I made a batch of my world famous Pinole…minus the nuts because Marie is allergic to them…packed up the rest of the camping gear and kindling wood for our fire and headed to Marie’s to pick her up. We got on the road around 6 p.m. and coordinated with our other dinner and camping guests for an 8 p.m. arrival at the Bob Evans of exit 131 where we’d be camping at Alum Creek State Park. Former state champ in the 1600 meters, Eric Harsh, would be meeting us with his daughter Sydney, who, at age nine, would be camping out for the first time. Don Alexander of the baseball documentary and creator of splinter fame, would be joining us as well. Don is widely known for never being on time, changing plans on the fly, talking incessantly and passionately about running and baseball…in that order…and for having some of the most entertaining stories of any human on the planet. Marie…poor girl…would be stuck listening to me on the ride there for two hours and then have to listen to Don and I compete for floor time for the rest of the weekend. I knew he’d win.
My daughter Savannah joined us for dinner with her boyfriend ‘Silent Kyle’. If you’ve ever seen ‘Clerks’ and ‘Silent Bob’…well Kyle’s got him beat all to hell. Savannah talks faster and more often than Don and me, so I suppose it’s a nice fit. We arrived at Bob Evans right on schedule with Don coming 30 minutes late, suggesting that when I’d said we’d be there by 8 p.m., I meant he should leave where he was at that same time should he hope to meet us in a timely fashion. Holly uses a similar logic.
I ordered coffee and added my three packets of ‘Equal’ non-sweetener to the catcalls of Eric and Don.
“You’re this big health nut guy and you’re using all that sweetener?” Eric chided.
I tried to reach my nutritionist, Bob Iafelice, on the cell phone to defend my choice, but he didn’t pick up. “Bob says there’s nothing wrong with this stuff as long as I don’t use too much…and I only have coffee a couple of time s a week,” I said.
They weren’t buying. We headed over to the campsite, but only after a stop at McDonald’s where Eric and Don grabbed some ice cream…I mean…c’mon guys…giving me crap about some Equal? Anyway, Eric, Marie and I pitched tents in the dark while Don talked on the phone with a running coach. About the time we finished and had the fire going, he joined the group.
“What’d I miss?” he asked.
“The work. And if you think I’m going to inflate your mattress and fluff up your pillow for you…well…you full of shit,” I said.
We’d missed the camp store for fire wood, but managed to find plenty of dead and down limbs to keep a fire going until 1 a.m. Marie and I listened to some of Don’s incredible stories before finally deciding to turn in. It was about this time that Don decided to acknowledge the texts on his phone from his daughter pleading with him to return with her bag, which was in the car, and held all the things she needed to sleep that night. He hopped in the car at 1:30 a.m. and headed back to the hotel where the team was staying saying he’d return at some point…which of course, would never happen.
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