kern river

camp this weekend was nothin less than an adventure. going there was a pain in the ass..bumper to bumper traffic on the 5, slow ass drivers, speeding ticket, driving through the canyon at night, arriving at fairview at 10pm with no open campsite! it was packed! luckily there were some reserved spots that haven't been claimed yet. the sign in the front said that the campsite must be occupied the first night, and i translated that if they weren't there by midnight that night, their loss! so we pick a spot, burned the rsvp sign, and began setting up the tent. the boys were able to set up the tent. my only job was to hold up the lantern. our tent was massive..the attached front porch with screen, a Godsend. set up the fire and ate chili marinated boneless chicken with toasted bread and honey dijonnaise (best thing ever, 0 grams of fat can you believe that!? i don't..haha). i loved reclining back in my camping chair with my feet rested on the footrest and just gazing up at a star studded sky smokin a nice blunt, drinkin ice cold beer, and of course, munchin on a chicken dijonnaise sandwich. all this would be worthless if it wasn't for the good company. going from camping with 20 heads to just 3 is so different. its pretty damn nice with a smaller group. no one to clean up after, no one to cook for, no one bein lazy, everyone doing their own thing. luan, being the boy he is, saw boobies in the sky. supposedly any two pairs of stars were nipples. richard burned his fingertips pretty bad on the lantern handles. he had a bubble on his middle fingertip the whole trip. it was pretty funny. it was a bit hard tryin to fall asleep that first night, paranoid that the rsvp-ers would come and make us leave. we did notice an suv driving around a couple times. strong winds blew our tent back and forth, also making it difficult to fall asleep. but we were there, and that was all that mattered.







heat sure is the best way to wake someone up. the hot weather wasn't too much of a suprise. but waking up feeling like the meat inside an eggroll baking in an oven isn't fun. and thats exactly how it was in our sleeping bags in the tent waking up to 90 degree weather at 10 in the morning! looking around outside, we noticed how sweet our campsite was. no rocks, close to the bridge and bathrooms, and a nice thick acorn tree for shade.. all ours!! we ventured on to explore across the bridge and go for a little hike. damn, i don't even wanna go there. good exersize, yeah. but under the sun, um, no. so we turned around and started walking along the river trails. along the way we passed by a perfectly spiraled fresh pile of shit, fishermen and women with trout!, several amazing spots by the river, families floating down the river in round floating donuts, and mr. wilderness himself wearing only shorts, a hat, and boots climbing down a steep cliff using branches and roots to hold him up! after going back to camp to eat juicy hotlinks on a toasted bun with grilled onion and cilanro, we bring all our gear back to a spot we found earlier and set up our chairs by the edge of the water at a nicely shaded curved spot perfect with a fallen tree forming a nice place to sit. while the boys put their fishing rods together, i test out the river. quite rocky, slimy, and slippery. i had to carefully watch and plan my steps. but it was soo refreshing by the running water and the stones. i don't know how else to describe it, but i didn't wanna leave. the water was perfect. up until i hear luan screech in the water over by the bushes about a green snake with red spikes coming out the side a foot away from his face!! we chilled at the spot for about 3-4 hours, just enjoying each others company, smoking, eating booommbb chili covered pistachios and tryying to catch a fish, any fish. quite unsuccessful.. too bad because we had such marvalous plans if we caught trout. that afternoon felt relaxing, a perfect retreat from the city. on our way back to our campsite we find the fresh pile of pooop stepped on and baked in the sun. gross!! at the campsite, more beers, more bleezys, and ribs! yes, ribs, marinaded in bbq sauce and dijonnaise. delish! stupid bees were buggin tho.. after that, food coma!! i sat in the porch out of the sun and out of reach of flying little buggers. the boys play with the ball and launching/catching contraptions bought from rite aid while i red angels and demons. soon after, i take my nap. i wake up and its already dark. played 2 games of scrabble, got druuunk, walked around and saw elaborate camp set ups with entire families having the time of their life! their set ups were super fancy compared to ours. but yeah, drunk from the flask of whiskey, no, rum! that tasted like chocolate to me so i didn't need a chaser. more beers.. more bowls.. games of spades.. then, knocked out after a long day!

what a morning! found richard sleeping in one of the camping chairs under the acorn tree. meanwhile, luan and i check out the river and take a swim. the river was immaculate. the water level was low since it was summer and little rainfall. compared to spring's freezing, high tide, strong current river, the calm, moderately cold and gentle current was delightful. we explored a bunch of spots going down the river. familes were gathered in the water under the bridge with their dogs fetching sticks out in the water. it was like a nice river lagoon with flat rocks and sand. luan and i drift along with the current to a tree stretching out over the water. that was our favorite spot. swimming up river and back down with the current freely pushing us was like a natural water ride. people in the floating tubes had it so good! we're definately investing in some our next trip. it was a sweet way to spend some alone time with him. we always have a good time.. he's the best guy i know. i'm seriously so lucky. back at the campsite, we find richard exactly where we left him, so luan and i play with the ball launch and catch contraption. i'm actually pretty damn good at it. bad idea to smoke a blunt right before cleaning up, breaking down the tent, and packing up the truck. not bad as far as the clean up part, but as soon as we stepped out into the sun from under the acorn tree, the sun felt blistering hot. but the thought of mcnallys burgers motivated us. we got it done in about an hour, efficiently but not with ease. i felt like my eyeballs were sweating! mcnallys burgers was the beez neez. it tasted like an in n out burger but bigger and juicier. quite satisfying. then the journey home..a long, tiresome, return home to reality.

i can't believe luan actually made this happen. at first i didnt' think we were gunna go since it seemed like we weren't prepared at all. no reservations, no grocery shopping, no supply shopping. i wasn't even sure who was going. but turned out that luan had everything under control, as usual. i was surprised how he had everything ready. this weekend was such a chill way to wind down my summer. i enjoyed every minute of it. i wish i could go back soon. but i know its not going anywhere. it'll be there waiting for us next summer.... or maybe even this tuesday =)