For those of you who know me well, you know that I get away every 2 years with 4 guys I grew up with in Greenville. We call ourselves, the "Too Much Club" (the name goes back to our high school buddie, Carl Brauteseth, who would always say, "You guys are
too much!"...so, in his honor, we called ourselves, just that.) Nevertheless, we have been getting away and meeting every two years since the early 1980's. This year we met at a very central location for all of us, in NW Illinois, Savanna, IL, which is right on the Mississippi River. We always try to focus on some form of getting out into nature and finding some form of outdoor activity or recreation. This may have developed as a result of our high school years of taking Youth Group trips to Giant City State Park, Fox Ridge State Park and Pere Marquette State Park, which were annual camp-outs...so I guess we owe it all to our youth minister, Harold Neely and his love for camping as a form of ministry. (Harold was also responsible for teaching us the game of Tripoley, which was always a New Year's Eve traditional game we played).
Nevertheless, after that historical preface, this year we found a rental cabin that overlooked the Mississippi river and was just a couple miles away from Mississippi Palisades State Park. We had not been to this area before, but knew we wanted to be in the area because it was so central for all of us. (3 coming from Greenville, one from Minneapolis, MN and me from southern Michigan). The dabin was indeed scenic and had a great view of the Mississippi river and we could just look out the front window and watch barges coming down the river. The state park was close and we went there several times to enjoy the hiking and cliffs this park is known for. (Greg had offered to bring rappelling ropes and gear, and it would have been a perfect place is we had taken him up on the offer). It also had some nice grassy areas where we could play bocce ball and frisbee golf, and the weather on this particular weekend was perfect.
Tripoley, if you are not familiar with the game, is a card game that includes aspects of Poker, bidding on poker hands, using poker chips on a board and winning the chips for poker hands, and playing certain cards and collecting chips as you are able to play these cards. We start this game on Thursday night and end on Saturday night...storing the playing board and chips somewhere out of the way during the day and resuming play in the evenings. I believe Brent won this year...and I was the loser.
All in all, a good time was had by all. By the time we recreate, eat and watch videos for 2 and a half days, we are all ready to get back to our families, and we decided that is a good thing. We have made a lot of memories over the years, and I always count on these guys to help me remember them...and help create new ones.
