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Well we did Easter this year early and we did it up Smithwick style.
Friday was gorgeous, so I took off early and hit the water. Nelly was
nice enough to let us take out the pontoon. Even though it was windy,
the day was great. We setup shop out in the middle of the lake and
then would let the wind blow the boat back into the cove.
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Hardly a cloud in the sky, but definately breezy. Chris came into town
later that afternoon and met up with Liz. Later that evening Liz cooked
up some steak and we had a nice fire outside. It ended up being a nice turn
out. Keith and Nelson came over, Joe stopped by and Levi made an entrance.
Jackie and James made the trek out from the river to come over as well. We
stayed up for a quite a while and burned a heck of a lot of wood. Chris
managed to kill two bottles and paid for the next day.
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Saturday came around and finally salvation :)
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It was time to start packing up for the campout in Smithwick. Just as
we are ready to leave, Liz calls to say she locked the keys in the car.
Somehow the car mysteriously locked the keys in car. After spending about
two hours we were finally ready to ship out. Chris wasn't quite up for
the hill country twists and turns, it was a sketchy ride out to Cliffs.
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Once there we quickly began to setup base camp. Steve had already setup
in the tundra. The idea was to have a place to sleep outside so when
all the rugrats woke, we would have some quiet time for a little
bit. I started setting up the tent next to the Tundra, we had a great
spot right in front of the pond, lakefront if you will. Just as everything
is setup a big orange buss pulls in right infront of my site, I now had
a breath taking view of a tire.
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After relocating the site we were ready to relax and enjoy the
day. Not quite, about an hour after setting up we began to feel the
rain drops coming down. No big deal, we had the rain cover on the
tent and such. We all gathered on the porch and started watching
the clouds roll in. The clouds were passing from right to left, but
then started to circle. This put an uneasy feeling in my stomach. Sure
enough, a massive downpour came up. Then wind. The wind started blowing
the cover off my canopy, the tent was trying lift up as well. I said
hell with it and ran out to assess the situation. It only got worse.
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The rain kept coming down harder and harder, and the wind was blowing
heavy. I yelled for Liz because this was no longer a one man
operation. I needed someone in the tent as well as someone holding
onto the canopy. The canopy was in danger of flying up and smashing into
someone's car. Then came the HAIL! The rain was blowing so hard that
it was coming up under the rain cover. I decided to pull the tent
under the canopy all the way. The tent was getting tossed like a rag
doll. Liz began stacking stuff in the corner so it didnt get
soaked. I had to stand outside in the cold getting drenched to hold
onto the canopy. If we lost the canopy we would loose everything in
the tent. It would get soaked. We just had to ride it out.
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Pretty soon the hail slowed and the rain died just a little. I dropped
the canopy down just over the tent to fight the wind, then we
split. It was pretty intense for a while. After everything, one blanket
got wet. Steve's tent got quite a bit of water in it.
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Skip to Sunday morning. The sweet sound of a 80cc motorcycle starting
up at 7 in the morning. Mac was riding around, not to mention Aflack
quaking away non-stop. But I needed to get up and atom. I grabbed
some biscuits and gravy and we headed out for fishing.
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Fishing was pretty slow, I was the only one who caught anything and
they were two small baitfish at best. On the way back we headed past
Schafer Bend we went up into a slu that went on for about a half
mile. After that we packed up and went down to Drapers. Joe came down
to the park with Jackie Joe. She was putting up a fuss about not
getting skin cancer. We helped out a neighbor by pulling his truck
out and then later phoned nelson who came to pick us up in the tooner.
Jackie Joe got to experience her first first day of spring sunset properly,
on the water in Draper's Cove.
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Gunny hangin out on the deck Sunday morning
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This was really creepy, it was a flock of buzzards in a tree, but they
all had their wings spread at us. I was waiting for them to fly
towards us and attack.
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EP didn't like having Sun Screen applied to her.
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