Chapter 229

I went out and unhitched the trailer. The changes to it could wait, I had decided to drive to the camp. I had been curious about it for months. I had filled the gas tank on the Ford before I left with the trailer. so I was good to go. The drive was only twenty minutes or so, but it seemed like a journey in time. When I entered the campground road and any trace of modern civilization was gone. There was no modern conveniences at the camp. That had always been the appeal of a church camp. It was the old camp meeting kind of thing. You know let us gather by the river and all that.

Once I negotiated the almost mile long dirt drive, I entered a large grassed assembly area. Since there were no cars allowed at the camp, a real parking lot had not been needed. The campers and staff arrived by bus, so the drive just ended in the grass field. I expected that any supplies were brought to the assembly area and carried to the main building by campers recruited for the task.

The contractors hadn't been as kind as the campers had been. They had obviously parked several car and truck in the field and even driven them up to the cabins. I loaded my cell phone pictures of the contractor's abuses, then called the colonel.

"I thought I would send you some pictures of the contractors work so far," I said when I got him on the phone. I sent pictures of the rutted field and ruts leading to the cabins.

The walls of the cabins had been wood siding half up then screen wire to the roof. The cabins had been completely closed in except for the doorway. It had also been insulated and a wood heater included in the renovation. The cabins still held the wooden bunks from when it was a church camp. They were double deck bunks of course. Each cabin was designed for eight people. There were eight cabins in the compound. The small amount of renovations were complete on the all. I walked into the main lodge. It was the administration building and a meeting room/dining room. It was my guess that there would be new kitchen equipment in keeping with Melody's new chef status.

I took more pictures and called the Colonel and sent them through. "It looks good so far. How about shooting the bathhouse and the boat dock, then call me again," He said.

I Went into the bathhouse and found it insulated and new plumbing fixtures. The old ones were probably beyond repair or not suitable for grownups. I had no idea what they planned to do for a septic system and I didn't care. The contractor had built a floating dock. I had no idea what was under the floorboard to supply the buoyancy to the dock. When I walked on it, it seemed to be stable enough.

I had noted the electric fixture and wires around the site. My guess was that there would be a generator which would run a few hours a day but all the time. I though that, because there were also gas light provisions.

I sent the final report to the Swamp Dog commander. He seemed to be satisfied. He even joked that I should pick out my cabin and write my name on it. I had forgotten how much satisfaction I got from working for the Swamp Dog guys. It always felt strange to enjoy the little things I did for those people.

My mind set changed as soon as I got back to my own house. It was then that I remembered that I had a date with a hamburger pie and a cold dark daft beer. I took the Christmas candy red truck to the pub. The night the temperature finally started to stay warm past midnight. The night weren't as warm as they would be soon but a short sleeve tee under lightweight parka was in order. The parka was mostly to hide the .22 mag.

Once I was seated at the end of the bar with my beer and hamburger pie I forgot all about everything else. I just concentrated on enjoying my food.

"The Colonel called me today," The Brit said.

"Really why was that?" I asked.

"He wanted to know, if I would teach out at the camp once in a while. Maybe take a few guys on an overnight hike kind of thing," The Brit said.

"You going to do it?" I asked.

"I don't know the pub is a little boring to be honest," He replied.

"Little, if this is all I did every day, I would shoot myself after the first month," I said in agreement.

"It isn't that bad, but it's bad enough," he said. "So yeah, I will probably help out. He asked if you would mentor the new females, I told him I doubted it."

"You were right. I don't want to be involved with those guys again," I said.

"Well you know even if you run for sheriff and get elected, you still have to do something until January next year, when they swear in the new Sheriff. So why not be a role model for those chicks. You could even take on a few bodyguard jobs. Supplement that anemic pension of yours," He said.

"I'm glad they offered, and I will think about it, but I just don't know what is next for me. I have to stay busy. I do know that. I just ain't sure that is what I want any more. I'm not sure any of this is what I want. I might get a boat and sail around the world." I laughed.

Since the Brit got quiet, I finished off the beer and hamburger pie. Since The Brit would never give me a bill, I put a ten dollar bill on the bar, when I was ready to go.