We are still packing and loading our car for our annual "non-official" (thereby alcohol is permitted) work canoeing/camping trip up on the Buffalo River.  I had hoped to have left by 5:30pm at the latest, but following our past history, we are running “behind schedule” yet again.  I have our tent, tent poles, ground cover, rain tarp, and camp chairs loaded in the car.  As I return to the apartment for another armload of Camping Stuff, Jen informs me that the food for the weekend is nearly ready.  

Glancing over at the cooler and 6.12413 bags of food/utensils/paper plates (organized we are *not*) – I sigh & wonder when we are ever going to leave at a pre-planned time.  No matter how *well* we plan, it always seems like we leave later than I want.  I also wonder when we will ever bear a semblance to some order of organization.  Our basic rule of packing the car:  Utilize every square inch of available space – even if that means fitting items under the front seats, or stashing items in front of the passenger seat.  (We've made plenty of multi-day trips where we had the passenger seat so crammed full of stuff that we barely had any room to put our feet.)  The rear seat is normally crammed full of stuff as well, leaving the kiddos with a bare minimum of space.  Get the picture?  

Fortunately our drive this time is a mere 2.5 hours – not nearly short enough for the kids to endure without asking “how much longer?” or “when are we getting there?” every 34.3 seconds, but not quite long enough for them to fall asleep for a extended period of time for us to get some peace and quiet.

As I’m loading the cooler in the car and mentally trying to figure out if we’re going to have room for everything we want to take, I remember to add “sunscreen” and “bug repellent” to the list of Things-I-Still-Need-To-Find-And-Pack.  Like I said, organized we are *not*.  It's down to the final moments before blast-off and I'm still remembering things I need to pack.  I guess it's a good thing I'm not an astronaut.  I'd be on the launch pad asking for my spacesuit, my helmet, and my brain.

Bug repellant is critical to insure that I have a good time on the trip, as I am severely allergic to mosquitoes.  One little prick by the little bloodsuckers and I welt up like a volcano about to erupt.  Not to mention giving me a case of the Itchies that would put any kid with chicken pox to shame.

After another 45 minutes of packing and loading, we finally manage to get underway, knowing that there was yet still something we had left behind.  And on our way out of town, my wife remembers - we forgot to bring pillows, which coincidentally enough, we forgot to bring the previous year.  "I'm not turning around!" I state with an authoritative tone, already frustrated at our late departure time.  At this rate, it was going to be dark by the time we got to Rex's cabin.  And I can tell you, it is *no* fun pitching a tent in the dark.

[~2.7 hours later...(since we stopped to pick up pizza on the way)]

"Ok, we should be getting close now," I say to my wife, peering through the blackness to try to locate the small, gravel road that will lead us to Rex's cabin.  The directions we have been given are excellent, and even though we had been there the previous year, we are still having problems seeing it.  

"There it is," I remark as I drive by the almost imperceptible dirt path.  I manage to turn the car around and slowly ease onto the steep, and rocky road.  I get the car about halfway to the cabin before I realize that our small car might not be able to get back up the steep incline.  But by then, it is too late.  In my attempt to back up to a small clearing I saw earlier, I get the car stuck so only the front tires spin.  "Just great," I think despondently, "now I'm going to have to endure being mocked as the only one to get stuck."  [I said that I liked the people I worked with - I never said that they were kind.  ;)  At least when it comes to embarassing situations.  One thing about this group, if you were involved in an embarassing situation, they'd never let you forget it.]

However, having just got a new tractor, Rex was more than happy to get the opportunity to tow our car out of the muddy rut.  :)  And miraculously enough, since everyone was so excited to see his new toy in action, not much more was said the rest of the weekend about me getting the car stuck.  Whew.  A potentially-embarassing situation avoided through the serendipitous presence of a technological machine.  :)

Overall, we had a wonderful time on our camping trip.  It turned out to be everything we expected.  My boss did his annual spiel about trying to find the perfect marshmallow roasting stick: The Marshinator 2000.  (At least this year since he didn't find one, we were spared the sight of him holding this long stick protruding from his crotch area all while making jokes with sexual innuendos).  We heard the same, some funny, some not-so-funny camp stories repeated to those who were there for the first time.  Although I think I've had enough of hearing the story of my boss getting lost while he was a boy scout.  If I have to listen to that story one more time, I think I just may pass out from sheer repetition of stupid stories.  We had our typical Saturday evening group meal which turned out to be delicious chicken fajitas and strawberry shortcake.  And for the first time *evar*, it didn't rain a drop on this entire trip as it had done the previous three years.  In fact, the weather remained sunny, cool, and clear the whole time we were there.

We only had one person capsize while we were out on the river, and I am slightly embarassed to say that it was partially my fault.  But in my defense, he shouldn't have been following us so closely in his kayak.  Add an underpowered canoe (due to having a child as my paddling companion) to a strong wind, and then add that to a strategically placed tree, and finally add all those to a first-time kayaker, equals a recipe for capsizing.   To set the record straight, a strong wind drove our canoe into the small tree, which caused us to come to a dead stop.  R was behind us and didn't have time to react, and in trying to push himself away from our canoe, leaned over too far and flipped over.  At least that's the way I perceived it.  I'm sure R has a totally different perspective on the whole matter.  Needless to say, that was *the* Embarassing Situation of the Weekend which R has had to suffer for, and somehow the not-so-glamorous news managed to follow him back to the office as well.  Poor guy.

The only other downside of the whole trip was that some of the older girls treated Ariel quite badly - essentially being rude and mean to her.  Now I don't know where these girls got this haughty I'm-better-than-you attitude, but they sure were heaping it on Ariel.  Not only were they impatient with Ariel when she was trying to play a game on a Gameboy (which she has hardly *evar* played in the past), they made fun of her when she found some fossils, and also refused quite rudely to partake in her birthday cake when she was so kind to go out of her way to offer them some.  At least Ariel was able to avoid them for the most part and ended up having a good weekend herself.  We decided that next year we'll have to let Ariel bring her own friend along so she has someone to play with.

Despite the bad jokes and sometimes even-worse stories that have to be endured...despite the sometimes rude & obnoxious children that have to be put up with....despite the dreaded mosquitoes & poison ivy & ticks, I still can't wait to go on this trip next year.  There's almost nothing that beats camping outdoors and canoeing on the Buffalo River in North Central Arkansas.  Except getting to go with my wife on a secluded vacation (hehehe).  But even then, I'd have to admit to *almost* missing the Marshinator 2000.