Earl and I are back from our weekend at Hillside Campground (actually Earl is still out on a golf tournament, but more on that in a minute). This little camping trip was entirely different than any other we’ve gone on in the past twelve years: Earl went on Thursday and left on Saturday, I went on Friday and left on Sunday. It’s all a question of scheduling. It worked out well for both of us.
Since it was our second weekend in a row on the same site at Hillside, last week we were able to leave the camper relatively set up for the week. Earl didn’t have as much to do getting things ready on Thursday night when he got there. I don’t think he had experienced a weeknight at Hillside before, which is entirely different than a weekend night. He said it was very relaxing and quiet and just what he needed, at least what he remembered from the experience; apparently he had some cocktails with our friend Robert from New Jersey during the course of Thursday evening.
So it was Friday afternoon when I blew in and while there were several campers heaving tarps, stringing lights and arranging flower pots (gay camping priorities are a little different), we were sitting pretty watching all the action. Site 70 affords us prime manwatching space, so we were cordial and watched the guys walking to and fro to various parts of the campground. We took a few walks to see who was setting up home (living on the side of a hill for a weekend does wonders for your cardio health) during all this commotion before inviting Robert to join us for supper. He was kind enough to bring the wine and the 3/4 of the bottle that I drank pretty much fueled my mood for the rest of the night. Later that evening, Earl lovingly added a few cups of beer to my mood at the campfire while I chatted with Joe, Chris and Aaron. Since we had missed GB5:NYC this year, it was good to see some of the guys again. I would have brought the canned cheese if I knew they were going to be there. I suppose some of my conversation sufficed.
Saturday morning Earl took off for home and my friend Greg from Connecticut came in for the night. A last minute decision, it was Greg’s first time at Hillside so I gave him the grand tour and such before we attended a few parties and another night at the campfire. There are always quite a few parties on any given weekend at Hillside. This weekend was no exception. I stuck to beer and found my bearings to be a little more even than on Friday night. I’m a beer guy at heart I guess.
This morning Greg was on his way back to Connecticut relatively early and I had the task of packing up the camp. I’d never done it alone but it went better than I expected. I was on the road by noon. A quick stop at Burger King and I was home by 2:30 or so. The drive flew by courtesy of my iPod and some Russian trance music my friend Dave had introduced me to.
One of the most important things to remember when heading home is that once you past through the gate back to “the other side”, clothing is no longer optional.
