Friday, May 26, 2006

Goin' Out To Cally – Part 24, Bedless In Bedrock

I may not be a genius… okay, that’s actually a fact to which a lot of people can attest… but I do know this… in order to sleep in a tent, one must actually have a tent in which to sleep. However, as we arrived at Bedrock City and pulled up to Bone 19 our canvas cave was nowhere to be seen. A rapid and heavy storm had just moved through the area and, to nobodies surprise, it appeared our plastic stakes shoved into gravel were not strong enough to keep it secured to the ground.

For all we knew, the storm had taken our tent somewhere just south of Dorothy and Toto.

We all exited the car and frantically started our search. A few more campers had set stakes in neighboring Bones near our number 19, but none of them had seen our tent. Not a good sign.

Unsure of which direction the storm had hit or the winds had blown, we were kind of at a loss. We split up and headed in different directions. Still drawn to the Bedrock City wall, I headed toward it, scouring the ditches along its edge. The others were looking behind nearby hills and under parked trucks and RVs.

Nothing.

Our concentration was broken by Beth exclaiming, “There it is!” We raced over to her and followed her pointed finger. Across the busy highway lay our traveling makeshift home in a pile, bundled up into a big ball.

Tim and I carefully crossed the busy highway and ran over to our tent, amazed it was still intact. It appears Tim’s log-buying habits were fortuitous as our logs inside the tent were the only thing keeping it from blowing away completely. We picked up the damp tent , dragged it back across the highway and plopped it down at the base of Bone 19.

Our tent reassembled

We had lost a couple of stakes, but were still able to get it setup again with relative speed. We opened it up completely and let the air dry it out. While we waited I bided my time by sitting in the drivers seat of the Acura, sitting back almost to a laying position, allowing my eyes to flutter closed.

My rest was quickly interrupted by Sunday’s voice.

“Can I join you?” she asked.

“Sure,” I replied

As I opened my eyes I was surprised to find that Sunday had abandoned the idea of sitting in the passenger’s seat and, instead, moved into my personal three foot bubble and sat on my lap. If I weren’t a complete chick radar moron I would have recognized this as an aggressively flirtatious move on her part. However, I am a complete chick radar moron, unable to comprehend the obvious and was, therefore, incapable of knowing what the hell was going on.

Overwhelmed with insecurity and not wanting to misread the situation and accidentally escalating the issue like Reagan and Gorbachev during the Cold War, I didn’t know what to do.

My biggest problem was where to put my hands.

If I put them on her legs, which were now resting uncomfortably on my lap, it could be perceived as coming on to her. Or it could be perceived as being merely practical. I couldn’t put my hands by my side due to the door frame on one side and the center console on the other.

Being in the front seat of a small sports car with someone sitting on top of me, there weren’t a lot of options. In what can only be considered a visual display of upper digit non-commitment I put one hand on her leg and the other hand behind my head.

Hanging out in the Acura

Thinking back on it now it was quite obvious she was flirting with me, for whatever reason… attraction, boredom, or some sick and twisted game by females to confuse the lesser gender (i.e., men)… I’m not sure. At the time I was so overly self conscious and uncomfortable that I have no idea what we actually talked about, only that Tim video taped us during this awkward conversation.

Eventually, the conversation subsided and our stomachs began to call, so we headed off to get an overpriced dinner at a local fast food joint while letting our damp tent air dry.

Upon our return to Bedrock City we found that a few more campers had decided to call this home for the night. Our tent was dry enough for us to unload the Acura and get ourselves ready for a well deserved sleep. We set our tent-saving logs ablaze and cozied up around the fire, resting comfortably while watching the hypnotic dance of flickering flames.

There’s something very soothing about an open fire and the smell of burning wood. I don’t know if it recalls in us some instinctive urge buried in our genome from thousands of years of ancestral habit or because it is something which most of us only get to enjoy when vacationing or because we all secretly want to be firemen. No matter the reason, it was very relaxing and our eyes began to droop rather quickly.

We eagerly prepared ourselves for a long overdue sleep and within moments, our bodies had collapsed into a deep and immovable slumber.

Until, of course, the singing started.

********

Goin' Out To Cally - Part 24, (Text, Audio) Bedless In Bedrock
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 23, (Text, Audio) Desert Rain
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 22, (Text, Audio) Bedrock City
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 21, (Text, Audio) The Outhouse
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 20, (Text, Audio) Riding The Hump
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 19, (Text, Audio) Bob Hope, Lil’ Debbie And Restless Gods
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 18, (Text, Audio) Unlevel Headed
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 17, (Text, Audio) Starry Night, Confusing Night
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 16, (Text, Audio) Three Beds + Four People = Oh Crap
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 15, (Text, Audio) Masculinity At Stake
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 14, (Text, Audio) Texas: Latin For Shoot Me Now
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 13, (Text, Audio) Cars, Crossroads and Cosmic Convergence
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 12, (Text, Audio) Tumbleweed Dreams
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 11, (Text, Audio) Wet, Rinse, Repeat
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 10, (Text, Audio) Divine Misdirection
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 09, (Text, Audio) Getting Nowhere Fast
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 08, (Text, Audio) The Cock Crows Nine
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 07, (Text, Audio) Is Jackass A Sign?
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 06, (Text, Audio)
Leftovers
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 05, (Text, Audio) The Kiss Of Friendship
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 04, (Text, Audio) Scholastic Intimacy
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 03, (Text, Audio) Space Invaders
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 02, (Text, Audio) The Fourth Wheel
Goin' Out To Cally - Part 01, (Text, Audio) The Seed Planted

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