December 4 (Sa) - Torreya State Park (camp)
Some days I think I like Rick, some days I could kick him. This was mostly a kick him day. The kind of day when I wonder what it is I see in him. He’s smart. He’s got charisma when he bothers to use it. We have a lot of similarities in other areas. And if I’m honest he reminds me a little bit of a grown up Benny if Benny was a kid that that took longer to figure out the gluten issues. And shame on me but he is also nice to look at. He always looks on me approvingly when I work out and encourages Benny as well. I don’t know, today was just one of those days when none of that was enough to keep me from wanting to kick him.
I gave a lot of thought to what Lev had asked of me and since I had agreed to try and help Rick find some flexibility I figured sooner rather than later. I caught on quick that today probably wasn’t going to be a good day to try and say something. Man does that guy have walls. And today they’ve been tall, thick, and with razor wire running on top. Geez.
We got up on time and I had good oatmeal for breakfast … and the first kick ‘em in the seat of his pants feeling came when Rick turned his nose up at it and had a gluten-free Keto type meal replacement bar instead … that had apples and pecans that I had cracked myself in it. Grrrr. Gus does not like to waste food. Thankfully Lev polished off the extra and gave me that happy hound look he has. Benny also got a good helping. Me? I lost my appetite but forced myself to eat just because it was too stupid not to.
We had a drive that should have taken about a half hour but took twice that because of construction traffic and because it was the weekend and people were just out being holiday happy. Rick is wearing a hole in his seat over “the delay.” I swear if he had asked me if I could go around someone one more time I was going to leave him on the side of the road. I was in a boat of a van and pulling the Jeep. You don't just casually pass someone with that set up.
Once we got to the park – Torreya State Park – he calmed down a bit, and he better be glad he did. He almost said we didn’t have time to pick up Benny’s Junior Ranger stuff but I think he realized I’d about had it with whatever routine he had going on because he backed up and said he had a meeting he had to get to, to go over something or other that I was basically refusing to listen to at that point. Benny was trying not to be upset about the entire Junior Ranger thing and that was just one more thing I started carrying around in my bag of hurt feelings.
After Rick took off towards the park office Lev quietly asked me, “You okay for today?”
“Yeah, just give me a few to focus on Benny before you take any film of me. My face would probably break your camera.”
He snickered seeing that I was willing to work through it. “Let’s just say I’m glad I’m not the one on the other end of that stare you have going on right now.”
I took a deep breath and cleared my throat and tried to clear my brain. “Rick is wound a little tight this morning. Any idea why?”
“Not anything specific. I know he doesn’t want to do whatever he is supposed to do on his day off tomorrow.”
“Then big boy can say no.”
“You’d think but we don’t know what is on the other side of whatever is occurring. I hate to ask but can you put it to the side. I know you don’t like to be fake, and I’m not asking that, just …”
“I’ll do this for Benny. And because I agreed to do this job. Maybe this is just that one month hump I hear people talk about when you’ve worked a job and reality sorta sets in … with the job and with the people.”
He shrugged, “Yeah maybe. Just, try and put it to the side. Whatever is going on isn’t your fault, you are just catching blowback from it.”
“Yeah. I’ll adult. But he better watch his attitude around Benny. I can only explain it away so much and then there is going to be a problem even if I’m not the one to create it. I want us all to be friends and yada, yada, yada but Benny is my primary responsibility.”
Lev got it in spades but I did try and tone my attitude back. I know some of it may be a bit hyper-protective. I know I need to teach Benny to cope with people who are having a bad day. However, his sometimes extreme empathy response is really pronounced in a kid his age, so until he can cope it is Aunt Gus’ job to filter the world for him like I was lucky enough to have people do for me when I was his age.
Just to get things rolling like we normally do we did an overview of the park including some history. Torreya State Park is one of the original Florida state parks developed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Great Depression; it opened to the public in 1935. The park is named for the rare Florida tree
Torreya taxifolia, which was named itself for American botanist John Torrey. It is an endangered tree in the Yew family. It is also called the Florida Nutmeg (count me clueless why) and Stinking Cedar (oh yeah, that I can understand, pee-u). The tree is restricted to limestone bluffs and ravines along the east bank of the Apalachicola River in the central part of the northern Florida Panhandle and immediately adjacent southernmost Georgia. A sign-thingie explained that there used to be one small colony west of the Apalachicola at Dog Pond in Jackson County, but it no longer exists.
The land was selected to be a park primarily because it had a few historical sites including six Confederate gun pits along Battery or Neal’s Bluff and an antebellum cotton warehouse at Rock Bluff Landing. Those CCC planners also dismantled and relocated the historic Jason Gregory House from its original location at Ocheesee Landing across the Apalachicola River into the park. The house’s current location on the high bluffs overlooking the river now provides one of Florida’s most scenic views. Or so said a sign-thingie in the area.
We headed back to camp and I panicked for a moment because the van was not where I had left it. A ranger said that Rick had moved it to our new camp location. Well I was trying not to blow a gasket.
Lev said, “Let me handle this. And I’m not saying you’re wrong but you are too pizzed to maybe … not kill him.”
All I could do was nod. Well it didn’t take Lev long to find him and Rick came jogging to meet us on our walk to our new site.
“Hey.”
I decided to play it like a grownup and nodded. “Little warning next time please.”
“Er … yeah. I thought I would find you before you … uh … noticed. Look, I shoulda called or something but we got lucky.”
“Lucky.”
“Yeah. Somebody cancelled for one of the sites with the yurts.”
I’d seen them from a distance.
“Okay, what’s the arrangements?”
“We’ll all sleep inside – you and Benny sharing, Lev and I in bunks. Let me show you around.”
I was just going to let it go then couldn’t. I stopped him and asked Benny to wait for me by a tree. “Rick, I appreciate you did a good thing. Really. Yurts sound all kinds of cool. Just … please don’t move the van without warning again. It’s not just a vehicle … it’s our one and only home for the last nine months and for the foreseeable future. And it holds all our worldly goods.”
He went blank face for nearly ten seconds then grimaced when what I said finally sunk in.
“Dammit. I … I didn’t think. Is Benny really shook up?”
“Not after the other ranger let us know so quickly. My heart beat is still moderating. I don’t want to take away from your surprise … just …”
He was apologetic which took him off the naughty list but he got a call from someone in the office making him grimace. “Go do the Super Ranger thing. Do you need lunch? I was about to fix it.”
“No. They ordered in a salad for me and even remembered to leave the croutons off this time. Thanks anyway. Look around and see what you think. Oh … and um … I might not be back for dinner either but I will be back before it gets too late. I have to take a day off tomorrow.”
I nodded and he left at a trot and Lev came out of the trees as he’d been giving us time to hash things out.
“Aunt Gus? Lev and I are starving.”
Switching gears I gave him a funny face. “After all that oatmeal at breakfast?!”
Being a serious stinker he told me, “You cook too good.”
I let him know with a look I was on to his game but that I would let it slide. He grinned showing he was glad I was getting over my mad.
As I plated up the Crunchy Tuna Wraps
[1] I had prepped Lev asked me quietly, “Everything okay? In your shoes I might have risked the decapitation anyway. This is y’alls house.”
I blinked and was able to relax. Someone got it. “Yeah. He apologized and everything.”
“After lunch you wanna look inside the funny building?”
“It’s a yurt. And yes.”
Gotta admit, yurts are cool. And this one came with a wall unit AC and a fake (electric) wood stove. There was a skylight with a fan, a locking door, and some table and chairs. There was even electricity but no lamps or anything like that. And you weren’t supposed to cook in the yurt either, as in no open flames and that included cigs or vaping or open flame lanterns. I could understand. Basically it is just a wood frame covered by a canvas skin.
After lunch we hiked on some of the 16 miles of trails in the park, let Benny play on the playground a bit until some other kids came along and got too rambunctious and make him anxious, learned about some of the geology of the park, and then returned to camp so I could fix dinner before it got dark. Rick showed up right as I was trying to figure out what to do with the last of the Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue
[2] and was very grateful when I offered it to him.
“Thank you,” he said.
“I thought they were going to provide you with at least a salad.”
A little embarrassed he muttered, “Was only lettuce and a vinaigrette dressing left over from lunch. Nowhere near as big as you make them either.”
I knew a popcorn night when I saw it so while Rick finished one thing, I made another and all three of the guys dug in to their bowls.
Lev and I took care of the privacy issues by stringing up my spare sheets. Benny finally brought The Crew inside but he put them on a chair by the bed.
“Think I’ll squish them?” I whispered to Benny.
He snickered and said just as quietly, “They’re bed hogs. They can stay in their quarters tonight. They understand.”
“Cool. The leaders can stay out …”
“No, it’s okay. Some of the Crew are a little young so they need the Leaders to stay with them.”
“Sounds like a plan. You, however, will keep your elbows, knees, and feet in the bed and on your side.”
That really did make him snicker. I know it is hopeless, I just don’t want to wind up with bruised kidneys again. Sleeping with Benny can be like sleeping with a wiggle worm that is all sharp edges and points.
[1] Crunchy Tuna Wraps
[2] Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue Recipe