Mid-July Already

How's that tune go?  "Time keeps on...."  Yesterday was a nice day--no wind.  Very pleasant temperatures--felt like spring more than The Heart of Summer.  All of the Big Box chain stores are already stocking Back To School supplies on their shelves.  That's an omen of changing seasons or as Jeff Foxworthy says, "There's yer sign."

We're leaving late this afternoon to go to Riverside campground so naturally we spent most of yesterday messing with camp stuff.  Actually, our energies were focused on our new cooking gig.  We're making the new Turco a focal point of our revamped camp kitchen.  After running around in circles yesterday, we can now fire up BOTH the 1952 Coleman stove and the antique Turco from the same propane tank.  The Turco is now a full-fledged camp oven--something we've wanted ever since we started camping together back in the 1980's.  Last night I baked 10 chicken thighs in the Turco.  Not only that I actually bought a stainless steel smoker box and hickory smoked  the chicken thighs as they baked.  Ah, they were so delicious--easily the best chicken thighs I've ever baked or grilled.  So, what this means is now very simple--we can bake anything now with hassling with the dutch oven and the charcoal briquettes. We also found a replacement bacon fryer so we're good to go.  Everything fits neatly in a large tub.  We are very pleased with the new set up.

LBR Kris C. was talking with Susun on the phone yesterday and observed that we have so much camping stuff we could probably set up camp for a dozen people.  That's true, Kris, (and thanks for the comment) but we're prefer to serve meals to only about 8--12 gets problematic because of the size of our coolers.  Hum....maybe we need larger coolers.  We will definitely put this outdoor kitchen rig to the full test this winter in Arizona when we will probably attempt to feed upwards of a dozen people at a time.

So what are we doing at Riverside?  First, some history.  We "discovered" Riverside last summer through a process of trial and error while attempting to find our niche in the Island Park vicinity.  Riverside is the perfect fit for us.  Site B8 is our "spot."  We could actually camp right alongside the river in the "A" Loop but there are a lot of drawbacks to the "A" Loop.  Sitting far back from the river in a nook on the "B" loop is much better for our needs.  Anyway, the site has everything we need for our style of camping and fits two vehicles comfortably.  We need two vehicles to run our own river shuttles.

This is a Triple B trip (BBB): Bikes, boats and boots.  The AIRE Lynx II will finally get in the water--hopefully more than once.  We will ride our bikes and hike in nearby Harriman State Park and we will do some exploring on roads we've not yet traveled.  It's Bear Country, of course, and there definitely are grizzly bears nearby. So, we will carry our new prototype leather from Rachel's Place. We canhardly wait to see her first draft design late this morning. We'll return here Monday morning. (I was previously thinking is was Sunday but our reservations say it's Monday.)  That's gives us 3 full and complete days for the BBB trip.  Since it's only a 70 minute drive from our house to the campground, we won't leave here until perhaps 3 pm today.  It's a real leisure cruise up to Riverside.

There are a LOT of really great bloggers out there.  The one blogger I look to for inspiration is Kirsty S. who lives in Ohio.  She writes a blog called "Momedy."  It's a word morphed from "Mom" and "Comedy."  I feel certain she is a reincarnated Erma Bombeck.  Whenever I need some fresh perspectives and insights into the wonderment of each and every day, I go to Kirsty's blog.  It's always an uplifting and rejuvenating experience for me.  We've actually emailed back and forth several times and Kirsty sent us some cool tea called "rooibos."  Kirsty puts her total heart and spirit into her blog.  You've heard that expression about somebody "wearing their heart on their sleeve."  Well, Kirsty wears her heart on her blog.  She doesn't hold anything back but yet she let's it all out in such a charming, endearing manner that her blog is (at least for me) totally captivating.  I wish I could write as well as she does and I wish I had Kirsty's flair to take a very small daily detail and make it meaningful.  Click here to go to her blog.

Well, that's about all we have to report today.

Many Cheers!  jp