Well, looks like I got this hiking post a bit mixed up since parts one, two and four were in my morning posts and part 3 was separate, like today’s post. Oh well, I do like changing things sometimes. I’m not sure if this will be the last post or not, guess we will find out shortly. But for now, let’s begin where we left off having our coffee break…

“At least your thermos didn’t break,” I said to Dad. “That is something,” he said pouring himself a cup. “Hey, look at this, an insulator,” I said, “looks like it might be a bit different.” “Toss it here,” said Dad, “but gently.” “I always do,” I reminded him, and tossed the insulator. Dad was just starting to drink his coffee. You should have seen the look on his face as he saw that insulator coming through the air! He jumped up, spilling his coffee on his jacket, then started waving his arms around. But he caught the insulator, in his cup. “My cup!”, exclaimed Dad. “Great catch,” I said. “But the insulator is all dirty, now my cup is too,” he said.

“You should have caught it with your hands then,” I said. “Very funny,” said Dad. “Why not just drink right out of the thermos?”, I suggested. Dad looked. “Good idea,” he said and sat down again. He put his dirty cup on the ground. “You should put it in your backpack so you don’t step on it,” I said. “I won’t step on it,” said Dad shaking his head. “Bring me a piece of cake,” he said. “I ate both pieces,” I said, “they were small and since you had 2 sandwiches I knew you wouldn’t mind.” Dad just looked. “Those sandwiches didn’t even qualify for one,” he said. “Still the same amount of food, just quicker to eat,” I said and started laughing again.

“How about the cookies?”, he asked. “I ate them along the way, remember I asked if you wanted any,” I reminded him, “and you said no. So I ate them.” Dad just looked. “I only meant I didn’t want any while we were walking,” he explained. “But that’s not what you said,” and I started laughing again. “Should just be a little ways down the tracks to that old town”, I said. “I sure hope it’s not far”, said Dad. Dad and I had finished our little lunch and got up to start our walk down the tracks. Crunch! Dad groaned. Seems he stepped on his cup. “How many have you broken now?”, I asked him. “Bonehead,” he said.

Amazingly enough that old town site was just a little ways from where we had enjoyed our coffee. At least one of us enjoyed it anyway. Most of the area was just long grass with foundations of a few buildings. One area was grown over a bit with small aspens. We were not doing too well locating the old garbage dumps however. I was really hoping to find some nice old bottles at this spot. Dad came over to where I was poking around, “notice anything different?” Right then I tossed a shovel full of dirt, which amazingly landed all over Dad. I looked around. “Well, you’re dirty,” I said.

“I’m covered with dirt,” said Dad. “That’s what I just said,” I told him. “No, no,” he said, “don’t look at me, look up.” I did. “What am I supposed to see?”, I asked. “The sky”, said Dad. “All I see are clouds”, said I. “Exactly,” said Dad, “dark clouds”. A few rain drops started falling. “We better head back before it starts raining too much or it will be hard getting back up that hill”, explained Dad. Hmm, he might be right. We can always come back. By the time we made it back to the creek it was raining harder. “Might get wet”, I said. “We’re already wet”, said Dad. “Only a little”, said I. We came to the log we had used to cross before. “It will likely be slippery now”, said Dad, “so be careful”…

Hmm, guess we will need to have one more part to this story. Have a great day and God bless!

Steve and Muffin.

©2021 Steve McLeod.