Spanky's Place

The place we went to is called Potato Lake. (Aptly named, as it is a body of water about the size and shape of a really good baking spud.) It's not that easy to find, here are the directions:

Take I17 north out of Phoenix until you come to General Crook Trail. (This is right before Camp Verde). Then take General Crook Trail until you hit State Route 260 (About 30 miles). Turn left onto State Route 87, and take that (about 20 miles) until you come to Forest Road 613. (On your right) Now Forest Road 613 is kind of hard to find, as it is a dirt packed road about six feet wide, and is only marked by an empty roll of duct tape stuck on a tree. (The empty roll has "613" written on it in crayon, this makes it easier to see when passing it at 60mph).

Once you are on Forest Road 613, go for about 2 hours (I don't have a mileage estimate here, but I would be willing to guess it at about 8 or 9 miles) until you come to Forest Road 147. Forest Road 147 actually has a real sign that says "147", so it isn't too hard to find). Turn right on Forest Road 147 and keep driving (try to avoid getting stuck in the mud or hitting any Arizona Forest Cows*) until you come to a sign that says Potato Lake. Stop here and find a place to camp. Most of the good spots will be taken by old people with 37' recreational vehicles (don't ask me how they get them in there) or drunken college students, so you'll have to make due with what is left over. Again, try not to get stuck in the mud.

A small note here: Rain and Tents with broken zipper doors are not a very good mix.

Gunnar had a great time running through the forest, hiking, learning how to identify poison ivy, and cutting firewood. (Don't worry, it was nothing more than a bowsaw, and I was right there)

Tanya enjoyed herself immensly, and really mastered the art of drying off quickly.

I got to impress everybody with my ability to light a fire using rain-soaked wood and wet leaves. (If you remember, I now qualify as an EXPERT on the intracacies of fire)

Here is a little tip: If you have a propane camp stove, get rid of it. You will have much more fun with 3 bags of charcoal and 1/2 gallon of lighter fluid. This will light up ANYTHING, no matter how wet it is.

We tried a new recipie for S'mores* *, and here it is: Take a piece of aluminum foil and fold it up into a bowl shape. Fill it with 10 marshmellows, 2 Hershey bars, and a sliced banana (peel the banana first). Fold it shut, and toss it onto the coals of the fire. After about 5 minutes, pull it out, tear open the top, stir the resulting gooey mess, and use it as a dip for gram crackers. This is the best S'more recipie I have ever tried (and believe me, I have tried many). Your hands don't get sticky, you don't have flaming marshmellows, and nobody gets poked in the eye with a sharp stick.

Here is another little tip: Using burn cream or anti-itch lotion on poison ivy may sound like the right thing to do, but it's not! If you ever get any of the little treasure of nature on you, you'll know what I mean. The best thing for it (honest truth here, I learned this years ago) is peanut butter. Yes, I said peanut butter. Just spread it on the rash and leave it alone. The rash will go away very quickly, but most importantly, the itching stops NOW.

All in all, the camping trip was a heck of a lot of fun, even with the rain, bugs, rain, mud, rain, lizards, rain, poison ivy, rain, and rain.

Next year, I'll be staying at Best Western.

TTFN!

-Devin.

*If you need a definition of Arizona Forest Cows, check your dictionary under "elk"

* *Special thanks go to Rick Freed for giving me the S'more recipie.