The Mouse That Roared!! – Part 2 “Dormancy and Resurgence of SODE`”

Editorial note: This is the second installment and will make little sense if read out of order. Please see earlier post directly below.

Well, it didn’t take long for Dave, Earl and I to realize that we may have ruffled either too many or the wrong feathers with the Titanic cartoon. While Dave and Earl were single, I had a family at home. Regardless we all decided that softening the blow and the frequency of the cartoons might be a wise move, if we wanted to keep our jobs. We continued to put out some cartoons but we much more cautious about this effort. Over the next 18 months or so it got to the point where we put nothing out at all.

About 1990 things had not improved much for the company and Earl was caught up in a layoff and a year or so later Dave moved on to other pastures. One could never know if the pasture he moved to was greener or not. Dave was an interesting guy. I remember one afternoon I saw him in our office and noticed that he had missed a button on his shirt which forced his collar to be so off kilter that it stuck up in a very obvious and peculiar way. I simply said, “hey, Dave, you collar is sticking up because you’ve misbuttoned it.” He looked at me and replied, “Oh yeah, I noticed that this morning at break.” and he simply went on with his day. He didn’t care at all. I miss Dave…sorry for that brief tangential walk down memory lane.

I found myself as the lone founding member of SODE`. No one, except for Dave and Earl even knew what the acronym stood for or who was involved. I never spoke of it to anyone.

In the fall of 1991 there was a large layoff at the ski area. Once again moral was down as employees found their friends and co-workers were gone and wondered if they would have a job next week. The company bus and van-system up from Bishop had all but disappeared and we were forced into carpools. I found myself riding with Kevin, Bill & Ryan each and every day.

With nearly an hour drive each way it didn’t take long before the four of us began to complain, once again, about fiscal decisions that seemed harmful to the health of the company. Someone brought up the topic of the cartoons from years past and how they missed SODE`. After a few more drives of this topic I decided I could trust these 3 and tell them of my involvement. After swearing them to secrecy we talked of the originally meaning and purpose of SODE`. They wanted in!!

After contact Dave & Earl and receiving permission to admit them we made it official. Kevin, Bill, Ryan and I were now the only four active members of the newly awakened Secret Order of Disgruntled Employees.

We never discussed any of our activities outside of the car we traveled in. This assured no else knew or overheard. We decided that we did not want to go the path of cartoons and that like a sword, the written word, if carefully wielded could be more effective. A newspaper, written and copied offsite for security reasons, and distributed in the same fashion would be most impactful. The only change is that we would not put the name SODE` on the work. We didn’t want to associate the new campaign with the former campaign at all.

We talked of content, length and format of the newspaper. But what most of the discussion involved was the title. Since Mammoth Mountain’s mascot was a woolly mammoth it made sense that we choose a mouse, a nemesis to the elephant, as our mascot. We hoped that our printed voice would be loud and clear so we named our newspaper “The Mouse That Roared”, or TMTR as we referred to it.

We worked on the first issue of our rag for weeks. There were first efforts and group revisions all done within the drive to and from work. In our first anonymous printing we included some humorous things but we also took some pretty direct editorial shots at departments and at department managers. We were careful not mention anyone by name but our efforts were so clear that it was easy to know who we were targeting. The first edition of TMTR grew from the initial 10 copies until we noticed them on nearly every desk. It was a huge response as far as distribution went.

About a week after the first issue was released there was a normally scheduled department manager’s meeting in the ivory tower. I heard this story from my manager who was in attendance. Normal matters of business were discussed and then towards the end, Gary McCoy, son of Dave McCoy (brother to Kandi), and President of Mammoth Mountain stood. He slow held up a copy of TMTR and said something like, “I don’t know where this came from, (pause) I don’t know who is behind this, (longer pause) but this is some of the best damn writing I’ve seen in a long time. I want more of it. It’s efforts like this that keep us thinking and keeps us on our toes.”

This proclamation didn’t take long to reach the members of SODE` and in our subsequent drives we talked of what our next step would be.

Within a matter of a few weeks we gave Gary McCoy exactly what he asked for. The question is, “Did he get more than he bargained for?”.

To Be Continued. “The Next Issues and Period”

The Mouse That Roared!! – Part 1 “The Birth of SODE`”

Disclaimer # 1. The actions of the individual(s) described in this blog were foolish. I was a much younger and shall we agree a stupider individual 20 plus years ago. May the follies of my youth not hinder me any further than they already have.

Disclaimer # 2. I have changed the names of all guilty participants in order to protect them from any association with the imminent description of said stupid actions. It is possible that some of the participants may still be employed at this business.

Ok…with that out of the way I’ll get started. In the mid to late 80s I worked for Mammoth Mountain Ski Area. It was then a large, family owned ski resort that employed about 600 people year round and nearly 1500 during the peak of the ski season.

Many of the department managers, capable as they were, had worked themselves up through the employee ranks from the 60s and 70s and enjoyed what seemed to be quite an easy existence. They were provided company vehicles, free gas and seemed to do very little but drive around. It appeared that they spent most of their time skiing, golfing and cycling. Looking back with more years of experience I’d have to say they probably worked a lot harder than I knew.

This was also a challenging time for the company. They had purchased a much smaller ski resort, June Mountain, and ran it separately as its own entity. June Mountain never seemed to be able to make a profit and seemed to be a cash pit as we tried to make it viable.

I had two fellow employees, Dave & Earl, whom I shared a common office with. We would sit there and discuss all of the bad decisions the company was making, the cash we seemed to be dumping into June Mountain and also how the managers seemed to be on a vacation all the time. Dave, Earl and I formed an informal group, SODE`, (pronounced So Day) which stood for Secret Order of Disgruntled Employees. We were the founding and charter members, yet there was no effort to grow this group. We had plans and too many cooks in the kitchen would ruin the porridge.

Earl was a cartoonist by hobby and one day showed Dave and I some things he had worked up. They were essentially some rough “corporate political commentary” cartoons. This innocent effort turned into our first official plan. We decided to draw up some well-done cartoons that allowed us to exhibit our frustration. Once we completed enough we would distribute them around the company and see what reaction we got. Our plan was to distribute 1 cartoon each week and each cartoon would be signed SODE` giving credit and credence to this unknown organization.

We drew up four or five. Dave, Earl and I all had a hand at creation but some were better than others. We knew that we could not do any of this drawing at work so we worked on them on our own time. We also knew that if caught making copies of these cartoons with company copy machines that could be problematic. So our decision was to copy them at a public machine, which in those days meant a library or Safeway, and then simply post them, clandestinely, around. We would make only 10 copies of each cartoon. We put 2 or 3 in a few mailbox cubbyholes in the mail room and we posted the rest near time clocks in multiple buildings. We were pretty confident that if we kept it simple our fellow employees would become our distribution network with very little encouragement on our part.

The first cartoon that we posted was of a company truck, logo and all, with bicycles mounted in the back. In the truck were two managers with $$ dollar signs coming out of the tailpipe. It was that simple. The statement was made and the SODE` movement had been launched. Within days there were many copies of this cartoon circulating throughout the company. There was a lot of buzz about who this “person SODE” was. The three of us joined in the discussion as if we knew nothing of it.

After a few more cartoons had been distributed in the same fashion we put out our most controversial cartoon. This depicted Mammoth Mountain Ski Area as the Titanic and June Mountain as the iceberg that sunk the great ship. It was the opinion of SODE` that June Mountain was going to ruin the main resort and jeopardize our jobs. This cartoon seemed to be the most popular.

A week or so later there was a company wide meeting where about 500 employees gathered in the lunchroom. The company was in financial trouble and the owners felt like we needed to know what the plan was to climb out of debt and back into prosperity.

Dave, Earl and I found a seat near the front of the hall and sat at a table not too far from the family. There were introductory comments and then it was opened up to a Q & A. We had no plans to ask questions but there were many who did. One of the questions offered was about the financial viability of June Mountain and its impact on Mammoth Mountain. The CEO decided to turn that question over to Kandi McCoy, daughter of founder Dave McCoy, and President of June Mountain.

Kandi stood and began to do her best to answer the question but her answers seemed so empty. Then things went from bad to worse. She began to get emotional and teary eyed. While this was unfolding I glanced over at the family and some of them were lowering their eyes and shaking their heads in embarrassment. I’m sure they felt that this was no way for a company President to act. I was embarrassed for them and for her. Then things went terribly awry.

Kandi, through her tears and intermittent sobbing said the following, “We here at June Mountain are doing the best we can. Maybe you all think that we are the iceberg that is gonna to sink Mammoth, but we’re not. That’s not gonna happen, it’s not I tell ya.” It was pitiful. It was more like a rant that spewed from the mouth of a 3^rd grade kid. The family was shamed beyond description. Sitting less than 10 feet from her brother, I could feel it.

Dave McCoy, her dad, stood up and tried to gain control of the situation and give us all hope but the damage had been done and the meeting quickly came to an end.

Dave, Earl and I couldn’t even look at each other. We left the meeting and met up a few minutes later in our office. Although there was some laughter and some congratulations about how much of an impact SODE` had had on this meeting, we did feel bad. Our intention was to be a thorn in the side of the corporation, cause some discussion and hopefully some change. It was never our goal to embarrass an individual or make this personal. Nonetheless that is what we had accomplished so far. It would be a year or more before SODE made another impact. This one was much larger.....

To Be Continued. “Dormancy and Resurgence of SODE`”

Green Motors Fire – Epilogue

So I finally have gotten around to writing the fourth part of my 3-part story. Just the fact that I have taken this to 4 parts has been enough to discourage me from finishing. However, if I don’t get it done this week it will be mid to late August before I do and it’s already been too long since I posted Part 3. So here goes. The events that followed the trial and acquittal of Joe Green transpired over many months but will be condensed here as if it was only a few weeks.

Once I learned that I would be a witness in this trial I was informed that my travel and lodging expenses would be covered by the City of Bishop, as I was acting on their behalf when the fire occurred. Although I had plenty of vacation time as an employee of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area I decided to ask the city if they would be covering my wages that I would be losing from taking off 3 or 4 days from work. There simple answer was “no”, you are a volunteer firefighter.

I questioned that decision. There were full time police dispatchers that had spent their entire time sitting in a rolling chair in front of the radios who were also being required to testify. They would received travel & living, PLUS lost wages. I protested. They didn’t budge. I asked them the following question. “If I was self employed and had been asked to take off days at a time to testify, there would be no compensation?” The answer was yes and if you don’t like it, you can resign from the fire department. Well, the end result was that I took time off, with pay, from my job but I was not happy with the way it had been handled.

Months after the trial had ended I decided to contact the CSFA (California State Firefighters Association) about my concerns. I was put in touch with the liaison to the Volunteer Departments. After many phone calls and letters written, explaining the situation the CSFA committee for volunteers decided this was a cause worth championing. I worked for many months with a state Senator (name long forgotten) and his staff person, Terry, to get a bill authored and to a committee for consideration. The bill would require city and counties to pay volunteer firefighters for lost wages when they are required to testify in court proceedings stemming from their volunteer firefighting efforts.

In the spring of 1992 I was invited to come to Sacramento to speak to this committee. Terry wanted to be sure that I came in full dress uniform, as this would give some level of importance to my efforts. I took Charlotte and Cara with me. They were 11 and 9 respectively. We ended up staying at the late Cory Wolfersberger, Suzie’s brother’s house and were very comfortable there. One side note about this trip is that we traveled to Sacramento via Stateline, Nevada. While in route the discussion between the girls and me was about eating at a buffet. We stopped at Harrah’s there and learned that their lunch would be $12 each. Mine was $16. That was a lot of money then but we went ahead and entered the buffet. My kids have always been good eaters and will try just about anything. Let me just say, they got my money’s worth.

The next day we arrived at this senator’s office and were given tours and other fun stuff prior to my testimony. We had a great lunch in a nice Chinese restaurant not too far from the capitol.

Testimony came and went. Travel home was uneventful. Within days I learned that the bill was passed and that this senator would continue to move it forward and I was thanked for my efforts. I wish that I had written down more information about which senator, bill number etc. but at the time I didn’t see the significance in it. Today it feels good have fought back and won.

Green Motors Fire – The Trial (Part Three)

The very next morning, the second day after the fire, I found myself being deposed. As I sat at the Bishop Police Department interview room, which could be called an interrogation room depending on which side of the law you found yourself on, it was very hard to be comfortable. I knew that I was there as a witness only and not as a suspect of any sort but it still was difficult to relax with both Scotty Baker, a commissioned police officer along with his fire investigator status, and Detective Bruce Dishion sitting across the table from me.

There were some welcoming comments and niceties designed to help me relax, then "click". The old cassette recorder was turned on. Introductions were made so that anyone listening would know who was being recorded. They asked me to introduce myself, my role as a fire fighter and acknowledge that I had given them permission to record the deposition. Once that was over, the questions began to fly.

For the next 2 hours I was asked and gave answers to any question that either of the interviewers asked. There seemed to be little formal process to this as either would ask any thing that came to mind. When it was all said and done I was thanked and allowed to go about my day. I didn’t know it at the time but this interview had produced over 18 pages of typed text. Somewhere I have a copy of it, on yellow paper for some reason. Was that standard for a deposition or just the color that was left in the copy machine? It’s an answer I’ll probably never get.

My testimony in the deposition along with much more evidence resulted in the arrest of Joseph Green for the crime of “Arson”. The theory of the County Prosecutor’s office was that the business was in debt to the tune of approximately $150k. They believed that the evidence showed that Joe Green had entered the place of business just after closing and had poured a flammable liquid in and around the parts department before lighting it. It was their theory that since the bank owned the autos for sale and the building was leased, the parts department was the only thing literally owned by the Green family that could be cashed in for insurance. The value of the parts department inventory was approximately $160k.

The investigators were convinced that what I had witnessed was remnants of the flammable liquid pour that had not ignited until I was there to witness it. Pockmarks and burn patterns seemed to show evidence of what I had witnessed as well.

The arrest of Joe Green was big news in our little town of Bishop, California. Everyone in town and possibly the entire county of 18,000 residents seemed to have an opinion on whether he was guilty or innocent.

Before the trial could start the defense was successful in getting a change of venue and the trial was moved to Ventura County. I do agree that it would have been impossible for the accused to get a fair trial in Inyo County, although before I received my subpoena to testify for the prosecution I knew that a trip to Ventura would be in my future travel plans.

There were about 6 of us, from me all the way to Assistant Fire Chief, Stan Lloyd who were called to testify. John Williamson, who entered the fire service with me in a class of 8 back in 1984 was one of the 6. Because of when the prosecution expected us to testify we traveled together and shared a hotel room. We were to travel in Engine 11 to Ventura and back. Engine 11, was really nothing more than a red pickup truck with lights and siren that the chief drove from time to time. Chief Phil Moxley drove his personal pickup most of the time so Eng 11 was often used for hauling iced pop and water out to a fire scene. We were happy to use it, either way.

On our way to the courthouse we heard over the radio LA County Fire dispatch a bunch of trucks and engine companies to a structure fire. One of those dispatched was “Engine 11, Please respond”. John looked at me, I looked at him and said “hey we’re Engine 11, right?” In our stupidity we lit up the lights and siren and drove code three, to nowhere of course, weaving in and out of traffic through Ventura. Had we been discovered there would have been serious consequences, the least would have been removal from the Bishop Fire Department. We were young and dumb and didn’t always think things out, but we had fun for more than 2 miles before we decided to “cancel” our self-imposed dispatch.

The trial was a blur. I only saw my side of the testimony. I was never able to see anyone else testify or hear any other questions by prosecution or defense. The bottom line here is that the defense prevailed. Joe Green was found “not guilty”. The defense was able to put doubt in the minds of the jury that what I saw was actually fuel poured by the defendant. The claim by defense experts was that what I saw was actually petroleum based roofing products that had dropped down from the roof the floor as the fire progressed.

I wasn't troubled at all. I had done my duty and told what I had seen. The jurors had done theirs. That’s the system.

TO BE CONTINUED: Green Motors Fire – The Aftermath (Part Four)

Green Motors Fire – The Investigation (Part Two)

It was well after midnight that March day that I finally crawled into bed. Melodie rolled over, as she had hundreds of times before and would hundreds of times after this day, and whispered to me that she was glad I was home safe. I don’t think she was ever 100% behind my desire to “play fireman” but I also think she knew there was no stopping me. She kissed me on the cheek and we talked briefly as I unwound and fell asleep.

Later that morning I stopped by the fire scene on my way to work. There is something about a fire this large that just gets under your skin and it was common for me to want to go back and see what had actually occurred once the smoke had cleared and the morning sun arrived to signal the new day.

I arrived and found 2 or 3 chief officers there already, along with Scotty Baker, an Arson and Bomb Investigator with the California State Fire Marshall’s office. He had driven all through the night from the Sacramento area to be on scene first a.m. and had already begun to gather data and samples. Scotty was an excellent, well-respected investigator with a good ol’ boy, slap you on the back, southern boy attitude that seemed to have a connection with the Bishop Fire Department. I never knew if he had a work assignment that included our jurisdiction or if he just jumped on every chance to come to the Eastern Sierra that he found. Nonetheless, I worked along side of him more than once after this point.

One might think that an Arson Investigator is called only when there is a suspicious fire, but in a situation like this where there is likely to be lots of financial loss followed by much finger pointing, an investigator is always summoned to not only try to determine the point of origin but also to try to determine the cause. Once the investigator has thoroughly made a visual inspection, taken hundreds of photographs, interviewed as many witnesses as possible he or she must then make one of the following determinations. A fire cause can be listed as:

Accidental

Incendiary

Mechanical

Electrical

Natural

While a fire scene might be suspicious, this is not a “cause”. Although there is much science with this effort to put it into a nutshell an investigator looks at burn patterns, char depth, fuel load indicators to “read” the fire. With much experience the investigator can effectively locate the place of origin and then narrow down the actual cause.

As I approached the small group of men through the same door that I had crawled through and hastily retreated through just a few short hours before, I looked on as they discussed various areas of particular interest. I stood quietly for some time as to not disrupt the brain storming session I was observing. I looked down and realized I was exactly 60 feet in and standing near a tow truck that I had knelt next to.

It was then that Dick Moxley, Battalion Chief and baby brother to the Fire Chief Phil Moxley, broke away from the group with Scotty Baker. The two of them began discussing an unusual mark on the concrete floor. The two of them mused about the mark, more than 30 feet in length that just didn’t make sense to them. One of them said, “This just doesn’t make sense, I can’t understand what happened here.” Without thinking I uttered a sentence that would impact me far beyond what I could have comprehended. I butted in “I can tell you exactly what that is because I watched “it” happen.” Scotty turned to me and said, “Tell me more”.

I went onto explain that during fire suppression I was leaning against the front passenger tire of the tow truck. I had been directing a hose stream above me and to my right to the seat of heavy fire. Something caught my eye and I glanced to my left to see a portion of concrete about 6 inches wide catch on fire and then run about 30-35 feet to my left in just a few seconds. It reminded me of how lighter fluid might catch on fire. I recalled that I had turned to Dick Weller who was behind me and tried to ask through my mask and the noise and excitement of the fire if he too had seen what I had seen. He didn’t respond and I went back to my duties. I had actually forgotten about what I had seen the night before until I was there listening to the investigators.

Before I knew it I was scheduled for a deposition with Scott Baker and Bishop Police Detective Bruce Dishion, who would later become police chief. I was interviewed for about 2 hours and every word that I said was documented. Without knowing it, I would become a key eyewitness to one of the largest arson cases in Inyo County history.

TO BE CONTINUED: Green Motors Fire – The Trial (Part Three)

Green Motors Fire - The Attack (Part One)

OK, I think I’ve finally mustered the courage to start this particular story. It’s 3 parts so I think that the daunting task has discouraged me. So, here goes….

This story begins on a weekday evening, March of 1990 or possibly 1991. Honestly, I don’t remember the correct year, but because we were still living on Moffett Drive, it was before Alessandra was born.

This particularly beautiful spring day I had taken Charlotte and Cara skiing at Mammoth. We had returned home about 4:00 in the afternoon and things were just settling in for the day. About 5:30 as the sun was still shining brightly outside, my pager went off, “Attention Bishop Volunteers, Attention Bishop Volunteers, we have a report of a structure fire at Green Motors on Main St., please respond.”

Green Motors was a fairly large Chevy dealership in the middle of town. It had a showroom large enough for 2 or 3 new cars and a repair center that seemed to be able to hold 20 cars inside, 10 on each side the large garage portion of the building. It was owned by Joe & Jan Green whom we knew from town; in fact Melodie had worked for the dealership for a while when were first married.

Before the announcement was even finished I was heading out the front door to jump in my pickup and drive to the firehouse. From Moffett I could look about six blocks west and 2 blocks north and immediately saw a large thick column of black smoke. I took just a moment to stop and holler to Melodie and the girls to look outside, this was going to be a big one. In fact, little did I know then, but this fire would be the largest fire I would ever respond to.

I arrived at the Main Station to find that Engine 10 had already responded and the next truck to roll would be Engine 6, a 1959 American LaFrance with an incredibly low 6300 miles on it. It was in mint condition and was capable of pumping 1250 gallons per minute. It had room for a crew of 6 , 2 in the cab, 2 in the jump seats and 2 more on the tailboard. However on this particular day the Engineer rolled with just 2 in the cab and 2 on the tailboard, Alan Kendrick and me.

With full lights and siren and all the air horn we could muster we turned north onto Main Street only to see that the column of smoke had continued to increase in size and anger.

Alan and I knew that we would be “taking a hydrant” on this fire, it was going to be a long night. Note: Most fire apparatus carry between 250 and 1000 gallons of water and on large fires it is necessary to find a source, typically a hydrant. Pumping at ½ of its capacity Engine 6 would be out of water with in 120-180 seconds of arrival, but this should be enough time to connect the hydrant to the intake of the pump to continue the assault on the advancing fire.

The discussion on the tailboard was about who would take the hydrant while the other began donning a SCBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus), a tank that should last 30 minutes. It was pretty obvious that I would be closest to the hydrant and it made sense that I wrap the fireplug and send the truck down the road a bit while I worked to connect the source. I was disappointed because this meant it was likely that I would not be on the hose of the initial attack. It was my favorite place to be, on the tip of the nozzle, where the most action was to be had.

I completed my task and moved quickly back to Engine 6 that had pulled across the road closer to the structure. I noticed that the initial attack had not been launched so I quickly put on my SCBA, a task that I could do in less than 60 seconds. As I came up to the tip of the hose I realized that Chief Phil Moxley had decided to wait until we had multiple lines charged and ready before we opened the locked drive through door to the garage. This was my lucky day. Alan would be on the tip and I would get the chance to be right behind him after all.

The padlock was broken and we began to crawl our way in. The fire was raging in a fairly large but confined area about 75 feet beyond the doorway. It was dark and smoky as we moved forward. Within 5 feet of entering the smoke, Alan dropped the nozzle and motioned to me that we were backing out. Apparently he had not taken enough time to put on his mask properly and was taking smoke in through the seal. He was going back outside to adjust it. As I picked up the tip I really knew it was my lucky day. Before I reentered I felt the presence of a second firefighter and turned to see Battalion Chief Dick Weller behind me. Dick was the training officer for the department and with 25+ years of experience there was no one else that would give me more comfort in this situation.

We crawled our way into the building through heavy thick smoke. After about 60 feet we began our assault on the seat of the fire before us. In the meantime additional men and equipment began to arrive, setup and also make attacks.

We had been working on our knees for about 20-25 minutes when I felt a loud, heavy thump on my left shoulder. It was Weller and through his mask he told me to we were to drop the tip and get out as fast as possible. I knew that something was wrong because in a typical situation you back out with the tip in your hand as others pulled the slack from the outside. His instructions were very clear and he pointed to the ceiling of the building. I knew his point was that the roof was coming in and we were in danger.

Even though the smoke had cleared some it was still very difficult to see more than a foot or so in front of my face. I turned and immediately became disoriented. There was no way to find my bearings. Weller was there and calmly grabbed my hand and placed it on the hose. From that point my training kicked in and I simply crawled out to safety using the hose line as my guide.

Within a minute after our exit the entire roof did collapse as expected and from that point on the firefight went from “offensive” to “defensive”, in that we conceded that we had lost this building and our job now as to contain it so that no other neighboring buildings were also lost.

In less than one hour the Bishop Volunteer Fire Department was 100% committed to this fire. Of the 55 men on the department, 52 were on scene, 2 were out of town and one was home in bed with the flu. We were so committed that we asked an Engine Company from the neighboring town of Big Pine to come and sit at our station just in case a second call came in while we were mopping up at Green Motors.

TO BE CONTINUED: Green Motors Fire – The Investigation (Part Two)

Let's Go Camping!!

Well these are words that I don’t think Melodie will ever answer positively to again. We’ve done plenty of camping over the years but our last trip might have been the trip to end it all. Let me explain.

This trip occurred over Memorial weekend 2008. It was sort of a last minute idea to hook our tent trailer to the pickup, put our road bikes in the back of the pickup and take ourselves up to the Skagit Valley; a lush, fertile valley about an hour and a half north of Seattle. The area is abundant with flat country roads perfect for cycling. When we weren’t riding we’d stay around camp and read and such. It was a perfect plan.

The first challenge we has was to find a location. Since we had waited until just a week before the holiday we felt lucky to find a space at a KOA near Burlington. I’ve always thought of camping as fairly cheap, but campsites were $35 per night. Kind of pricey but that did include wireless internet near our site and since I was on call that weekend, that was an added bonus.

As we were packing to leave on Friday morning I noticed my lawn was looking pretty shabby and since there was no time to get it done while camping I found a lawn maintenance company driving by that would give it a quick trim for just $40. Next we had to buy food and gas for the trip. Groceries came to about $100 and to fill the pickup was $55.

We checked the weather and it looked like it might be cooler and wetter than we liked and might end up spending the weekend in the trailer. Rather than cancel the trip I went to Costco and bought a portable DVD player. That would be our plan if the weather was bad.

We arrived at our site Friday afternoon and it wasn’t long before we were so cold that we needed to buy firewood from the KOA store. Each bundle was about $20.

The first night was miserable. We couldn’t get our heater to work in the trailer and after waking discovered that the much needed, yet 5-year old battery, had died. Into town we went to buy the replacement battery. Oh, and it’s really too late to go back to camp and make breakfast so we decided to eat out in town.

The rain was relentless. Alessandra and I tried to sit outside next to the fire, reading and playing cribbage, proving we were troopers, while Melodie stayed inside watching DVDs and reading. Over the weekend we continued to run back to the KOA store to pickup bundles of firewood. The weather never did get nice enough to even take the bikes out of the back of the pickup. Finally on Monday we took our wet selves back to home and took warm showers as they were much needed.

On our trip home we did some quick calculations.

3 nights stay at the KOA @ $35 = $ 115
Lawn service = $ 40
Food for weekend = $ 100
Gas for pickup = $ 55
New battery = $ 60
Breakfast out = $ 45
DVD player = $ 100
5 bundles of firewood @ $20 = $ 100
Saturday evening ice cream social = $ 15

Total for the cheap camping weekend $ 630

After totaling this Melodie was a bit frustrated as she wasn’t 100% behind this camping weekend anyway. I was more optimistic about the weather, she was more realistic. But she looked at me and said that this may be her last camping trip. Her exact words were “For the money we spent we could have had 2 nights stay at the Four Seasons Olympic in downtown Seattle.” This might have been a better weekend.

She was correct. I had no argument.

Anyone want a tent trailer? It's a great way to have a cheap weekend away!!

The Comeback in the nick of time!

You know those situations where you have an encounter, you don’t know what to say and then you mumble some lame, nonsensical comment, only to think of the perfect comeback hours later? Well me too, except for yesterday.

I was standing at the Membership counter at Costco, waiting for the employee to finish with the current customer. Rather than standing right at the counter where I might make the employee uncomfortable, I stayed back about 3 or 4 feet from the counter. There was an older man, 75ish, in line behind me and just as the guy was finishing up with the first customer, the man walked past me and went up to the counter.

The Costco employee finishes and then walks to where the old guy is and says “can I help you?” I’m waiting for him to point my way and reply, “no, he was first”. That didn’t happen and I was pretty hot about it. I didn’t say a thing, just simply stepped closer to the counter, making the employee nervous as previously avoided. He looks up and says “do you need something”, to which I reply “I was just waiting for you to help me.”

The man who stepped past me looks my way, winks at me and then says, “I didn’t mean to cut in front of you.” This was the defining moment. I paused for a few seconds, looked directly at him and said, very clearly, “Actually, I think you did. You knew I was in line ahead of you, but you just decided that your time was more valuable than mine.” I think he was surprised that I didn’t just roll over. No further words were exchanged; no victory was obtained. But I felt a lot better for having given him my perspective, rather than simply raising my hand and saying, “no problem”. What do you think?