The Guadalupe

Toobing and camping this weekend went great! We left Friday afternoon for the campground with Shannon and Chris. I think we got to our site around 6pm. I could not believe it when we got to our site and it was the exact same two we had last year! What are the chances? Well, it turns out the chances are pretty good. I guess they try to put people who reserve two or more sites together at this location. I'm guessing its because one of the sites is pretty small compared to the rest and it is on a hill, so there is no place to park. Next time we go I'm going to request a different site because the slant of those sites really gets to you after a while. Not to mention you have to arrange tents and beds according to the slant so you don't spend the entire night rolling over your significant other. Anyhoo. We had plenty of sunlight hours to put up our tents and set up shop. Jenna and Seth borrowed our other tent, so we set that up for them before they got there.

Chris brought two hammocks. Of course he and Travis had to test them out immediately.

The boys started up the fire and the grill so we could get dinner started - hamburgers and brats. We ate dinner and even had time for S'mores before Jenna and Seth finally made it to the site. They had to work until 4pm and then they stopped for dinner on the way. We all stayed up until 1am and drank a little too much cerveza. Despite the late night, we were all up by 8am. I guess we're all used to our daily routines. Travis made breakfast burritos and then we packed up for the river.

Here's our camp during daylight (it is so pretty there):

We had a couple run-ins with "nature" during our first 20 hours. A little before Jenna and Seth arrived, Mr. Skunk decided to pass through our campsite. We all stayed calm in hopes that the animal would leave us alone. Until Chris threw a rock at it. UGH. Thankfully, he was just scared off. I would have ripped Chris open if that animal would have sprayed us. I have never been sprayed, or had a dog that was sprayed, in my life. And I'd like to keep it that way, thank you very much. Our second run-in, was with a creepy, crawly poisonous creature - the Texas Giant Centipede. !!! While we were waiting for breakfast to be ready, he ran under my chair. I didn't even notice until Jenna pointed him out. We got a photo and then Chris set him back in the forest.

YIKES! Gives me the jitters just looking at the photo.

Our plan for tubing, or toobing, as it is spelled down here, was to do the same schedule we did last year: take the bus upstream, float back to our campsite to stop for lunch, then get back on for the other half of the ride where we would be picked up and brought home by the bus again. Unfortunately, water flow was at an almost complete standstill. It took us 7 HOURS to do what took us 3 or 4 last year. The huge bummer for me is that I did not pack a lunch since I thought we'd be back by that point. I at least brought a few snacks. I usually eat every two hours, alternating snack and meal. 7 hours of crackers and granola bars just didn't cut it for me. About an hour before we finally made it to our campsite, I completely ran out of juice. I decided I would just float it out and hope I made it there before I passed out. Luckily, there was a random hot dog stand on the side of the river. Chris got out and grabbed me some chili Frito pie. Not my favorite, but desparate times call for desparate measures. About 15 minutes after scarfing that down, my energy came back and I was able to paddle myself the rest of the way back. We were all burnt to a crisp by this point, so we were ready to get back. I don't have the photos back from the river yet. I brought a waterproof disposable camera with, so I'll get those up later.

We were all so worn out after the river that the evening quickly fizzled out. There was a fight between two drunk dudes at the campsite next to ours. After one of the guys left, Chris invited the rest of them over to help finish our food for dinner. While dinner was cooking, I decided to run and take a shower. Despite the peanut butter sandwich I devoured when we got back, I felt dizzy while standing in line. I had to postpone the shower to lay down in the tent while I waited for dinner. I've found that when I'm this far gone, the only thing that will bring me back is protein. Travis was awesome and brought me a fajita to the tent. I was able to eat that and drink a bottle of water while I waited for life to return to my body. It was horrible. I got up and ate a little more, before heading back to the showers. I was still dizzy, but I think it is mostly because I was still getting my land legs back. I felt like I was floating in a toob for the rest of the night.

I'm sad I felt so crappy because it sounds like I missed a lot of fun. Everyone played washers with the neighbors while they waited for dinner to be ready. Then afterwards, everyone headed down to the pavillion to watch Seth sing karaoke. He's known for his amazing skills at the mic. Actually, that's how Jenna and Seth met - at a karaoke bar. He prefers to sing Prince, but the DJ didn't have that. He settled for Lisa Lobe. I know that sounds strange, but you've gotta know the guy to understand. So sad I missed it...

Sunday morning we all got up and assessed the damage. Everyone was sunburnt. Bad.

Shannon and Seth

We had camp coffee and then loaded up the trucks.

Jenna, Chris and Seth

Jenna and Seth were ready to head home. Sunday was Seth's birthday and they didn't want to spend the whole day on the road. We, on the other hand, headed to a local German restaurant called Oma's Haus. I guess the area is known for it. It was awesome. I tried schnitzel for the first time ever, which brought to mind Tenacious D. Good stuff. After we picked up some extra sausage links for our neighbor, Cowboy Willy, we started the ride home. It seemed a lot quicker than the ride there. Despite the three feet of grass growing in our lawn, Travis and I took the night off to rest. Why is it that we always need vacations from our vacations?