Last Minute Camping | No Regrets

Happy day. Nice deep breakfast in the light, huh guys? She made Dutch babies. Josiah, you coming? All right. I'm skipping breakfast this morning. Feeling a little creaky in the back. Perhaps something with the refeeding. Gonna do a little bit of a minor reset. Rebecca's skipping breakfast because she's nervous. She's got this lump in her back. We're going to the chiropractor today. That'll be our first Pro to be able to feel it, and we'll see if she thinks we should go to the doctor. Sinus infection the dentist found and is referring us to the ENT, ear, nose, and throat. That was Wednesday. We haven't heard anything, so hopefully we'll get her into that soon to ease her nerves there. Turkey Devon cornbread this evening. Also, we got to get ready for our Mighty Man camp. Or individual one. Two days. Jonah, while I look for camp stuff, do you guys want to start working on transitioning the chickens into the high tunnel? We'd have to harvest the tomatoes, pull up the weed fabric and the silage tarps. Then I was thinking about putting logs in the pathways to preserve the beds. 6 cups of lamb bits off of one lamb. That's, that's almost 6 meals for me. Soups. We're gonna keep it going. Just finished roasted this lamb. It'll go in the broth. I think I've done 3 or 4 lambs out of 6. I want you to go with— be a mighty man and make the right decision. Decision jurors, doing a little inventory check for our camping trip. We get that done before today since we're kind of going REI if we need anything. They say we have 3 frame packs, backpacks. We're actually wanting to hike 2 miles in. I don't remember having these at all. So everybody— that backpack we had for the 100 miles. A little bit of a change of plans. We had had a feeler out for Barbara O'Neill on our podcast. This is a big name in the health world. She was to come Wednesday or Thursday because she's in town for a conference. Anytime somebody like that is in town, I try to snag them for our podcast. I asked the boys about it because, well, we didn't know if she was gonna come Wednesday or Thursday. Wouldn't have been a problem if it was Wednesday. Thursday we were going to be in the woods. I asked the boys, it's like they don't care. Okay, take the earbuds out, please. Let's warm up Sally. So I had the idea, we're doing this group Mighty Man Camp, we're going a day early for that. That'll be our individual camp, and maybe that's better because you have to do so much to prep for something like this and tear down for something like this, we would be doing that twice. Now we only have to do setup and tear down once. We are going a day early to Group Mighty Man Camp. Yes, we'll have that nice big tent with the fire pit. So is that okay for individual camp? Yeah. Are you sure? Now they're arguing about not driving. You guys are seriously arguing who's in the passenger seat? Hey, get everything set up. It's our first time with 3. Well, the name of the game today is to get this leash on Harriet. Hopefully— we haven't been able to lately, but hopefully— this is her old paddock. She's gonna be hungry. Gideon, can you stop her from breaking over? She's so confused. Okay, here we go. Let's feed her near the side, side by side, because we're gonna start tying her up to it. Let's get this collar on today. Oh my, we've, we've digressed. She ain't letting me get near her today. Yeah, we've gotten a leash on Harriet twice, and I guess she's on to us now. I don't know how she's gotten it off. I don't know if it's too loose or she Somehow she rubbed it off. Hey, when you guys found the leash, was it— was it connected? The collar. I keep calling it a leash. Okay, so it came undone. It probably needs that other strap holding the strap up. There's still talks that we might go camping, maybe Thursday. Joe's got friends coming over on Friday. Either I stay in the woods with the boys longer, or we just go one night now-ish. I mean, 10 o'clock. What time is it?

It's time change.

Shoot, we only have 1 hour. But here's the thing, I can't— Mom, put this up. Mr. Meeks, my late mentor, he was going to take us to the, uh, Boundary Waters on a 4 or 5 day. Hey, did they eat all their food? Yeah, this time we put their food out on the grass. Oh my gosh, wow, only a little. Well, I don't know, it'd be another reason for not going, getting the chickens in the high tunnel. Here, can you take this? Let's put the rubber mallet up. They're just tearing apart the pasture. All right, but here's the thing, Mr. Meeks was gonna take us to the Boundary Waters. We canceled it actually 2 years in a row, and it's one of the biggest regrets. I have. Get in. We should have gotten more hay than this, and had I known he was gonna die, we would have went. We would have addressed our concerns and went. Should we go look for our camping gear? Yes, we're missing a tote of camping gear and we're missing our backpacks.

Yes, remember, Papa, it's a— it's a bass shed. Are you sure we missed it when Lily and Mom went to go on their girls trip?

Well, we'll see. As bad as I want to go over there right now and see We really need to wrap up these chores. And what's triggering this, hey, maybe we should go, is Gideon. He's upset that we're not going. The big boys, they don't seem to care less. There'd be a lot of underdeveloped frontal cortexes if it ends up being just Henry and I, or Gideon and I, for half of it. Okay, what are we looking for? We're looking for— this ain't it though.

What does it say?

That's just— sure, that's camping, but this is— can't find the frame packs. That means we're camping on the— either the campground or there are some camp spots along the road. We just ended up going to town, uh, what do you call it, chiropractor. Thank goodness Rebecca is like the lump in her back. It was gone by the time we got there, so that's one less thing. We went to the grocery store because— this may be crazy, this may be crazy— but we decided to go camping today. It's already almost 12. We really need to leave here by 2 or 3, get set up before dark. We could have all day. Mom, Mom can have my acupuncture appointment, and then we leave early the next morning. So we can actually get 2 nights if we go right now. You're about as excited as anybody to see us go, aren't you? Yeah. Why is that?

Well, I wish I was going camping, but it's fun I'm not, and that means Mom can watch TV and eat good food while you're gone.

And you can sleep in her bed, huh? Nelda the lamb. But not everybody's picking up on it. Try it for lunch. Well, we woke up this morning, this was not going to be our last meal, this lunch together. It's going to be our last meal together. Surprise, surprise. Aren't we sporadic?

Every time we plan for a date, it's like raining.

Yeah, you can't.

So you have to like, okay, what is on our schedule? Can we— what can we defer onto something else?

Yeah, this was planned last week.

Yes, and it was terrible, terrible weather.

What's wrong with that sleeping bag? It's dirty. That's the double too. Um, can you dry a sleeping bag in a dryer, Rebecca?

Tumble dry low, but it says don't use the top load, which is all we have.

Getting the butter done before we leave. Yet another one. We are in a butter surplus. We are in a kefir grain surplus. Austin saw this in the video. Asked if I had any extra. I got extra, Austin. What's my name? What's my name? Hey, just tell them to add milk, okay? Okay.

Oh, somebody just come with me.

No, you go. You be brave. How's the butter coming? Good.

Is this done?

Keep it together, bro. Yeah, I done enough. You're kind of our butter boy, aren't you? Yeah. Now fold it on itself. You know how— something you're talking about?

Yeah.

Mom is so kind, making them focaccia.

Focaccia.

You going to go ahead and bake it?

No, I'm just going to send the dough and then you guys will Cook it.

Okay, there, we'll see how that goes. Uh, bread on a stick, Danish style. That's a little Danish trick we learned on Honduras, of all places, with other Danish— with Danish volunteers. I gotta summon my inner— well, I gotta ban my control freak. The boys want to have chicken. They want to have fresh chicken. I'm like, we have cooked chicken in there in Super Cubes. We could make the chicken and rice. That's what you want for supper tonight, and then just heat it up. No, no, no, no, we're gonna do this or that. Okay, well, you guys do that. I think I'm gonna eat over the next 30 minutes and let this be my last meal of the day, and then support them in their adventure because that's part of the fun of the camp, right? Don't tear up the camp gear before we go. Sleeping bag get washed. We could technically leave in 45 minutes if you guys get ready. Set a timer for 45 minutes. You guys keep getting ready. I cannot leave this like this for these ladies. Okay, 6 more minutes. My timer went off, but hey, we got 6 more minutes on his sleeping bag. Are we about ready here? It's almost 3. That was the goal. Yeah, because that puts us there at 4, probably 2 hours till it gets dark in the woods. That's probably enough. I would have never guessed when I woke up this morning that we would be going hiking. Okay, well, they're definitely not suffering. Hey, this definitely is not survival camp. And I think our tent has a wood stove. We put up the calf. The only farm thing I left y'all is the broth. Tomorrow morning, turn it off, let it cool off, and put it in the fridge, and then I'll deal with it when I get home. We decided we couldn't— we weren't gonna backpack. Why? I forgot.

Um, because, well, we couldn't find it.

Oh, we can't find the frame packs, so we're gonna roadside.

And, and also it just felt like it was too much to get all together, and then Henry—

that was gonna— yeah. Because it's just— in some ways it's just easier just to grab everything. Yeah, then to pack smart and light and divide it up amongst ourselves. So— oh look, you're even helping! Are you ready to camp without Mom? Are you gonna be calling for Mom tonight? Appreciate this lifestyle we set up for ourselves. Just Monday, hey, we have to go camping today, but we're not gonna get to. And here we are. All right, as crazy as it is sometimes Too much. We are. This is too much. That's my— for two nights. They wanted their special food. I would have just freeze-dried food. She and I are both extra for sure.

Oh, all right, well you better get there cuz it's going to get dark.

All right, I know. Nothing's worse than setting up camp in dark. Okay, we are most guaranteed to forget something. Let's just hope it's not absolutely critical. You get plates, Jonah? Paper plates? Yeah. Okay. Fire, housing, cookware, food. Who thinks we'll get there and get set up before dark? Not me.

Me! 5 minutes!

Son's got her wee-wees. Oh, and hopefully we have in mind to camp down this gravel road that last time we were there it had a gate. Over it. I've never seen that in all my time here, so hopefully that was just temporary. Oh, there's a car. Okay, I think the gate's open. Yes! Yes! Roadside camping only. Oh yeah, we're signed with the camp sign. Well, we took a beautiful time to come, guys. What do you say we do Mighty Man Camp every October? Yeah, that's nice. Well, it's November, but yeah. Oh, it is November, isn't it? How come the leaves are still on? We'll take it. There's somebody here on a Monday. Oh boy. Was not expecting that. Oh my gosh, there's more campsites, but there's more people on them. Actually, the campgrounds are closed as of November, so it's not like we could have reserved a spot.

I was hoping that there would be two spots, but no.

We're at the mercy of a roadside spot. Ooh, the sun is about to go down over the mountain. We can wait until the end of this road. Turn around. Do you want to go? Let's go check out Davidson River. I don't think we want to camp next to anybody though.

Why would we?

They don't want 4 boys to show up on their Monday night.

That's camping.

Well, they came out here to get in the quiet. There was one open, but the other camp's too close. Okay. All right, we'll go on. Let's find something private. As long as we can find a spot before dark. It's gonna be hard to find a spot in the dark. Be hard to see these things. I believe we can set up a tent in the dark. Albeit no fun. But it's part of the adventure, right guys? I remember my dad took us camping several times and the one I remember the most is— Let's look at this. When it rained— it— this group camp, we have to reserve it. How do you know? Nobody said that. Because that's how it works with the other camp. Well, I wonder if you do. I'll go check it out, but I'm pretty sure you have to reserve this one. Reservations required. Uh-uh-uh. So you think the camp spot is too far off at Davidson River? Next to the hammock is fine.

Yes, it's fine.

The hammock is not far away. I would feel like we'd have to be too quiet, don't you think? Yeah. Was it 2 campsites, Josiah? Yes. Josiah's ruled us out. We're not gonna camp next to that guy, and I don't want to be stressed out trying to keep you guys quiet. Past our trailhead for tomorrow, this dirt road said Oh, we can go. Roadside camping only. We're marked with a tent sign, so that means there must be campsites on this road. There's a guy on the road next to the excavator. You think it's closed? It's closed. So this road's closed. Coming with the group, Mighty Man Camp. Who's down? We got 6 men and their families coming. Plus the Meeks' sons. Oh yeah, no camping within 100 feet of road. We reserved that spot. We're not gonna have any of this drama. If you want to join us, we've got 4 spots left. That means 4 men and however many of your sons you want to bring. Let's do Mighty Man Camp together. Could go camp right next to that guy, or we could go to Mills River. All right, we have 2 choices. We could go camp right next to that guy or backtrack 20-30 minutes over to Mills River. I did not think this was going to be our problem. 4:30, so it'll probably be dark in the woods in about an hour. So we might, we might get over there yet and find a spot. There's some camp spots along up through here. It was about our midway mark through the 100-mile bike ride. What do you want to do? You want to try those near the Cradle of Forestry? Yeah, I know. Or Mills River? Are those even spots though? I'm pretty sure I saw some spots. Remember, I think I thought I was gonna maybe camp there for you when you did that race. You remember there being camps past that gate? Uh, the gate was closed. Yeah, it was. Shoot. Oh, that's probably what I'm thinking about then. Okay, let's go to Mills River because we know for sure there's campsites there. I just looked online and it appears that the North Mills River Campground is open. Y'all just want to go to the campground, then the Northmost River Campground is open. Oh yeah, let's just do that. Okay, let's just do that. Let's do the spot that we had. Let's not even risk something, right? That'll be fun, right? Yeah. Okay, there'll not be many people there. It's a race against the sun. Henry keeps saying he's gotta pee. That would be the second time.

I'm gonna go pee in my pants.

No! Okay, okay, we gotta— we're gonna have to pull over. He's probably gonna pee his pants. A few moments later. You feeling better now, Henry?

Campground!

And I just I just heard that Jonah brought only one pot for cooking. Jonah, I left you in charge of getting all that stuff. I know. We did it, and we're here before dark. Yeah, they've made an assignment. They're saying I've got to cook while they set up the tent. This is nice. Shall we do a tour? Fire pit, cooking, bear box. Path to the toilet. Huge picnic table. A bear! What? Ah! I think I needed this. Needed to get in the woods. All right, give me my food stuff out. I cannot believe it. We did not get the sleeping bag out of the dryer. Mom, bring it to us. I'm not making Mom bring it to us. I'm calling her right now. No, don't call her. Henry and Gideon can sleep together. Yeah. I was planning on doing that.

Yeah, I'm gonna sleep in Mom's bed. Like mine.

Okay, and I can just sleep in this. And don't we have— you guys brought that— you guys brought that tent with a stove, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, I put that— I could put that over my legs. Yeah. All right, let's cook before it gets dark. Welcome to the Burn It Up cooking show, campfire edition. Do you want a tour? Camp stove, dual burner, hope it works. Water pump pulling out the chicken anymore, still a little bit frozen. All my utensil tools, my refrigerator. Jordan brought me a measuring cup, man. We didn't bring a sleeping bag for me, but we brought the measuring cup. Boiling already.

What?

Gideon's in charge of putting our fire up. What are you in charge of?

Helping with the fire.

Boys are doing a good job on the tent. We have a wood stove in that thing. I'm gonna be sleeping near that given I don't have a sleeping bag. Get the cast iron going to ensure cooking. I'm gonna slip those huge breasts We'll split them in half. How's the tent coming? See the moon? That's great. Hey, we don't need these lights. Hey, what? All right, let's go down with the sun. See how much you can do without that light. Get in. Leave it off. Look at this light all day long. Golly, that's pretty impressive. Yes, help him. Good job, Henry. Oh, it's so easy in there. Almost roll it. Look at these guys. Boy, it's handy having— it's handy having a couple of older teens. I love it. Get a little bit.

There you go.

We should have brought more. Tomorrow we'll have bacon grease. Look how bright it is without the— y'all can't tell, but we can, we can see with this Comanche moon. I'm reading Empire of the Summer Moon. It's about the Comanches, which were the most powerful American Indian tribe, and they would— they called the full moon people, pioneers, called the full moon the Comanche moon because that's— they would often attack in the night on the full moon. Well, there's no more Comanches over here, buddy.

I know.

Wasn't Comanche this far east anyway. What? It's an American Indian. Good. Can I have a seat with you? Well, this is our Mighty Men Camp, Rhodes Edition. Henry, what does it mean to be a man?

What did he say?

Did you give him the answer?

No, but what'd he say?

Well, he didn't. You know the answer, Gideon?

Uh, being a man. What?

Being a man and doing the right thing. No, remember what Meeks told us? A man serves and a boy takes. Jonah and Josiah were a man— men when they got us this log, and they ain't even sitting on it. Where are you going? You're going to sleep? Okay, it's 6:20. You're going to bed? I guess. No, we're all enjoying the fire.