Bit of a row…

On My Terms recently invited me to camp with her and her family in the Teton National Forest. I graciously accepted the offer and asked how, exactly, they were camping and what I should do to prepare.

She informed me they would be renting a cabin and a few cabin tents.

“We can have a campfire and camp grill at the cabin tents,” she informed me.

“Do the cabins have loos?” I asked.

“Yes and heat,” she replied.

Wanting heat and others to prepare my meals, I immediately got online and reserved myself a cabin with two double beds, a twin bed, a desk (for penning letters), a toilet, bathroom sink, a shower, and a heater.

At this point in the game I was traveling alone but I figured someone would eventually decide to join me on this adventure. If they didn’t, On My Terms had alluded to the fact that, should cold air ensue, she would probably be joining me in my glamping establishment.

About a week away from the departure date I received a text from Har asking if the invitation to camp was still open. It was indeed and with that a mini high school reunion was set to take place in Colter Bay Village.

After a very long drive to the forest (we were following On My Terms who appeared to be driving there via Google’s terms) we made it to the village and, eventually, retreated to our sleeping quarters.

Har and I slept quite well and were more than ready for a day of adventure. We brewed a pot of coffee, grabbed the pot and walked up to the cabin tent where On My Terms and her family were preparing breakfast.

After a lovely camp meal we decided to give a canoe a try.

On My Terms, a regular in the canoe, had hoped to be assigned to the back of the canoe but the boys at the dock would have none of that. She became the bowman, Har was directed to the stern and me to the middle.

We began rowing and within just a few minutes rowed right into a docked boat.

“Jesus Christ! Have neither of you ever rowed a boat before?” On My Terms shouted from the front.

“I’m Greek,” Har said and added, “We’re not even supposed to camp.”

“No need to get into a row over a row,” I quipped.

Due to the lack of synchrony and my strong desire to take photos, I refrained from rowing and making further comments and, instead, I focused on documenting the occasion. Besides, anyone who rows knows that, just as there can be too many cooks in the kitchen, there can be too many paddles outside of the canoe.

My decision did not go unnoticed.

“Are you even paddling?” On My Terms inquired.

“No, she isn’t,” Har quickly replied, most likely relieved to not have On My Terms questioning her work.

“I’m documenting,” I replied and snapped another photo.

This did not deter On My Terms from her self-appointed position of captain.

“Left. Right,” she barked. “Why the fuck are we not going straight?”

“Do we need to get you a shot or a cigarette?” Har inquired.

“What you need to do is to get rowing straight. I can’t believe I’m the only one in this canoe who knows how to row. I should be in the back,” she snapped and then muttered something.

“Have you ever heard of undercurrent? It’s a real thing,” I advised, then took a selfie.

After a while we were able to better coordinate our efforts and, when we weren’t contending with undercurrents and large wakes, we rowed quite well together.

Unfortunately, our lack of coordination presented again when we pulled the canoe ashore to consider new seating arrangements. On My Terms stepped out, then I stepped out at the same time Har was stepping out. Sadly, Har got dumped into the water.

“Jesus Christ, have you no canoe etiquette?” On My Terms asked me, rhetorically.

I apologized and wished I had my camera out at that moment. To have documented that would have been amazing.

After a short break we returned to the canoe and, despite initial desires, assumed our same positions.

We made it back to the dock without further incident—we did actually take a bit of a wrong turn, but that’s what being in nature is all about.

“I can’t believe we finally got our shit together just as we are returning the canoe,” On My Terms stated.

“Rowing with new partners is like sex with a new partner,” I said. “The first few times are a little awkward. Once you get to know each other, and can better coordinate your moves, it ends.”

And with that, we returned to a task that, for the most part, does not require coordination or a long-term commitment: drinking by the campfire.

309 thoughts on “Bit of a row…”

  1. I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be just what I’m looking for. Would you offer guest writers to write content in your case? I wouldn’t mind creating a post or elaborating on some of the subjects you write about here. Again, awesome website!

  2. Do you mind if I quote a few of your posts as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My website is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would genuinely benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks a lot!

  3. Does your website have a contact page? I’m having a tough time locating it but, I’d like to shoot you an email. I’ve got some suggestions for your blog you might be interested in hearing. Either way, great website and I look forward to seeing it expand over time.

  4. We are a bunch of volunteers and opening a brand new scheme in our community. Your web site offered us with valuable info to work on. You have performed an impressive process and our entire community will likely be grateful to you.

  5. Hello! Do you know if they make any plugins to help with SEO? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good gains. If you know of any please share. Thank you!

  6. Hi there! I could have sworn I’ve visited this blog before but after going through some of the posts I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking it and checking back often!

  7. Do you have a spam problem on this website; I also am a blogger, and I was curious about your situation; many of us have developed some nice methods and we are looking to trade methods with others, why not shoot me an e-mail if interested.

  8. Thank you for every other informative site. Where else may I am getting that type of information written in such a perfect manner? I’ve a challenge that I am just now working on, and I’ve been at the look out for such info.

  9. Do you mind if I quote a couple of your articles as long as I provide credit and sources back to your website? My blog is in the exact same area of interest as yours and my users would definitely benefit from a lot of the information you provide here. Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks!

  10. Hi great blog! Does running a blog like this take a massive amount work? I have absolutely no knowledge of coding but I was hoping to start my own blog soon. Anyway, if you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off topic but I simply wanted to ask. Thank you!

  11. I’ve been surfing on-line greater than three hours nowadays, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s beautiful value sufficient for me. Personally, if all website owners and bloggers made just right content as you probably did, the internet shall be a lot more helpful than ever before.

  12. The other day, while I was at work, my sister stole my iPad and tested to see if it can survive a forty foot drop, just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now broken and she has 83 views. I know this is entirely off topic but I had to share it with someone!

  13. It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to this brilliant blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Chat soon!

  14. Hey there just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your post seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I’d post to let you know. The design and style look great though! Hope you get the issue solved soon. Cheers

  15. Excellent pieces. Keep posting such kind of information on your blog. Im really impressed by your site.
    Hello there, You have done a fantastic job. I’ll certainly digg it and individually suggest to my friends. I am confident they will be benefited from this web site.

  16. Woah! I’m really enjoying the template/theme of this blog. It’s simple, yet effective. A lot of times it’s tough to get that “perfect balance” between usability and visual appearance. I must say you have done a superb job with this. Also, the blog loads very quick for me on Opera. Outstanding Blog!

  17. After I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now every time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the exact same comment. Perhaps there is an easy method you can remove me from that service? Many thanks!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *