Despite All Obstacles Part IV

My First Camping Trip

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY WOODS, CA

We're finally at the San Gabriel Valley's Hundred-Acre Woods. It's almost further northeast from Hollywood, deep in San Gabriel Valley. I look at my phone again. "6:50PM", and the sun doesn't set until 8:37PM. It's supposed to rain around five, tomorrow evening.

I see a hill of rocks and a rocky mountain on the other side, where white people rock climb and skydive. Between us and the rocky mountains are a bunch of trees.

We came from a long, curvy, bumpy, and rocky road that felt like life-or-death. One side was a huge hill, and the other side was downhill. I was too scared to look at the window on my side that the twins' car felt like a rollercoaster ride that's only going straight, then up, then down, and then straight again. I hid my face and made a funny face, hoping they didn't see me. I literally wanted to scream but whimpered instead.

We passed a sign that says, "Welcome To SAN GABRIEL VALLEY'S HUNDRED-ACRE WOODS", where the dead end is a parking lot, with five parking slots. Two portable bathrooms are in front of the parking lot. The sign's slogan's "WHERE WE EMBRACE NATURE AND EXPLORE". Then, it oughta be a joke when somebody wrote: "WHERE YOU'LL NEVER RETURN HOME!!! PREPARE TO DIE!!! 😈😈😈", pinning on the wooden sign. They literally drew three smiling demons.

"Don't worry about that construction note that some dummy wrote back there. They're just trying to scare us. Don't get scared for them," Patt advises me. I hope nobody died here. I'll be ready to call 9-1-1 on hunters and animal control on wild animals.

I gulp and start sweating, feeling even more scared. "Okay." I feel like I should've stayed home and Patt can make it up to me later, but I chose this.

We walk away from the car that's parked in a parking slot and walk down to the woods, with our backpacks, sleeping bags, tents and food. We look for a spot to camp out.

"I see a spot!" Shortcake says and points at an empty spot of the woods. I wonder am I really gonna see Winnie The Pooh and his pals. They live in the hundred-acre woods.

We all set down our bags, tents, sleeping bags and food. Patt and Matt walk back up to the car.

Bro sees some logs and sticks. "I'll bring them over here for the campfire."

Shortcake and I set up our tents. "I'll set mine up for the food. We can store the food in here," I tell Shortcake.

She's impressed. "That's a smart idea, Gracie. Unfortunately, we don't have a cooler to freeze the meat," she says. I realize she's right. How are we gonna cool down the meat, the water and the sodas?

Shortcake and I turn around and see Patt and Matt driving down near our spot. They both get out of the car once they put it on park.

"In case someone tries to steal Mercy from us," Patt says. Who's he talking about?

"It's the car he named, just in case you don't know," Matt clarifies. We all get it now.

"Patt, we don't have a cooler. How are we gonna cool the meat and water?" I ask him.

Patt grabs the groceries and put them all in my tent. "I think we're going to be fine without the cooler. The temperature went down to seventy degrees since six this evening and we'll head back after everyone eats breakfast."

"What time are we heading back, tomorrow?" Bro asks Patt. I wanna know, too.

"To know a certain time to go back, we'll have to predict the right time. The band usually arrive early around five for Matt's 6:00-game. Matt has to arrive for the game at 4:00 for training and motivation. So, the right time may be 2:00 in the afternoon. Gracie, you looked at your iPhone a lot. What time did we get here?"