Friendships Can Last A Lifetime
Me and my friends have always been close. Ever since the year we graduated, we meet up every summer for a camping trip. We don't even have to arrange it, we just know that the second weekend in August, we head up north to our favorite spot. I grab my dreadnought acoustic guitar, jump in the van with a couple of days of clothes, and hit the road.
Some of us have different ideas of roughing it. For instance, one of us is the head chef in some super upscale Los Angeles restaurant. So every year, he hauls up a ton of food and cooks for us all weekend long. He loves it, refuses help for anything but washing dishes, and all we have to do is give him some cash for the grub. We eat like royalty! I'll get out of my tent at daybreak and find him using hand mixers and stuff to mix up fresh pancakes!
Susan rolls up every year with her husband in a compact RV. It's done up with home decor accents and when you step in it's like you're walking into a small apartment. She has big batteries to keep everything powered and enjoys her weekend sleeping in total comfort. She's always happiest of us when it's pouring down with rain.
We'll all eat, drink, and talk about the good old days before going on our 15 mile hike. It used to be 20 miles, but we're getting older now and can't handle it! I think it's the high altitude that gets to me, but it's probably my big belly.
It's not easy to hike when you've been up all night, and with Dave's snoring, we're all insomniacs. The first year we went half of us were quaking in our sleeping bags thinking there was a bear in the campground. His snoring is that loud!
Now our trips have even more meaning since one of our crew was killed on a highway motorbike crash. He was always there with us, but now it brings us even closer and it's like he's still there with us year after year.
Our trip up every year might come to an end for some of us in the near future. As we get married and have kids, end up having more responsibility, it makes it harder to escape, even for one weekend. Until that day we'll always cherish these weekends away.
