It sure has been a while since I have posted.  I feel really bad about that.  I did mean to get to this post sooner but life catches up with you sometimes.

Back in June we needed a bit of time away.  We had a trip to Bishop via Yosemite setup for the end of the month.  However we had this free weekend so I was trying to think where to go.  I thought about Kernville because we have a get-together there in October with some other AirForums users.  Sequoia (Lodgepole) was booked solid.  So I thought of Kings Canyon NP.  I remember staying there as a kid with my cousins.  I can still visualize it.  So we left about 10am on Friday.  It is only 45 miles away so we were there by noon (hills).

We drove around Sunset campground but could not find an adequate site.  We then went through Azalea campground and did find a spot near the end.  This is dry camping but there was not a close restroom.  I always try to use the campground restroom when I can.  It is probably because I get to dump the holding tanks.  We setup the chairs, kicked back and promptly fell asleep.  Roxie said she wasn’t too worried about bears because my snoring would keep them away.

We awoke, had dinner and went down to the campfire program.  The description mentioned “An evening with John Muir” so we thought it might be fun.  The ranger chatted with virtually everyone that was there, asking things like where they were from.  I enjoy hearing where people are fun and marvelling at people coming from the other side of the world to a site that is so close to us.

As it is with most campfire programs, there is a warm up.  The one he did is an old (I have found out) campfire song, lyrics are here.  With each different verse you have a different motion to perform.  And you add, not replace, any additional motions.  At the end, for the last verse, you are doing 5 different things at once and the ending is very appropriate.  It was the BEST campfire song I have ever seen.

Then John Muir showed up.  The ranger transformed himself into John Muir.  He already looks like him and he changed his language and nature.  The job he did was incredible.  I feel very fortunate to have seen the performance and investigating it further, it appears he is pretty well known locally for it (here, and here).  If you ever get a chance to see him, by all means do.

The next day started out lazily, as all the best camping days do.  We saw there was a ranger led walk around the Grant Grove area.  We have been there many times but never with any rangers.  We showed up and John Muir was there!  Well not really, it was Frank this time.  He again asked people where we were from, he looked at me for a longer time and said that I looked familiar.  He asked if I was a teacher and I told him no, that I worked with computers.

The walk was at a nice slow pace and very informative.  At the end of it I talked to Frank some more and told him that I worked for the Tulare County Office of Education.  He asked if I knew Rick Mitchell.  Since I have worked there since 1985 I know pretty much everyone there.  Yes, I do know Rick, he is our director of SCICON.  Frank stated that he worked for Rick earlier in his career.  It was fun to have a connection like that.

Here is Frank in action:

Frank Helling at Kings Canyon National Park.

Come Sunday morning it was time to return home.  The trip was a success with the exception of my gray tank water leak.  We can only go about 2 showers and it start dripping.  That was on Saturday.  So I hooked up the blue boy and let it take it.  I need to fix that ‘in my spare time’.