Of Camping,Canoeing & Grilling

You do not want your wife to drive the canoe from the back. This was the big lesson i learnt over the long weekend's 'Canoeing’ that we did over the Current river :)

Vaidehi's frantic calls of "help,help" & the unplanned toppling of our canoe over the fast current of the downstream water was one the highlights of our camping; this weekend.

(For the records, the river was averaging just 3 feet in depth)

Camping was something me & Deepak were planning since some time now. It was long over due. It was only a matter of time before we actually did that and 4th of July's long weekend, i would say, came at an opportune time.

Luckily Ranjeet & Deepak took the lead of planning the logistics for the long weekend as i cooled my self sitting on the fence & chipping in some unwanted & unsolicitated suggestions, that went unheeded.(Luckily again ;-))

The Ozark’s, some 3 hours from Deepak's home town St.Louis is MEANT to be a camping place. Everything about that region is all about camping. The surrounding mountains, the thick forest envelope,the NOT-SO-DEEP river;and off course the winding roads that lead to that place (and also at times lead to dizzy nausea), everything calls for one word-

CAMPING.

To be honest, all of us were new to this idea of camping.We were novices who were on a discovery trip to the whole new world of camping.

As the Bloomies, Ranjeet,Poonam,Vaidehi & myself embarked on this adventurous journey in our rented Dodge Caravan that friday,I am sure everyone carried a different idea about this camping trip. Most of our knowledge, if i may add, came from what we had seen in movies & television or other such medium. Whatever reading we did on the internet gave us scant idea of what was in store, as we kept guessing.

The sheer romanticism attached with grilling in open area & sleeping in a tent at night were the two most motivating factors for me, personally, to go full throttle on camping. I am not sure about others.

As we reached St.Louis at Richa's & Deepak's place it was already 20:30 hrs.And the Kapurs were all set to welcome us.
Their front door was decorated with a piece of paper and on that was written, "5-Star Hotel". :)

Well the welcome certainly was 5-Star.
Richa welcomed us with red flowers (we have kept them as souvenirs) & set the ball rolling for the evening.

There were still a couple of things remaining to get & we had Kapil to pick up from his hotel room.

By the time we picked up Kapil from his room & came back with raw chicken pieces from Schnuck's it was well past 23:00 hrs and also well past the nerves of our better halves.
Our better halves were actually expecting us to come back in, get this, ....
HALF-AN-HOUR !!!

Vaidehi & Richa (thankfully) resisted themselves from making a scene as we entered the door, 2 hours a little too late.

Every one settled down for a round of delicious meals prepared by our hosts for the evening.
A potential tinker box was thus avoided from being flared up.

(Burp !!)

Even while having dinner there was one thing on every one's mind. 'St.Louis "ka arch - dikhta hai kee dikhtee hai" ?'**

Ranjeet wouldn't budge & stuck with his - "dikhtee hai"- statement as we fought over the potential loopholes in Hindi language.

(Its a different matter altogether that I am the last person qualified to pass judgment on other's Hindi.I was once snubbed by one of my north Indian friend for saying -"Mujhe thandi baj rahi hai". He said "thandi bajti nahi,lagti hai").

Hindi language became the innocent victim of a no-holds-barred debate on its use as everyone joined the cacophony thrown open by one inappropriate statement about St.Louis's Arch.

Before we realised it was already 00:30 & it was now snore time.Every one's sleeping places were match-fixed in advance by Richa (thankfully again) and we had a blissful sleep that night.

Next morning was the D-Day as every one geared up for the much promised excitement. We had a delicious egg-bhurji (special thanks to Poonam) for breakfast & than we were all ready by 9:30 (whoa !!!).

After a brief stop for Gas & some ice cubes we headed straight for the Ozark's.

When 7 people travel in one Car, as a rule its the time for Antakshari. I guess it’s an unwritten law for all desis.So also it was for us. As Antakshari started to warm up, i was given strict instructions from the back (from Vaidehi) to ENJOY it.
I HAD to enjoy every moment, come what may.

Even some sad songs. Some songs that i just hate. Some songs that i just cannot sing.
Some songs that i do not consider worth listening, forget singing.The key word was "Enjoyment'.

'Thy spirit shall not sag.Come what may, thou shall enjoy', was the mantra of the day.

I really can't help it. But some songs i just do not like. I just can't sing them. Period.

Enjoying under the trembling terror, i found solace in the navigator's seat as i used the weapon of "showing directions" to Deepak,to avoid singing some insipid songs.

'Can i NOT enjoy this song, please?"; i just wanted to ask this question but failed to gather the required strength & guts.

Anyways,one wrong turn & one missed direction later we finally reached our destination. The Jason Place Campground. It took us 3 hrs, roughly. (It was not my fault, just for the records)

The road (MO-19) to the camp ground was breath-taking, i must add.

We unloaded all the stuff after reaching the place & the girls took up the challenge of putting up their tent on their own.As it turned out, it was not the most difficult task of the century as girls managed to put the tent up in almost the same time.



Bravo !!!

We settled down for some tit bits as beer cans, bread, sodas came out in open. The Grand Caravan was so stuffed that I almost felt as if it was THE Car meant for camping.

We started acquainting & educating ourselves with our camping & its surrounding area. There were other camp groups who had already settled in their designated camps.

There was a small swimming pool nearby, where, get this, swimming was NOT allowed.
The camping area was adequately reinforced with Restrooms & coin operated Shower rooms.

We had a brief stint in the 'swimming' pool before getting down to work on the grills. We had (more than) sufficient charcoal as Deepak & the team began preparing for the much awaited tandoori chicken on the grill.

I feel the pre-requisite for any camping ground is the ability to use primitive tools to get your work around. So instead of normal cooking gas, you have the grill.
And for the lack of light or electricity, well, you have to make up with bonfire.

Richa, did in between, come up with the fantastic idea of fixing a torch on the tree trunk & direct its light strategically.

And guess what, we actually executed that & got some success.
(That torch was later royally ignored & wax candles took over)

The Grill & Bonfire both were on fire as we began preparing for the supper. With experience we learnt the art of making the chicken more tasty as the second round of chicken tandoori came out much tastier & juicy.

Vaidehi,Deepak,Ranjeet,Poonam were the front runners in getting the chicken right.

I was criticised and rightly so, by most, for not being involved in most of the hard work. In my defense i can come up with only one justification.. 'Too many cooks.. spoil the broth...

And in this case it was not even the broth. It was Chicken after all. And we could not afford to get it wrong.So by not helping, I was in a way, helping the greater cause.

(chuckle,chuckle,wink....)

By the time the candles on the table burnt out totally, we had the real taste of camping.
A freshly grilled chicken & a bonfire to complement the mood.

We had a small round of dumb-charades before we realised that the sky was looking ravishing that day.
The clear open sky with more stars twinkling than ever seen by us, set the perfect mood for a good night's sleep.

Deepak,Ranjeet & Kapil quickly booked their places in the tent as I went to the restroom for one last journey before sleep.
When i came back, i had lost the prime seats.I had to pay the penalty for making it late to the arena.

Our tent was just about sufficient for 4 men. But we had a good,sound sleep.

Next day morning i woke up the earliest as I had (involuntarily) taken up the ownership of making tea for everyone.

But not before i managed to disturb my enemy’s sleep, who had hijacked the prime locations, of the tent.
I ensured by my constant fidgeting of the tent zip, that everyone's sleep was disturbed. I acquired some measure of success in doing that.

Making tea was not all that simple. The kettle that was brought for making the tea was not particularly smooth to operate.There was a tact involved in putting the milk in the small opening available. Apart from that, well you guessed it, there
was some water to be added. All in all, it was an art that required precision & patience. (chuckle,chuckle,chukle....:))) )

The tea in the end came out good. We had a small breakfast before we realised that we need to move on for our next destination.

Canoeing.

By 12:00 noon we wrapped up all the stuff on the camp ground & some how dumped everything in the Caravan.

Before that i had some rough time in the coin operated shower. The shower was meant to work for 2 mins for every 25 cents that we put in the slot provided. Now it so happened that Kapil who was taking shower in the adjacent room shouted from his lungs that his shower was working even after 2 mins. For no rhyme or reason i got emboldened & took the risk of applying soap on my face just seconds before my allotted 2 mins. :((

You guessed it. I was in trouble now. My shower stopped exactly at the 2 mins mark
& i was in a precarious position with soap all over my face. I could neither open my eyes nor see the slot for 25 cents.I wished i was deaf when Kapil had spoken those divine words. I struggled for full 5 mins before i could finally figure out the position of the slot.

Bathing was never so difficult.

As we reached the canoeing area at the head of the downstream flow, we were joined by a ruckus group of people who filled most seats of the bus that took us to the exact location.

The bus driver who was also the one who gave us the canoes had one hell of a physique. He was carrying those canoes as if they were empty boxes.
He lined them along the river front as each group picked their canoes & choppers.

Just as i was about to enter my boat, a girl from a group of bikini clad girls requested me to take their snap.I couldn't believe my luck. Without a blink i accepted to help them out. Ignoring Vaidehi's eyes, for whom the moment was not lost, I quickly took a snap & hoped they will ask a favour again. They did not.

I moved in with lightning speed in the direction of our canoe (as if nothing had occurred) and Me & Vaidehi found ourselves in a red canoe & started moving along the flowing water.

And rest as they say is, history. We bumped & toppled & struggled to get the
rhythm right as the rest of the teams moved forward.

We were blocked a number of times by a bigger group who became bottle necks from time to time specially at the narrow areas of the river stream.

In the end it almost became a mind game of how to squeeze our ways out from those huge groups & move forward.

As we reached the half way mark of the 5 miles long flow, we were already parched & thirsty. We had woefully, not carried sufficient stock of water & liquid inspite of repeated warnings from Kapil. I hoped i had heeded him this time instead of the time i was in the shower :)

The entire stream of the Current river was lined with think jungle on both sides. It was a fantastic site. The water looked green & at times you could see the pebbles in the shallow water if it was transparent.

Many a times i had to alight from the boat to make the direction right. The water was soothing cold.

Intermittently we found groups of people, some young, some with families along the river flow.

By the time we reached the end of the river, often having to struggle with turbulent currents & even shallow waters we had canoed for more than 4 hours. For novices like us it was a big achievement & a great relief.

After the half way mark, the feeling that, let the water carry us where it wants to, was dominating the mind as no body bothered to use the chopper. Chopper was only used when the canoe's direction seemed to be changing.
We collaborated with Deepak & Richa & (practically) joined them as a team. The two boats were coupled and the last hour or so Kapil, who sat at the centre of Deepak's boat, became the glue who held the boats together by his hands.

We successfully completed the exhausting journey and Ranjeet's & Poonam's team won this round. They had already reached the end of the river much before we could see them.

By the time every one came out of the canoe it was 17:00 hrs & almost end of our camping. It was time to move on.

We collected something to drink & smoothen our parched throats & started to move towards St.Louis.

Our Camping trip had officially ended.

A trip where we discovered the true virtues of camping & canoeing.
A trip where the sex of St.Louis's Arch was vehemently debated but remained undecided.
A trip where Marathi mixed with Hindi at one's own luxury & at one's own will. There was no rule. No law. No time tables set for having the chips at a specific time.

A trip where nobody objected to the use of marathi words in Hindi sentence & vice versa.
A trip where statements such as "Doh minute shanti 'palo'" & "Meri 'ushi' sarark gayee" were accepted Lingo.

A trip where we discovered that we do not need to plan so much for camping.

And finally,
a trip where "I WAS ENJOYING" every moment.


--- Raison.

** There was this debate we had where most of us agreed that Arch should be addressed as male & the correct statement is 'Arch dikhta hai'. But some of us insisted that Arch should be addressed as 'dikhtee hai'. The debate remained inconclusive & the 'carava' went on.