My camp neighbors

This is Dayne. Shortly after this pic was taken he hooked a big pine tree about 20 feet up and although Dayne fought it tough in the end the tree ate the brand new $6.00 fresh out of the box super lure and lived another day. It was exciting to watch all this come down.

This is the entrance to the campground. I found it interesting that someone would do the 3 branch thing to point the way in when there was a regular sign close by (see upper left). I guess they wanted to make sure that even foriegners unfamiliar with our language and customs would know to turn here.

This is Jason, Regina, Dayne and Ellie about the best camp neighbors anyone could ask for. I met them Friday morning as I was waundering around sort of planning to get on the road again but after getting fed a wonderful plates of pancakes and bacon (leftover from their breakfast) I decided to stick around another day. I now kinda know how a stray cat feels when somebody feeds it--they are your new best friends.

I will call them the Wilderness Family Robinson(not real last name) because they "rough it" as a family every weekend possible. What you can not see in this picture is a 30 foot camper, 4 wheeler, dirt bike, gas grill, and hot tub. You will notice that picture is kinda smokey and that was intentional. I wanted to show the fire pit and the wood that is in it. You see , for most campers it is a hassle getting enough fire wood for the weekend, they walk around the forest picking up twigs and branches and dragging them back to thier site. There is never enough for a 2 day fire . Well, our guy Jason brings a chain saw (just like in those horror movies) and cuts actual dead trees up and makes enough wood to last a month. He does not screw around when it comes to firewood--he reminds me a lot of Cedric Boone, Daniel's younger brother. Jason kills elk every year and it is great eating--he considerd beef the other red meat.

Dayne is a very sharp kid who can shoot a BB gun like Annie Oakley(when he is not losing fishing lures) and is one of the top wrestlers in the 4 state area in his age group--excellent athlete.
Regina is a real sweetheart/super mom doing her best to keep Dayne from growing up to be compeletly like Jason. It is a strugle for her to interject class into the situation.
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The 4th member of the family is Ellie the wonder dog. She ruled the surrounding forest and I felt very secure knowing Ellie was watching over the camp . She did a great job of keeping us safe. There were absolutely no signs of any grizzleys, panthers, rattle snakes or sasquashes at least when I was camping there. My sense is that Ellie is looking for bigger things in life , like maybe a movie or a TV series--she has the look around her, especially with that pretty ribbon/bow on her head. Apprently Ellie gets taken to the groomer before these outdoor trips because she wants to look good doing what she does. She has the whole package.

After hanging out/talking Sat. morning post breakfast for awhile we went our seperate ways with the understanding we would see each other at the end of the day. Thinking I would treat them to dinner I rode to the nearest store and bought a pack of hotdogs and buns (which you can plainly see sitting on the picnic table on the left in the group shot) and a pack of figbars for supper but I wasted my time except for the figbars, which Dayne chewed up.

I show up and Jason/Regina are already cooking super big hamburgers which we had with pepperjack cheese and ice cream for dessert--God I luv roughing it. We chatted again for a few hours after eating and it was the best. Great conversation, great setting along river, a full stomach(free)--it just does not get anybetter --well maybe if Jason had remembered to bring some Coors but that's ok.

As a bonus Jason and Regina are very familiar with the Big Hole part of the bike route which is coming up this week and clued me in on some neat local stuff/roads to get into that regular folks may not bump into.

Before we parted I made sure that we would stay in touch--actually I want to know their camping itinerary so I can show up again sometime.