Jones Lake.

Not letting my broken arm stop me from having fun, Joanne, Echo, and her nieces went to Jones Lake for a weekend camping trip and I was more than happy to tag along.

We found a great spot by the lake and immediately unpacked, setup tents, lit the citronella candles on fire, and sprayed ourselves with deet.

The day was a scorcher so after slapping on some sunscreen, we went down to the lake to cool off. I took cover in the shade of the trees and watched from the shore. When evening rolled by, the sun was quickly replaced by the thickening grey clouds which brought on the rain, and thunder and lightening soon joined the ensemble. As it took us all by surprise, we had hastily collected a bunch of sticks and branches to support the tarp strung above our tents for support and constantly removed puddles of rain water accumulating on the tarp so that it wouldn’t collapse on us under its weight.

Day two opened with the kind of sunlight you would expect after a storm and as it rose, it shone its rays of light on the mountains around us illuminating everything in its path.

Like what we had for lunch and dinner the day before, breakfast and lunch was a serving of hamburgers and hotdogs. With our bellies full, we took advantage of the sun and lake again. I even walked in to the lake this time, knee high, and bathed in the sun while.

Heading back down the rough logging road on our way home was a challenge for Joanne’s Chevy Blazer as the brakes were overheating due to her riding the brakes down the steep gravel guardrail-less decline. When the smell of brakes entered our nose, we pulled over to cool it down and worried about wether or not we should attempt the rest of our decent down or abandon the SUV and hop into Echo’s Grand Vitara instead. While we debated and gave the Blazer time to cool off, other motor vehicles of all types and condition came down the road, many travelling at unsafe speeds.

After twenty minutes or so, Joanne attempted to start ‘er up again and make a slow and cautious decent to the base of the logging road. The rest of us were waiting for her down below with our fingers crossed. Minutes passed. Other vehicles passed. Then Joanne’s SUV came to view and we let out a collective sigh of relief.

That was our weekend excitement.