Why didn't I get the memo!!

Okay, why did nobody send me the memo that the "Summer of Love" never ended and that it just moved from San Francisco to Mendocino. Took the family on little camping trip up to Mendocino hoping to get away from the hustle and bustle of the Bay Area. We get to the campground late so the check-in window is closed, which is no big deal. These guys have a regular system where if you come late you just go over to the bulletin board and find your name, grab the key(KOA Kampin Kabin) and hit the rack in your cabin. No big deal really. The only difference is since the last time we were here they hired a "night crew" to assist with the complicated check-in process(see previous sentence). As I walk to the bulletin board I hear a voice then I smell the ever
pungent smell of Mendocino's Best Green Buds. This guy was fried. It was a complicated process
but he walked me through it, since there were 5 other names on the board and he was unable to locate "Bingham" amongst them...I pointed to my name to shorten the amount of time I had to witness his lack of literacy and took the liberty of pulling the push-pin out of the paperwork as I would have felt bad if this guy got hurt doing such a menial task. Now if you know me you that there if nothing better than messing with somebody who is really stoned. Had I not had the kids in the car and had it not been so late I would have made up a name and really screwed with this guy...like insisting my was (insert name here) for 4 or 5 minutes then insist on a different name, and then give him another one, changing it ever so slightly I am sure you can understand this, start with Jones, then Jonesman, then Johnson and on to Johnston and so on. When he could not find the first name, just change it a little...he's stoned and will never know. Yes, you are thinking what an asshole...and you are right. But hey, back in the day I burned......well I burned a lot. So I know from experience how fun it is to mess with and be messed with by those that are stoned, but alas the good side of me broke through and I let this guy off the hook. So we settle into our Kabin (KOA, Kampgrounds of America, like to use "K" in place of "C") off load the kids and gear and I head for the latrine when I realize the "night crew" is pulling a late nighter in one of the Kabins. Knowing the sound of those who are "tanked" I sit and watch this spectacle for a few minutes then go about my business. Around 2:22am (yes I looked to what time it was) Kai wakes me up to go outside for a little bladder relief and as I breach the door of the Kabin I am greeted with the crisp early morning air of the outdoors and I hear the night crew still going strong across the campground.

No biggy, for they are not disturbing my peace, only my dog is. Back to the rack and at 4:15 I get the warm snout treatment again so I find my shoes and the leash to take my weak bladdered mutt outside again and there is the night crew, campfire still blazing and still partying. So I sternly tell the dog to hurry up for I am tired, cold and getting a little cranky with her for not being able to hold it for more than 2 hours at a time. We head back to the warmth of the Kabin and I am out for an hour and half when my own bladder reaches capacity and I stumble out of bed as if my gray-matter has been pickled and head for the bathroom. It is dark and daybreak is just about half an hour distant and the night crew is still going. So I take a longer look at the assembled mass of people (about 8 or 9) and I start thinking these guys could possibly be chemically assisted. We are in Mendocino County and out in the sticks. This group is somewhere between redneck and hillbilly so I automatically assume there is not a complete set of teeth amongst then (yes, i'm an asshole for being judgementel...but prove me wrong!) then I remember seeing the flyer for the "First Annual Frisbee Golf Tournament at the Manchester Beach KOA." So then I wonder if they are "Frolfers" and come 8:00am I find that most of them were. Then the throngs of "Frolfers: began inundating the place for the tournament. Well Saturday night they must have been a little wiped out for they were down by 9:30pm. But their place was taken over by a group of families celebrating a birthday for a tweener. If ever I wanted to hand out Ritalin laced candy it was Saturday. Somewhere there was a group of villages deprived for the night of their collective idiots. Now as many know Shaymus is a handful and regularly kicks my ass. "IF" he ends up anything like these kids I may have to send him off to Military School. It was an interesting weekend in the campground, never before been amongst the groups I witnessed over these 2 days.

We pack up and check out, then migrate north 30 miles to the town of Mendocino. This is where the missing memo comes into play. Apparently The "Summer of Love" never ended it just moved North to Mendocino. I have not seen this many starry-eyed duds with dreads since.......well, since the last time I walked down Haight street in the city. I really do not understand the theory behind being hopelessly dis-sheveled, homeless and  psychologically lost by choice. I must be gettin old. Oh well.

As I stated this was a family trip so the child I have now dubbed "Chaos" was with us. This was a tough trip for my little man and I felt bad for the little parental terrorist. Friday night, having never camped, slept in a bunk-bed nor slept in a sleeping bag, he crawled out of bed  in tears calling for "Mama". What he said next was a line for the ages "Mama, I'm having problems". Now it is hard not to laugh at a line like this but he was really disturbed with his new surroundings and was having "a problem". All in all it was a fun trip that as always was too short, but we came home with some good memories and a few bottles of good wine from Navarro Vineyards, which we always stop at because they sell bottled grape juice that is the best and just happens to be on the way home.

 

Looking off a bridge into the Pacific, above that is a window above the front door of Navarro Winery and to the right looking into a row of grape vines in the Anderson Valley. Further up is an old barn on the side of the road heading towards Mendocino. Kai on the lookout for any fallen food and my two little hams on the porch swing of our Kabin.