There was another time we were camping off the coast.......

[Times Roman]

........of northern Cali. A place called Cruise (Crews?) Ranch. The field and the pasture ended at the cliff, where it dropped off over a hundred feet straight down into a rocky bottom where the water was.

I was just a boy. My dad was ocean (abalone) diving, back for the day, and everyone was partying. Big bon fire. Maybe five or six families were present. And it was very dark (did I mention that?) These three blokes from the Navy showed up out of the dark and asked if it would be ok if they hung out by the fire. sure, why not? They were kind of lit, but nice, not rude or aggressive (my old man was a freaking gorilla, so that may have had something to do with it). The party continued into the wee hours of the morning. In the morning, there was quite a stir. Evidently, one of the blokes wandered off into the dark to take a leak and never came back. in the morning, they found him at the bottom of the cliff. I wasn't allowed to look (thanks mom) but those that did look said it was pretty gruesome. It was a weird cliff. There was grass, and you'd be walking along, and then nothing but air. If you ever seen the coast line of northern cali, you'd understand.

Strange memories

[lovbyts]

Ouch... Good reason to not get drunk when out camping. I can sort of relate. I was out camping with friends in Nevada up in the mountains. I had drank a pint of JD by myself to prove I could. Yeah young and dumb and because of that I missed out on something damn good I might have gotten that night.. Would have been my 1st Asain.
Anyways I had to take a leak about 2am before going to bed outside the tent, alone because I still had enough sense to know I was hammered and didnt want to do/try anything stupid, while drunk. I walked into the woods a bit until I stepped off the edge of a bank and my foot hit water. I could hear the river but not see it due to being pitch black.

The next morning I wanted to see where I almost stepped off into the river and I could not believe how far I had walked to get to the river. I have no firkin idea how I ever made it back to the tent. It was a good 10 minute walk through thick woods in the middle of the night with no light to guide me. I swear I though I had just walked 20 feet or so from the tent into the woods.

The river was not just some little stream either. If I had stumbled and fell in I have no doubt I would have been quickly swept away since it was pretty deep and swift. Someone was watching over me that night.

[Times Roman]

if we had a bon fire, and I was drink wine again (too much from last night), shit, there are tons of stories...


....some of them might even be true! =)