Outdoor Expedition One - Breakfast

7:30 was wake up time. Light enough to see, cold enough to want to stay in the sleeping bag.

The kids were immediately dispatched to collect more kindling and firewood. While R3 worked on restarting the fire, I began breakfast. Coffee for the grownups, and hot cocoa for the kids was step one, along with bacon and eggs. After dumping half the bacon on the table when the frying pan slid off the stove, I relinquished the eggs to R3. Cinnamon rolls in the Dutch oven were so so. We had no way to put hot coals on the lid, and I didn't turn them over before the bottoms were scorched. The biscuits came out much better.

Dad next door went to the camp store. Mom told the kids it was for coffee; I think it was for a couple shots and a beer after the four oldest kids cornered him in the tent and screamed "Wake Up Matt!!" for ten minutes.

After a brief discussion, it was decided to strike camp, head off to a different section of the park, and do another three mile hike. Hey, we did it Saturday without a problem, what could go wrong today?

Well, Car One had a weak or dying battery, requiring a jump from Car Two. Instructions were given to Car Two to meet us just past the guard gate, since we had to make a side trip to dump the trash. Yup, within 5 minutes, Car Two was lost. Again, no cell service, no Nextel service, and the batteries on the FRS radio were dead. We found Car Two a half mile past the gate and the parking lot.