YCGL - The New Adventure - The Trinity Campout - August 31-Sept 2, 2022

The salmon finished cooking at 5:55 and the potluck started at 6:30. The appetizer was not for desert, but was part of the main course.  It was a pound and a half salmon filet and most of it was eaten that night.  I've got one nice piece for dinner when I thaw it.  

There was a big (5 foot diameter) fire pit at the site and someone had brought a propane fire pit that was put into the the bigger hole.  Safer and good heat output.  

Potlucks are always fun.  (One day I'll refer you to my epic "Ode to a Potluck" poem written for a Thanksgiving potluck at church.  About 200 lines of classic Lutheran church potluck with family history and some lutefisk thrown in for good(?) measure.)

Denise had requested that someone bring a guitar to the campout.  There were no takers.  She had even asked Jennifer L to come up and play for us, but with school starting last week, she was too busy.  So, I pulled out my guitar.  I have two, one was an inexpensive Gibson (a model LGO, which they no longer make).  Back in college, I had the guitar worked on at a guitar shop in Boulder.  They put on a real bridge (instead of the plastic one from Gibson) and worked on the string action, which was outstanding then and still is now.  It had a strong sound and is really well balanced on both the low and high ends.  Dad had it for a number of years for the guitar players who played for the fiddlers that would come to the house.  Dad got many offers for the guitar from very knowledgeable players, but thankfully never sold it.  I did not take that guitar because, being a steel string, it still hurts my fingertips when I play it for more than a few minutes.  

I took my other guitar, a no-name nylon string "classical" guitar that I bought with my own money for $66 from a record store that I hung out at in 1963 when I was 13.  When I've had it worked on, they have said that it is made out of cyprus wood and is more like a Spanish flamenco guitar.  I know that the bracing is non-standard and the neck has a very unusual, almost square shape to it.  It has been my go-to guitar since I bought it.  At one point in college, I was playing well enough to accompany Sally on two lute songs by John Dowland.  (I am a life member of the Lute Society of America....)  But my guitar playing has gone down hill from there.  I've played so little over the years, I don't know that Erik or Liz has ever heard me play.  They know I do, but I don't think they have heard it.  

So, when I decided to take a guitar up to the camp, it was a checkered decision.  Yes, I had my guitar.  No, I haven't played in years.  Would my playing be bad enough for someone else to ask to take over.  I think if anyone there did play, they would have done that.  How long has it been?  Well, when I started to bring the strings back up to pitch, the nut broke under the D string.  I had to lower the pitch on the strings so I could pull the nut off, super-glue it, let it sit overnight and hope that it would stay together when I retuned it.  As luck would have it, it did stay together, but enough glue was in the D string groove on the nut that the string doesn't slide but pops so tuning has been a problem.  When I have some time, I'll go back and file the groove down so the string will slide easier.  

Unfortunately, purely mechanical problems did not prevent me from having to play.  So, after the potluck on Friday night, we all sat around the campfire and tried to have a singalong.  It was painful.  Without any music or chord sheets, few of us could remember any words to any songs.  I laughed that here we are, a bunch of Lutherans and not enough singers to keep a campfire hootenanny going.  But we tried!  Maybe we'll do better next year at the Second Annual campout.  

Saturday, we were on our own in the morning.  Several people went hiking, some went kayaking and canoeing.  I sat around and talked and got to know each other better.  But, in the afternoon, there was a Wyoming Cowboys football game.  I had planned to go back down and watch it on TV, which I did.  The game started at 1:30 and I figured I'd have plenty of time to get back for our worship service at 7:00.  We were significant underdogs to Tulsa, but I figured it will be fun to watch even if we lose.  But it turned out to be a really good game.  Wyoming scored on the second possession after a Tulsa fumble ended up being covered in the end zone.  The score kept going back and forth with neither team ever taking a significant lead.  Our kicker's previous longest kick was 46 yards and he made a field goal at 55 yards.  In the last two minutes, both teams fumbled the football and we ended the game tied.  We finally won the game 40-37 in the second overtime.  Which all goes to say, the game went really long and I was in the truck and driving back up within 60 seconds of the cannon going off.  

I needed to get back early because we (pastor and I) had not picked the songs I was going to play for the worship service.  One hymn had the chords in the hymnals we had with us.  Another, I was still writing out the chords when pastor started the service.  So, between not playing the guitar for years, and having terrible rhythm, and not being able to count to 3 or 4, and also trying to lead the singing, which I never do, ever, we got through it.  I'm sure next year someone will volunteer just to keep me from having to!

 So, in all, it was a good weekend.  Oh yeah, since I was pretty intense on the music, I didn't take any pictures.  Next year, when I have more time. :))