remained in the same state. After fifteen such sprinklings the wood showed some signs of catching fire. We celebrated this victory with an unplanned tribal dance in the forest.
The guy who thought of tea immediately ran to the car and brought a vessel, water and milk. We kept the vessel on the burning wood and poured water and milk in that. Then we felt something was missing. ’’Where is the tea powder?’’ I asked suddenly. The brilliant guy stopped minding the fire. He shook his head and said, ’’Public, we did not bring any tea powder.’’
This time the Crisis Management Committee decided to send our brilliant guy to the nearest store to get some tea powder. He zoomed out of the camping area and drove forty miles to the nearest supermarket, chatted with the owner there about the advantages and disadvantages of living in a city and then zoomed towards our camping site. We welcomed him with a red carpet and led him to the tea vessel with all royal formalities. He proudly took the tea packet out of the bag and presented it to the guy who was in charge of making tea that afternoon. That guy took the packet and examined that for a long time. Then he said, ’’Does any one of you know how to prepare tea with the best quality Atta available in the market?’’
We then looked at the brilliant guy without any expressions on our faces. He was totally surprised. ’’When I took it in my hands it was tea powder. When did it get changed to super quality atta?’’ He kept on asking himself that question and to the best of my knowledge he is yet to get an answer.
So the tea party ended that way. We went for cooking then. ’’Mashed Potatoes’’ declared Mahesh. ’’I am going to prepare it.’’ and then he took four potatoes and threw them in the fire. We all watched eagerly as he started counting numbers. After 10 minutes he removed the blazing wood and found four black charcoal like bodies under the ash. ’’Overcooked’’ he exclaimed. ’’Burnt’’ we exclaimed. He did not agree. We did not agree. He had to eat all those potatoes.
Roti and dhaal came out perfectly good. We finished our meal and took a leisurely evening walk in the meadows. The forest was green and there were birds singing. At a distance there was a big lake. We walked for half an hour and stepped into the water. It almost froze our blood. We discarded immediately the idea of taking a bath and started towards our tent. We walked for half an hour and then for another half an hour. There was no sign of our camping site. We walked for one more half an hour chatting loudly to cover the anxiety. Still there was no clue. Then our Crisis Management Committee assembled once again and made a ’’to do’’ decision after a long discussion. They finally decided that we should search for our camping ground.
Then we started an extensive search which reminded me of those treasure hunt movies and finally the treasure stood before us after an hour of wandering in the dusky forest.
We went inside the tents and slept like logs. Morning seven of clock we all started packing up from there. We went to the nearby Eagle River where there was some canoeing. We took three canoes and wanted to show our might. I, Mahesh and our brilliant guy teamed up and took the first canoe.
We rowed ferociously but surprisingly the canoe never went straight. I was fortunate to be in the middle as the canoe, if rowed forward crashed into the bushes in front of it, much to the nightmare of the guy sitting first and if rowed backwards to escape that crash, went directly into the trees on the other bank with the unfortunate guy sitting in the back getting entwined in those tree branches. We felt ashamed.
Those guys on the other two canoes laughed at us. But when they started their canoes, surprisingly they hit exactly the same bushes and trees we had visited earlier. It took us nearly half an hour to understand what canoeing was all about and after that the canoe behaved as specified.
We enjoyed the session very much for two hours. At the end of those two hours my left hand refused to row. Five minutes later the right hand joined the strike. Mahesh who took the front chair seemed to have slept long while ago and the brilliant guy who took the rear seat stared at me with both his hands hanging loosely in the water.
The place was absolutely deserted and the destination was still miles to go. We left all hope and started praying Wind God to blow faster. He blew faster. But it was a canoe! It made just no difference. We had to row it. There was no other go. Finally when we reached the pickup point we were not living.. we just existed in flesh and blood.... ’’Enough of Canoeing’’ I declared firmly. Everyone nodded. ’’Enough of the trip’’ I continued. Surprisingly still everyone was nodding. ’’Let’s go home’’ I slowly added and suddenly found out that I was alone there. At a distance I saw two cars puffing. I ran to the cars and boarded one of them quickly.
The journey home was too fast. We cruised at 90 miles per hour and the brilliant guy was terribly unfortunate to directly run into a radar. ’’Can you tell me why you were speeding up sir’’ The cop politely asked. ’’Aise hi’’ smiled the brilliant guy. ’’150$ + 4 points’’ the cop replied even more politely.
When we reached Toledo, it was 6 in the evening. I said good bye to everybody and entered my house only find the air conditioner had gone for a toss.
What a way to end the trip!