August 2, 2011

• Shotgun

  http://www.shotguneddy.com/

  Look at that, I took the rare step of putting a link at the start of a post. Years ago my friends and I used to to go this campground called Shotgun Eddy, or as we call it for short, Shotgun. It was not just any place though; for us it is scared and hallowed ground. Well this Thursday for the first time since 2003, the group of friends is going again.

  Shotgun Eddy is owned and ran by some distant relatives of one our friends, Keith who has been going up there since he was a boy, literally like 30 years ago. When he grew up, he started going there with his friends. I had the privilege of going for the first time in 1991, which was, holy shit, twenty fucking years ago! This will be the 15th year I'm going (we actually went up in 2005 and 2007 but that was with his family and not the whole group) and I'm even more excited then I have been in years past.

  It started off originally going just a a weekend, from Friday to Sunday. But, it wasn't long before we extended it to Thursday through Sunday, as it is a five hour drive and camping is a lot of work so why only be there for a weekend. We all realized we were having way too much fun up there to do it for only four days, so soon, going up on Thursday turned into Wednesday and then eventually, Tuesday.

  Now I should mention that this is camping in the truest sense. There are no cabins; we sleep in sleeping bags in tents. And there is no running water; when you go to the bathroom you go to an outhouse that by the end of the weekend is oh so ripe. And the nearest showers are about 5-10 minutes up the road where 25 cents gets you three minutes of hot water. I know for many people, none of this sounds appealing. But for us, it is all about a great time with our friends for a few days.

  Because Keith has the relative connection, we get to camp in the private section which is away from the public and literally right along the river. Imagine falling asleep to the peaceful sounds of a river. Of course, the morning is kinda loud as the private section is right near where the campground keeps their loud ass buses that always seem to take 20 minutes to start, but you take the good with the bad. And being in the middle of fucking nowhere means no cell phone reception at all, which, if you ask me, is not a bad thing to be without for a few days.

  For those of you who have never been rafting, it is a ton of fun and quite the work out. It is hard to describe the rush that you get when you are going through the rapids or over the waterfalls. I've made this rafting trip a dozen times and still get a little scared and excited when we approach the final waterfall which is about eight feet high.

  When not rafting, the rest of the time is spent playing a whole shitload of horseshoes. Yeah, that's right, people still play horseshoes. Of course, at night, hanging out around the fire is always a big deal and I can tell you story after story about hanging out around the fire. As you would expect, being in the middle of nowhere makes for a great look at the stars at night which really makes the trip worth it in my opinion.

  • 10:22 pm
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