We're no longer allowed near Higgins Lake Pt 2

So we finally brave our way to South Higgins Lake State Park and wait in line to check-in. But we had to wreak some havoc on the way into the camp to let everyone know what our plans were for the weekend. Matt leaned out the window of my Grand Prix and Terry hung out the window of Dan's Impala throwing the football back and forth. In true fashion, Terry overshot Matt and banked the football off of the guy in front of us's camper. Hi, nice to meet up, don't worry that dent will pop right out, are you in the site next to us?

Wouldn't you know that Michigan meteorologists were finally right. They had predicted rain and they were correct. I had my tarp down and I was laying out my tent when the skies opened and it started to pour. Matt, Terry and Dan had there tents mostly set-up but for some reason my tent was not cooperating. The three of them finished and came over to try and help me out. But somehow when my brother used the tent the weekend before, the poles had gotten mixed up and it was impossible to put the tent up. By the time I had figured this out it was useless anyways. There was about three inches of rain on top of my tent and there would be no way to dry it out in time to use it during the trip. It just sat there looking like a two day old dead spider. The center portion trying to stay off the ground while the poles that were still in the tent tried to hold there share of the weight.

The fun never seemed to stop on Friday. After setting up camp, having a celebratory beer, taking a couple cannonballs out of a warm bottle of Jack and being completely soaked to the bone, we deciding to head into town. We went to a restaurant called Garrett's Place (GP) to have dinner. I liked it because it reminded me of the Gathering Place (GP) back home, but maybe a little more upscale. The food was great, other then the fact that Matt was ordering like a king and made the rest of us look like we were sitting at the kiddie table. But along with the big tip that we left for our waitress, were the four huge puddles that were now soaked into their booth. No longer welcome there.

We needed firewood so we started driving around looking for anywhere that would have dry wood for sale. We stopped at a gas station for smokes and asked the attendant if they had any dry firewood in the back the we could buy. She had seen us coming and was not in the mood to deal with us, she replied grumpily "NO". We asked if she knew anyone who would "NO". Then I will take a pack of Camel Wide Lights then. Terry wasn't so eager to shrug it off. He decided to take his frustration out on a stand-up ashtray that was outside the door of the gas station. Next thing I know, there is a huge pile of ash sitting right in front of the door and the ashtray was rolling around. Someone made a smart ass comment about Keith Richards coming to snort it up with his father's ashes and we hit the road again. No longer welcome there.

Maybe Wal-Mart has dry firewood. We once again announced ourselves through the parking lot and then into the store that we were on a mission and didn't give a shit. This was a pretty quick stop. "Excuse me ma'am, do you have firewood for sale? No, OK well fuck this place there are no hot chicks here anyways, lets go to Glens." No longer welcome.

After finally loading up on firewood, food and most importantly beer at Glens we heading back to the site. Sitting there, we started to finally get into camping mode. Sitting around a fire completely burning from chemicals and drinking a beer. It doesn't get much better. unless you were the campsite across the little road from us. These people looked like they were set up for the entire summer. We all sat around drinking and watching the fire and exactly when it got quiet for one minute all we heard from there site was "Know your role woman and get me another beer". We knew that we were going to get along with that guy.

The wood that we had bought was not exactly dry. So we had to use some more unorthodox methods to get the wood to light. A gallon of lantern lighter fluid should last about three years. We had used about half the can on Friday night to get that fire going. But it was worth it. We used the fire to dry out, except for my tent, and we called it a night.

Just remember that we were there for some of Friday, all of Saturday and Sunday morning. There is still 1.5 days to cover and it only gets better. I feel like I should be writing this in a book rather then a blog. Hopefully, I won't sway to far from your interest level.