The Cantina

Mike and Ann are good friends of mine that I met up at camp. Mike is a retired air force man. I don’t think he was a captain in the military. He got the “Captain” rank from boating. We affectionately call everyone who owns and operates their own boat “Captain”, and that’s just the way it is.

Anyway, Mike turned 50 yesterday and had a party. He lives about 45 minutes away from me, so the drive was painless. I don’t get to see my campground friends much in the fall and winter so this was a real treat. A bunch of the guys and gals were there that I hadn’t seen since the end of the season.

Mike has a big beautiful house in the country that he built himself. He’s a perfectionist and his house shows it. It was meticulously built and is meticulously maintained. Ann did a wonderful job of decorating it in an old country style and as beautiful as the house is, we spent most of the night hanging out around the campfire that Mike built in the front yard. I’m not sure why it worked out that way. There was plenty of room inside. The kitchen was filled with food and there was a nice fire crackling in the fireplace. It just seems more natural for us to be outside standing around an open fire with a beer in our hand.

Harry bought mike the classic 50th birthday gift. It was a walker with cigar and beer holders, and other accessories like a horn, a basket and a license plate on the front that said LUV2DRINK. It was great.

It was a great night. I’m thankful to have such good friends.

Happy birthday Mike.

Tags: Friends by Ron
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I rent a seasonal campsite every year from April 15th to October 15th. It’s at the Sunbury Airport on Packer’s Island. Packer’s Island lies between the city of Sunbury and the borough of Northumberland at the confluence of the two branches of the Susquehanna river. The Adam T. Bower Memorial Dam is located just below this confluence and that dam creates 3000 acre lake called Lake Augusta, and that’s where I do the lion’s share of my boating.

There are better lakes for sailing but this is where I hang my hat. The campground allows us to put our own docks in and there really aren’t any campground rules or regulations other than…

• Use Common Sense

• Be respectful of your neighbors

I have a lot of friends there. While we are all from different walks of life, we all have a common love of boating, and the river in general. Every weekend is a party and we can be found out on our boats during the day and campfire hopping during the night. Beer consumption is a favorite pastime there, and can be done pretty much 24×7 if your game.

We call it camping. Real campers would not call us campers. We all have RV’s with all the comforts of home including refrigerators, ovens, mocrowaves, satellite tv, air conditioning and such. Our idea of roughing it is when we run out of beer, which doesn’t happen very often.

Tags: Campground, Sailing and boating by Ron
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