I'm sure the title should be more Wheelin' n Campin'... and maybe not even that many letters! Our family took a trip near Murphey, NC... a place called Tellico. It's a mountain with trails from one side to the other, full of big rocks, ruts, holes, mud, water, and anything else a boy might want to crawl over with his truck/Jeep/4x4. Absolute heaven... for the boys. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of women folk out there who are just as excited about crawling over rocks and splashing through mud. In fact, 
I actually enjoyed the first day's adventure doing such things. We took a group of 10 Jeeps down 
Trail's 4 & 6. But the second day, we spent 4 hours sitting percariously perched on rock ledges and slick dirt piles watching 10 (or so) different branded trucks climb what they call the Rock Garden on Trail 2. It's a narrow path of large rocks straight up the side of the aforementioned mountain. Now Curtis got his Jeep in the line of trucks and waited his turn up the climb. 
Meanwhile, I'm sitting, standing and chasing the 3 bored children who were waiting as patiently as they could for their father to make the exciting trail. Both girls got stung by the pesky little sweat bees. For Ruth... Eddie's cold water bottle applied for about 15 seconds healed her pain. For Maggie... 15 minutes of screaming and crying while Aunt Holley made her magic spit potion and found a bandaid to cover it. NIGHT and DAY! Bennett was unable to stay put on one side of the trail. 
So he and cousin Eddie climbed back and forth across the trail (in front of moving vehicles) until it was finally time to go. 
Maggie (also unable to stay put) slid down several rocks and dirt piles until I finally threatened a beating. You see... at the bottom of the rock ledge where we were observing was a 10-15 foot drop directly onto the large rocks these trucks were trying to climb. If her descent was timed just right she could even land her hard head on top of (or under) the climbing truck! Needless to say, it made this poor momma very nervous for most of the 4 hours. 
I actually enjoyed the first day's adventure doing such things. We took a group of 10 Jeeps down 
Trail's 4 & 6. But the second day, we spent 4 hours sitting percariously perched on rock ledges and slick dirt piles watching 10 (or so) different branded trucks climb what they call the Rock Garden on Trail 2. It's a narrow path of large rocks straight up the side of the aforementioned mountain. Now Curtis got his Jeep in the line of trucks and waited his turn up the climb. 
Meanwhile, I'm sitting, standing and chasing the 3 bored children who were waiting as patiently as they could for their father to make the exciting trail. Both girls got stung by the pesky little sweat bees. For Ruth... Eddie's cold water bottle applied for about 15 seconds healed her pain. For Maggie... 15 minutes of screaming and crying while Aunt Holley made her magic spit potion and found a bandaid to cover it. NIGHT and DAY! Bennett was unable to stay put on one side of the trail. 
So he and cousin Eddie climbed back and forth across the trail (in front of moving vehicles) until it was finally time to go. 
Maggie (also unable to stay put) slid down several rocks and dirt piles until I finally threatened a beating. You see... at the bottom of the rock ledge where we were observing was a 10-15 foot drop directly onto the large rocks these trucks were trying to climb. If her descent was timed just right she could even land her hard head on top of (or under) the climbing truck! Needless to say, it made this poor momma very nervous for most of the 4 hours. 
This is a photo shot of Uncle Andy's Jeep, midway up the climb. He bent his tie-rod (?), had a spare tied to his roof rack and was able to repair within 20 minutes. Quite impressive to the newbies! 
We really enjoyed the camping part though. 
The kids did NOT want to return home tonight. Ruth, "I want to stay here forevah". We had our pop-up backed right next to the creek and enjoyed hearing the rippling water. It just wasn't quite loud enough to drown out the good times our neighbors were having last night. They decided happy hour(s) was from 11pm until 3am! They were grilling their chicken at MIDNIGHT and telling stories right outside my (Ruth's) window. And Curtis was outside eating said chicken at 1am!
Bennett rode his bike hard with the other boys. It rained on Friday so not only did the Jeeps go muddin' but alas... the boys did as well. His goal was to cover the tires and frame with as much mud as possible and in doing so covered his own little ole hiney as well. He grinned ear to ear when telling the stories about how fast he could splash through the mud. 
Ok, earlier I said "our family" took the trip. We actually left Lydia behind with her boyfriend (see earlier post-"Playgroup Friends, May 15th"). She would never have tolerated the adventures of the first day nor the second day's sitting. From the stories I've heard, she had a great time with the Hicks' boys. I'm hoping to see a picture or two and can post those here as well. She was going to divide her time between the Hicks and Knott homes, but Mrs. Hicks wouldn't give her up and take her to Mrs. Knott. Mrs. Knott is also 37 weeks pregnant so maybe that was a good thing. :)
And by "family"... the camping side also included Grammy and Papa Davidson as well as Uncle Andy, Aunt Holley, and Cousin Eddie. The girls especially loved the attention from Aunt Holley and Uncle Andy. Aunt Holley drives her own "princess" Jeep over the rocks. Ruth got to ride with her the first day. Aunt Holley said "Ruth can be my co-pilot anyday. The faster I go and the harder I hit it the more she giggles and laughs". Ruth enjoyed the Jeepin'! And at 3~! She liked the mud splashing and speeding over the hills and bumps the best. 
It was about all she could handle and she was o-u-t when we got back to camp. 
1 comment:
Wow! This looks like such fun! Glad you guys had a good time for your birthday celebration. Maybe next year you'll get to go to the monster truck rally for your 36th birthday! ;-)
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