[at-l] Someone's been eating my porridge

[Datto <datto998@yahoo.com>]

Seems things have been a little slow recently so I've
written up a description of a recent hiking episode.

I went hiking with Tony again last weekend. As you all
(y'all) might remember, Tony is my ol' roommate from
college. 

We started the hike by walking from our cars up a very
steep set of stairs, really working up a sweat, to
arrive at The Lodge at Pokagon for an AYCE breakfast.
This hiking stuff...wow. You really want to have to do
it I guess -- and vice versa. French toast, scrambled
eggs, sausage, pancakes, hash browns, mixed fruit,
waffles with maple syrup, sausage gravy on biscuits
(that's not much Spam), cereal and coffee. For a second
course we went back for...

Hey, this hiking thing is really starting to become
work! About had to take a nap before we could hike.
Didn't start hiking until 11:15am. 

Side story about Tony: When he and I were once
hitch-hiking to Seattle along I-90 across the northern
United States, we got stuck without any rides near
Mitchell, South Dakota (a barren, desolate place known
for the Corn Palace -- a building with a facade made
entirely from corn). It was nearly 11pm and Tony and I
were trying to make up lost time from getting off the
track at Eau Claire, Wisconsin earlier in the day when
we both had fallen asleep during one of our rides. We
ended up being over 2 hours north of the Interstate and
heading toward Canada before either of us woke up and
realized what had happened and where we were.

Anyway, back to Mitchell, South Dakota. It's 11pm,
we're still hitch-hiking, it's raining and no one is
even making eye contact with us at the bottom of the
Interstate ramp. Tony and I made the decision to walk
up the ramp and hitch-hike directly on the Interstate
because there was more light up there. While walking up
the ramp at least 10 cars pass us but never even stop
to gawk at the grubby hitch-hikers. At the top of the
ramp we hung out our thumbs, basked in the sodium vapor
highway lights as if it was daylight. All of a sudden,
as if someone had turned a switch, any traffic that had
been on the Interstate now disappeared. We're
completely alone, it's approaching midnight, we're
outside Booneyville, South Dakota and it's raining.
Believe it or not, we're having a great time. 

After 15 minutes passed and still not any traffic, the
rain started beating down on us. Tony turned, looked me
in the eye and said, "I was afraid I was going to have
to do this...".

You know, whenever someone says this phrase, it either
means trouble or hilarity. Tony took off his backpack
in the rain, opened the top, rooted around inside and
popped up to show me some kind of small, plastic
package. I couldn't identify it but Tony closed up his
backpack, put it back on and started unfolding the
plastic package in his hands. Unfolding,
unwrapping...then presto, over the head. It was one of
those plastic woman's hair bonnets...only this one has
orange daisies on it! Tony, mustache and all, looks
like Little Orange Riding Hood. I lose it completely
and began laughing out loud at Tony for a good 15
minutes before finally regaining my composure. No one,
absolutely no one, was going to stop and pick us up
now.

So here we were, completely alone, it's after midnight,
we're just outside Sticksville, South Dakota and it's
raining. Only now I'm with some whacko who's donned a
Riding Hood hat complete with brightly colored orange
daisies. I'd given up completely on getting a ride for
the night and we finally headed under the Interstate
bridge for a good night sleep just below the bridge
expansion joint (cla-CLANK, cla-CLANK). I fell asleep
30 seconds after climbing into my sleeping bag.

Back to the hike over the weekend...

From previous hikes, I know it's best if Tony hikes in
front and I hang out in the back. Otherwise Tony
struggles to keep up (5'-6" tall vs my 6'-1" stride)
and his knees don't end up staying together for the
entire hike (Tony's left knee blew out on the Burr Oak
hike we took last fall). 

But with Tony in front, sometimes he's a slow hiker.
So, to get Tony to hike a little faster I told him that
I'd heard one of his ex-wives was having a cash flow
problem. Seemed to do the trick. Hey, what are
considerate ol' roommates for, huh? Tony became a
hiking maniac and we proceeded on at a good clip.

Halfway through the hike I took an Esbit stove out to
heat water for coffee since the weather was a little
chilly (20-25 degrees or so). We picked a spot at the
top of a hill to get the Esbit out and cook up the
coffee. The wind really picked up and was clearing 30
mph on the hill.

Now...here were are. Tony and me with a couple of
college-boy degrees...each. Both of us are working on
trying to get an Esbit tab lit in the wind. All kinds
of techniques -- inside my jacket, lighting Kleenex to
get the Esbit lit, others. Finally I get my Esbit lit
(Whoo-hoo and a fun time I had doing it too, baby), and
I put it into the Esbit stove with the pot of water
overtop. Then I walked over and continued to watch Tony
try to light his Esbit. It was 10 minutes before each
of us realized we could just lay Tony's Esbit overtop
of the already-lit one to get Tony's Esbit lit. Oh
well, we're architects Jim, not firemen.

Went up to Hell's Point (one of the highest points in
Indiana -- ice axe and crampons needed to get
there...sure) and passed a few cross-country skiers on
the trail (yeah, they loved it we were stepping in the
ski tracks while hiking). Eventually completed the loop
to return to The Lodge where, the nerve of them, they
had closed the AYCE Lunch since it was now 2:30pm. So
we grabbed free coffee, sat in the dining room to
reminisce about our hitch-hiking days (ies) and then
left to return home about 3:30pm.

Datto

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