Round Lake State park, the trip North, the family reunion, whatever name it should be tagged under, it was definitely an event. This year, for some reason that I can’t put my finger on, it was different. It was fun and everyone had a good time and we played poker for three days, but yet it was just different…the feel of the whole thing seemed more like it was geared to neutral than in years past.

One of my boys made it – Josh, his love Jenny, and their new baby Rain. Dan and Darian stayed home in Vegas. That meant Riot stayed home in Vegas too, as did baby Katelyn since no sane person would try to load up 2 little kids and take them on a trip like that. Yes, sanity does seep in now and then. I had my own ideas about how i wanted to spend my time on the trip and it wasn’t going to be kid sitting or traveling alone with kids.

Two of my granddaughters made it, Rain that is 2.5 months old and Jasmine that is 21 years old, they both belong to Josh. Josh has two other daughters, Lisa 16 that lives in Germany and Kayanna 11 that lives in Oklahoma and had just spent about two weeks with me in Vegas.

I’d like to report that I went hiking every day but I didn’t. I didn’t really do anything industrious that raised my heart rate above the rate that making a big hand in poker and getting paid off raises one’s heart beat. I didn’t do anything that I normally do on these jaunts north. Neomi always has breakfast running for everyone for about a 2 hour time span in the morning and I didn’t make it for breakfast one time. I did have one Baileys and coffee…yummy!

I did play a lot of poker. The last two years we let a lot of the losers slide. I paid the kids that won and just washed the losses. This year we had a firm rule with everyone, they could play on paper until Saturday night when it was time to pay up. If they didn’t have the money or a way to get it by then, they were dead. We played 5c-5c blind, NLH. When one of the boys went broke that were Neomi’s grandkids, we told them to go get a loan from grandma…merciless bastards we are. But poker is poker.

One of them, Kyle, we had to remind every time it was his turn…unreal. Even if he was watching the table, he didn’t know when it was to him. I just chalk that up as bad drugs…or too many good ones. It’s irritating though to have to prod someone every time. Cute kid, fun and nice to have in the family but WAKE UP! I told all of them once that if I had to deal a game that slow and rely on tips, I’d die of starvation. They thought it was funny.

I have to admit that I wish I could play against a group of people that played as bad as my family. I spent a little time with Justin trying to get him to think about what his opponent was holding and not just playing his own hand. He paid me off a few times after I had raised preflop and an Ace hit the board and he called with 2nd pair once and a bad kicker ace on another. If I’d been playing on the internet those two hands he played would have beaten me because we all know the internet is rigged…as it was…I won both hands.

I ended up winning $27, there were other winners too, and it was just plain old fun.

It spit rain a few times during the reunion and one night we got to watch an electrical dance from brother Kevin’s top deck. It was really neat with the wind blowing water at us now and then and watching the sky light up and listening to the deep rumble in the distance. The big concern is always forest fires when a storm starts and the index was pretty high but not high enough that we couldn’t have camp fires. This is the first year in a quite a few that we could have a fire in the campground. Kenny brought the wood for everyone.

I went to Kenny’s on two different occasions to go shooting. Just too much fun. Ruger’s got a nifty little 17 round clip SR9 out that’s surprisingly easy to shoot and handle. We blasted up his driveway and the metal targets he has specifically for setting in the driveway (the beauty of living up in the woods).

I did work everyday on PokerWorks – around 2 to 3 hours – even when I was on the road and pulled over before sleep, I fired up the generator, the motosat, and worked everyday.

How do truckers sleep at truck stops? Beats the hell out of me. I tried twice and had a horrible time with the ‘swshshshsuuus’ sound of brakes and terminally running engines. I asked Vickie. She said you get used to it. Really?

I gave myself a 3 day travel window going up and coming back. When I complained on the phone to Darian about a driver cutting in front of me and then slowing down – before I even left Vegas as I was towing the coach – he said, “Mom, you are driving a 60 foot scarab. Just relax.”

So…navigated the scarab up and down the highways, into service stations for fuel, in and out of rest stops, into Kevin’s lower parking area for a week’s stay, and into a dead end in Salt Lake City as I pulled off the freeway in search of diesel. SHIT! I hate Salt Lake. It was a t-shaped dead end into a group of condos. I pulled forward far enough to make the top of the ‘t’ and rolled down my window so I could hear a crunch if I started to back into anyone….think I’m kidding? Nope. I’m not. I got out alive. so did the coach and the steed. I was cursing…a lot…promising to drop a big hammer on my foot if I ever jumped off the freeway again in Salt Lake.

I woke up one morning in Sandpoint to a temperature of 41 degrees. Kee-rist! Time to head South. I prayed I had my electric blanket in the closet of the coach – I did. It saved me.

I have pictures of family and the poker game but really nothing much different than the years before. So, nothing going up from the reunion. Other than the birds all lined up for the beer can BBQ.

And a few of the crew sitting around like bumps on a log…hey, they were on a log:

Neomi, oldest sister disguised as a poker dealer (Jasmine next to her):

Kevin and Gayl grilling pizza on the BBQ – yummy, you should try it sometime:

Kenny’s got beer:

Poker Faces:

Josh, Jenny, and Baby Rain:

The BIG GAME:

The truck drivers AKA my new ‘landmates’:

Kenny and Gayle (the truck driver’s daughter):

The building behind Kenny and Gayle is the bath house, the lake sets down through the trees, and the docks and public access for fishing/swimming is about a 1/4 mile away. It’s a serene little spot in the middle of the woods that lends to wanting to play poker…just kidding! It’s a great area but I’m so damned glad I don’t live there anymore. I listened to the brothers talk about snow being 8 feet deep for days as it continued to fall and that’s good enough for me.

Having not seen baby Katelyn for almost a month with the move to Pahrump, the trip North, and settling some hanging threads of the new digs, I spent the evening with her a few nights ago. She had 2 teeth on the bottom when I saw her last. She has 7 now. It’s startling to see her with a mouth full of teeth. She’s so damned cute.

Maybe next year she’ll make the reunion. And Riot Too. And Kayanna too. And Lisa too. And Dan and Ryan. And Darian.