ARE YOU KIDDING ME???


June 14, 1992
Platte River State Park
Louisville, NE

 Spent last night at the Louisville Recreational Area, and that's the last time I will stay for a good long while, till after Labor Day, at least. I've seen worse, but this was pretty bad in most places: wall-to-wall people in trailers and tents. When I got there and went to register, I asked the woman, "Do you have any private, secluded places? She snorted and said, "Are you kidding me?!"

I was hurt by this, having never been there before and not knowing the score. Then she apologized for being "facetious." I thought it was more like sarcasm myself - I need to compare the terms.

I located the assigned area and then relocated my tent near a place by the river next to a friendly couple. Right across the small gravel road was another group of people who had appropriated the picnic table from the adjacent campsite so as to have a little tent complex/kingdom separate from all the other campsites, complete with large American flags.

End of text - I must have blanked out the rest of the night, which I imagine was some sort of patriotic nightmare. I have camped at other places where I found the camping area so stressful that I went into town to a saloon to get a drink. LOL, as they say nowadays.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Don't know what

Bloomington IL 61701 February 23, 2020 Ambient ambiance: In the 50s and real sunny right in the virtual middle of the winter I was walking up the nearest moraine right through the nearby alley when I spotted a feller in a long coat doing something or other - smokin', I reckon - and also talkin' to someone hidden from my view behind a utility pole of some sort. The feller spotted me about the same time I spotted him, and we both narrowed our eyes in the manner of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef in "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," or so I imagined. But only for a moment - a quick moment, or a mini-moment. Well, it was real quick, as we both realized there was no reason to get excited. Behind the utility pole sat a woman all bundled up in a long coat and scarf and whatnot and smoking a cigarette hard, but I heard her coughing before I actually saw her. She was coughin' to beat the band, like she had bronchitis, so when I saw her, I said, "Huh
Read more

Nazi State

Monona County, Iowa 1995 The guy was wearing blue jeans, an army jacket, and a baseball cap. He took off his cap to reveal close-cropped graying hair. His face was lean and muscular, and his eyes were bright. “Do you want me to strap in?” he asked as I buckled my seatbelt. I said yes, and as he hunted for the belt, he said, “Never use ‘em myself. I was in the paratroopers in the war, and I don’t like to use ‘em. If I’m on a plane, I want to sit in the back and not wear a seatbelt. If something happens, I want to get out of there fast. Ya know, they can’t force you to use one. Most plane accidents take place on landing or taking off, so what I do, I just go up to the first-class section.” “You mean on a commercial airliner?” I asked, noting that he had put the shoulder strap over the wrong shoulder. “Yeah,” he said, and then adjusted the strap after I pointed out the correct position. The guy then started rapping about how he was going to Fargo, North Dakota, to join
Read more

Break Time at Conception

Image
May 24, 1992 Conception Abbey, Conception, MO: Break Time Mr. and Mrs. Friendly & Niece & the Purtiest Cat You’ll Ever See This woman accosted me from the front seat of the roadster pictured here as I walked up a hill toward the Conception water tower. She had seen me taking a picture from lower on the hill, and she called out, “Hey, are you the person fixing up that new place over there?” “No,” I said, “I’m just passing through. “Well, where are ya from?” she asked. “From Lincoln, Nebraska,” I said. “You walked from there!?” she asked in astonishment. “No,” I said. “I drove down in my car.” “Come ta see the church?” she asked further. “Yep,” I said. “Stayin’ a couple of nights.” “Here comes my niece,” she said as a seven- or eight-year-old girl came walking up and plopped herself in the back seat of the car next to a stack of elementary school books. I spied a grade 6 science book, so maybe the kid was older than she looked. A pair of fuzzy white di
Read more