July

Craters of the Moon is a National Monument in Idaho.  While walking around the rim of one of the volcanoes, Elizabeth—one of my mothers—looked at her phone, paused her pace, and told me she got a message from Boy Scouts. I was annoyed because it was blistering hot outside and we weren’t moving. But now that I think about it, it was worth standing out in the heat to find out about one weekend I would never forget. After five minutes, Elizabeth asked me if I would like go on a Block Island bike trip with the Boy Scouts. Of course I said yes, because it sounded amazing.

Two months later 

Thursday

You now how I said that this bike trip sounded amazing well, now I am not sure. Don’t get me wrong, I still want to go and all, but I don’t know if it will still be fun. Jeremy, my bunk mate, who I’ve known since first grade, can’t go. He was exposed to COVID—19 so he has to be quarantined. It would have been nice to go to the middle of the ocean without my parents, but with some one I have known for a long time. I know you know I have gone longer periods of time without my parents, like when I went to summer camp. BUT AT LEAST IT WAS IN THE SAME #$%@ STATE AND NOT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE @#%$ ATLANTIC OCEAN. E-hem, sorry. So, I went to bed wondering if I really wanted to have this once in a lifetime opportunity.

Friday

The troop was leaving at eleven o’clock on Friday. Since I am being homeschooled, Elizabeth made me get up at six o’clock to start school really early so we could get all subjects in before I had to leave. As you can imagine, being homeschooled by a former middle school teacher is bad enough because she directs everything to me and no one else. Now, add to that a cranky tween who has to do an entire school day in three hours. Let that sink in for a moment. 

While school was going on, my teacher got a text saying that Jeremy could come. This was because he tested negative. I was relieved and happy because I would have someone I knew to share a bunk with. This also meant I would have someone to talk to if I got bored. My mom told me that I should have gone either way because, “I could make new friends.” If you want to hear my tone, pretend I sounded like a dumb oaf.

Alright, so we did do the entire school day in three hours, then I got a farewell McDouble, and Elizabeth drove me to the pick-up site. As I expected, my mom was sad and wanted hug after hug after hug. However, I escaped when the leaders told everyone what cars they were going to be in. I was in a mini-van with Kriday, Jeremy, Yuvan, Eric, and Yuvan’s dad, who was the driver. If you want to think of it as a caravan, I will be fine with that because that’s how I thought of it. There were a lot of cars with a lot of people going in the same direction. We were off to the ferry. The drive was long, but it was nothing I wasn’t used to because of all the long trips I do with my moms. It was four hours. It helped that I had sour patch kids to eat. Wooo hoooooo. 

When we got to the ferry terminal, we each took our bike and our daypack and we went aboard the ferry. There were three decks. Advik, Jeremy, and I toured them all. We were at the top when the boat started to rumble. Right when we looked over the back, the boat departed. Halfway across, clouds covered the sky and the waves sprayed everyone who was outside. All three of us stood at the edge of the boat. The sun set behind the clouds so it looked like a stairway to heaven. At times, the boat would go up so high it felt like we were flying, then we would come down right in a wave that sprayed us so much it was like we jumped into the water. I would say more, but I forgot the exact details. On the island, we had to bike to the campsite, but first, Mr. Munley (the founder of the troop) gave a safety talk that included how to signal. Then, he gave us each a safety vest to wear.

After Jeremy and I had set up the tent and helped set up our dining fly, we went to bed. I was actually very comfortable. I mean, I had once bunked with someone I didn’t know at all and it was fine, and this was bunking with someone I knew for a long time.

Saturday

In the morning, we were supposed to have had a nice breakfast, but Yug, our grub master, was what the French call incompétent. He brought a dozen and a half eggs that weren’t hard boiled, and at the site, he had no way of cooking them. He brought bagels with cream cheese but no butter! The pièce de résistance was he did not even remember the color of his own cooler. He said it was blue, but it was green. 

At last, we were on our way on our bikes. First, we headed to the old cost guard station. On the way, we rode on this strip of land where we were right next to the bay and it was too beautiful to describe. (Also, I forgot exactly what it looked like). If you’re thinking, “Oh the coast guard station must have been a blast,’’ it wasn’t. We didn’t go inside, but the adults let us have free Gatorade. We went to the beach near the station. I’ve seen better like in Cape Cod.

Back on the road, we made plenty of stops, but we eventually came to Dories Cove. It looked just like the Badlands, except it was near the ocean. Cairns littered the beach. We also ate lunch here. I had a bland turkey sandwich. After we were done, a couple of us climbed up on a rock that was on the edge of the ocean. Mr. Shusko, our leader, told us to get down. So we did. At this point, we had all drank a lot of Gatorade and water and there wasn’t a single bathroom anywhere around. Nicky was turning yellow from the amount of pee in him so he needed to pee immeidately. There was a little entrance in the trees that looked like a tunnel. It was near where we left our bikes, so he went in to pee and came out. Soon, there was a line with everybody standing on it. The funny thing is, it actually looked like a bathroom. So we called it the natural bathroom.

Next, we stopped at the Southeast Lighthouse which was nothing spectacular. We could not go to the top, but I got a patch because I collect them. It was mostly a water break. 

After biking some more, we stopped at a white rock so everybody could catch up. Eric’s bike broke down so we waited a half an hour for I don’t know what. Probably so it could get fixed. We saw a golden retriever come out of the bushes. No one had a leash on him but we petted him anyway because he looked very cute and friendly. After he walked up the hill, we came down and he was no longer in sight. Mr Shusko told us all to sit or stand by a painted white rock for a photo. After the photo was taken, we all walked away. But when Nicky slid down the rock, he got caught on a little nubbin of paint and he heard a tear. Lucky enough, it wasn’t a big tear and it didn’t tear through his underwear. 

The bike was not fixed so Eric had to ride in the white van. When the van passed us, he looked quite happy.

We were nearing town, but we had one stop to make first. The Animal Farm. No, not the communistic one. It did not have pigs — no Snowball, no Napoleon. We got to pet a goat, but other than that, it was quite boring. 

In the heart of town, we stopped at Aldos Ice cream and Bakery. Let’s just say, “Best ice cream ever.” I got a coffee Oreo milk shake, and although it was seven dollars, it was the tastiest ice cream I ever had. It was so coffee-y and Oreo-y that nothing could beat it. I can’t even explain it. Everyday since I’ve gotten home, I have craved one. I am craving one right now as I write.

When we got back to the campsite (still craving another shake) we put our bikes away and started cooking din-din. Remember Yug? Yeah, he got veggie burgers and beyond burgers, but no real burgers. Having to decide which one to eat, I chose the beyond burger because at least it would taste real. I thought that because my mom has them a lot. After it was wrapped in tin foil, I put it on the fire. Every few minutes, I flipped my burger so it would get cooked all around. Mrs. Cellantano (I have no idea who she was, except that she drove the white van) thought she knew better, and she told us not to keep flipping for one reason or another. But I knew it would not cook as well, so I kept flipping. When the burger was done, it looked perfect. I asked where the buns were, but there weren’t any. Man this guy is a bad grub master. I started eating my burger without a bun so it wouldn’t get cold. All good, right? WRONG! Apparently, we had to say “grace”. I was three fourths done when they told me this, so now I had too wait ten more minutes for everybody to get ready to say ten words. Ai-ai-ai. 

When we were done with dinner, we prepared our skit, which was about… well, pirates, chicken nuggets, and chocolate chip cookies. Uh yeah, it was weird. We had a typical Boy Scout campfire like the ones you might see in a movie. Jokes, stories, and skits. Ours was definitely the weirdest. I can’t even describe it, but somehow it made the most sense. Afterward, I stayed up to look at the stars. I found Andromeda, and maybe Pisces, but everyone had a white light so it was hard to see the stars clearly. I brought my smellables (anything that may attract an animal) to the car, and then I went into the tent to sleep.

Sunday

In the morning, we had yet another egg-less breakfast. You know I hate eggs, but still, who buys 18 eggs with no way of cooking them? After a dry bagel breakfast, we headed out. This time we went north to the northern light house. It was a little windier than the previous day and the wind was blowing right into my face which felt terrible. The mood was not cheery because clouds covered the sun. Not much happened on the way, aside from Phill getting a flat tire. We got delayed about a half an hour while one of the dads fixed it. The next hill was huge. We probably glided for five minutes and went a long distance. It was awesome. When we got to the light house parking lot, we did not walk to the lighthouse because it would take too long. Instead, we took a group photo and headed out again.

The ride back was anticlimactic, so there is nothing to talk about, except to say that Nidish kept crashing into my back tire because he wanted to get in front of me.

Before getting back on the ferry, we stopped in town for 45 minutes. A couple of us went into a gift shop and I got a little red boat Christmas ornament. Then I went to get another great milkshake and once again my mind was blown.

We got back on the ferry and it was not as fun as last time because the waves weren’t as high. 

So yeah… 

ADIOS, AMIGOS