For those of you not familiar with our group, I'd recommend passing on this trip report. There ain't nothing special and it's really just an update for the people who didn't go. Namely, the women! Ha!
It wasn't long after our trip to TDS Desert Safari that Bill Duty needed another escape. Can't say I blame him. His daughters were having a slumber party kind of birthday party sort of thing. Way too much estrogen for Bill to handle. So he decides, whether he's go'n by himself or not, he was headed for the soul cleansing favorite of ours, Table Mountain. No girls, tent camping, shooting and maybe a little four wheeling. Mark Alligood thinks it's a good idea but is sure Misako will disagree. He clears it with her and she seemed glad to get rid of him. Really caught him off-guard. He was sure her world revolved around him. Oh well, honeymoon is over. Me, I'm not sure. I've got this frig'n program I'm doing on the side (or not doing I should say) and the customer is getting way impatient. Hey, I warned him! Anyway, I don't think I'll be making it since I really should be getting somewhere on the program. As things got closer and I started to feel left out, I started rationalizing. Hey, I've got Friday off. If I get somewhere on the program on Friday, I could go camping with the guys Friday night and stay till Sunday. Then on Sunday, get my butt outta there early and get back to the program. Seems reasonable don't it? Just in case I don't commit to these plans with the rest of the fellows cause once you're in, it's much harder to get out. Round about noon on Friday, I'm well into the program. I'm into the nitty gritty stuff that never works until the 30th or 40th run of it. But I've made a lot of headway. And Rob Caddel calls. He's been to sea all week and wants to know what's up for the weekend. I tell him about Bill's plans and that I'm not sure yet whether or not I'm go'n. He says whatever, but call and let him know. So now I'm disrupted from the program and not real enthused about digging in again. Hell with it, I'm go'n! I call Bill but he's already in route. Last he knew, Mark was the only one go'n. I think Bill might wind up with a little more company. Earlier in the week I mentioned to Bud Boren what was up and he said he'd possibly make it out for the day on Saturday but he wasn't sure. So I call Rob and tell'm if he wants to go he's gotta be packed and ready to go by 5:30pm when Mark gets home from work. Rob says he'll have to ride with me cause no one is taking any girls with them and he doesn't want to leave Jenny home with no vehicle.
Well I get to pack'n and Rob get's to pack'n and shows up at my place. We wait just a bit and Mark shows up from work and just has to throw a few things in his Jeep. We load Rob's cooler onto Mark's rack along with a healthy sum of firewood. We head out and make a quick stop at Wal-Mart for more ammo and clays. Off we go! An hour and a half or so later, we're looking for the turn off we've passed everytime we go to Table Mountain. This time, I was determined not to miss it even though it was the first time I've ever gone there in the dark. Finally, I figure I've gone too far down Old Highway 80 and turn around. We head back until now we're back to where we turned onto Old Highway 80. So, again we turn around but this time we go past where we had turned around the first time and the little dirt road pops up into view. Finding the campsite we always use can be tough. Everyone always says just keep making lefts. But I know there's one right turn in there. Everytime I go up there I'm constantly expecting that one right turn. So we make our continual lefts into the place until we come to the microwave tower. I'm sure this is the right. So we continue on a ways and I'm reassuring Rob in the passenger seat with me this is the right way. In my mind I keep thinking, I'm pretty sure but it don't seem right. It was. We pulled into camp and Bill was there with a good fire going naturally.
So I proceed to setup this tent I personally haven't used since the Rubicon. Luckily, everything is there. Once camp is set we start into the Coronas and coffee. I didn't want to peter out too soon.
The next morning I awoke to Bill cooking. Not for me, but cooking. I figured I better get my ass in gear and got up and started mine and Rob's breakfast. Scrambled eggs and hash. That's generally what you'll get for breakfast when I'm cooking on a campout. Very simple, two pots. After resting from breakfast a bit, it was time for some shooting! The primary reason for this shooting was really so Mark could get some practice in with his new 12 guage. Mark plans to join us for the first time wingshooting this fall and no time like the present to start preparing. So, after several clays, lots of pointers and tips from us old hands, Mark's shooting improved. NOT! We ain't sure what he's doing wrong yet. His stance is good, he's following through, he just doesn't hit shit! It's gotta be his lead. It's a bitch to learn that and we'll just have to give him more practice. Rob on the other hand, hasn't shot clays before but has done a little wingshooting way back, was really smoke'n.
After shooting we decided we'd hop in the Jeeps and do a little exploring. There's several trails out there at Table Mountain I've never been down. So I wanted to know where these things went. Nowhere! Every single trail we took deadended eventually. Maybe two tough spots on the whole adventure but they were pretty long trails into deadends. We decided that it sure would be cool if we could find a way to connect the trail we were on, to the one we usually go on out there. So we headed off to the west down a wash a ways until there was just no passing. Just too big a drop off and the rocks were just too big. We gave up on our little idea and decided to head back to camp and get some lunch. Bill shouted excitedly about "spam sandwiches!" Yuk, I was planning on having some delicious liversausage. When we got back to camp and got into lunch, Mark got curious about liversausage and wanted a taste. Hmmm, some people just have no sense of adventure. He offered up the little morsel to his dog Belle but she put her nose up at it and walked away. Now that's a first. I've never seen a cat or dog pass up on liversausage. Hell, ain't their food the same damn thing? Oh well.
While we were eating we heard Donald Clark call out on the radio. Well this party is getting bigger. Then Bud pipes up and we realize the neighborhood just went to shit. For another half hour or so Bud and Donald manage to miss the left turn and can't find us. They wind up turning around until we have them on the radio again. Bill and I steal Mark's Jeep and figure we'll head out to the turn to make sure they find their way. Seems everyone agreed, Bill looked good driving a Jeep.
Once we guide Bud and Don back to camp we proceed to act manly and talk about manly things. Grunt grunt. Then it was time for more shooting. Bud breaks out his Dirty Harry pistol and we proceed to kill many a target. Damn the trigger has a long throw. Bill breaks out Jorge's Mac90 he seems to always have possession of and I take a turn. For some reason, and we weren't able to duplicate it, the gun fired 2 rounds on one pull of the trigger. Was kinda cool when it happened, but boy could that get you into trouble if it did it at the wrong time. Like maybe when the law was around. Once we got that out of our system, Donald needed to get some 4 wheel'n out of his system and took off on his own. The rest of us sat around and talked about some more manly stuff in a manly way. Obviously, we weren't accustomed to not having atleast one woman around.
After awhile Bud decided he'd better get home to watch the video of Shrinky Dink do'n the JR shuffle at the baby pageant. Bud headed out the hard way and let us know over the radio when he was clear. So long Bud!
A little while later we heard Donald go past on the wash and we figured he missed the turn. Then we hear "Marco" over the radio. So we Polo'd his ass into camp and he pretty much aired up and headed out himself. Donald headed out the hard way.
We stayed up till we threw in the last of the wood and went to bed. In the morning, we loaded up and headed out the easy way.