So the weather still isn't cooperating. I've decided to continue my holiday blog in hopes that tomorrow is so beautiful I won't have time to do it!
I graduated from college in May of 1980 - nearly 30 years ago. Crazy to think it's been that long. As I explained before, my job in Sioux Falls was a great learning experience. Mostly I had to learn to live by myself since I didn't know one soul in town besides my workmates. I was dating the future Mr. Poolboy, and his good friend Mike asked a big group of us to camp at his parent's cabin in rural Ridgeland, Wisconsin so we could tube the Apple River.
Sounded good to me, though it was something like an 8 hour drive. I drove to Albert Lea, MN and awaited friends to pick me up. I can't remember who it was that year - Moose perhaps? Or maybe it was Paul and Brad. We pulled into the Huston home place - quite rustic by my standards. A two seater outhouse. No running water. Mike's folks - Clark and Joyce were there along with his three sisters and one brother all younger than our group of about 12 or 15. The first few years, Clark's father Russell would come out from his apartment in town to sit with us. We shared the same birthday so he always remembered me.
We sat around the campfire that first night and got all loaded up. Then we drove into the big city of Ridgeland - 500 people, 3 bars and a small grocery store. Hustons had a huge tent that many of us slept in. It was all the usual suspects - Vic & Fred, Jane, Hauser, Mike, Tom, Brad, Catfish, a girl we called Hotsy Totsy, Bob and Jane E. And a few more I can't think of.
The next day Hustons cooked us some of the best breakfast grub I've even had in my life! They worked for Oscar Mayer and brought bacon, sausage - the whole 9 yards. We all pitched in to clean up, using water boiled on the ancient stove top in the cabin. Then we took off for the Apple River, some 45 minutes away. It was a raucous good time. We had lots of beer - tied to our tubes in a cooler. Back then there were huge targets along the river route for us to throw our cans at. There were few port a potties.
Jane had a good time as I recall, pretty much swigging the same beer the whole time. I imagine there was some recycled beer in there! Ick. It was a pretty calm ride until the end, when there was a riffle that swallowed poor Paul's glasses, and I sliced my leg on a rock. Good thing all the alcohol in the river cleansed the wound. Paul ended up wearing Lori Huston's glasses the rest of the weekend. On the way back from the river, we stopped at Teresa's - another little bar in the middle of no-where. We played redneck songs on the juke and drank more beer.
The rest of the weekend we hiked, explored an abandoned house nearby and mostly sat by the eternal campfire. Moose and Hauser put on the fireworks show with a box of fireworks Dad brought back from Missouri for us. There was a little battle ship that we floated in the horse tank and tank that flipped and fired into the crowd. We made s'mores of course, and I became a Turtle - you bet your sweet ass I am! One red hen, two cute ducks - I'll never forget it. I also learned the dirty Boy Scouts version of the Beverly Hillbillies song from Moose.
I have to say that first time at Hustons was such fun. Clark and Joyce were younger then than I am today, and they were people I looked up to. Great parents - demanding yet a lot of fun. They sure could drink! I grew to love the whole family.
Through the years, we went to Ridgeland many times for the 4th of July. Sometimes it was rainy. Other times too cold to tube. But we always had fun. We even took the kids for several years and introduced a couple Creston families to the joy that was Huston's Ranch. Writing this blog makes me yearn for those days. But I've grown to love 10,000 Crestonians and it's a lot closer to home!
I graduated from college in May of 1980 - nearly 30 years ago. Crazy to think it's been that long. As I explained before, my job in Sioux Falls was a great learning experience. Mostly I had to learn to live by myself since I didn't know one soul in town besides my workmates. I was dating the future Mr. Poolboy, and his good friend Mike asked a big group of us to camp at his parent's cabin in rural Ridgeland, Wisconsin so we could tube the Apple River.
Sounded good to me, though it was something like an 8 hour drive. I drove to Albert Lea, MN and awaited friends to pick me up. I can't remember who it was that year - Moose perhaps? Or maybe it was Paul and Brad. We pulled into the Huston home place - quite rustic by my standards. A two seater outhouse. No running water. Mike's folks - Clark and Joyce were there along with his three sisters and one brother all younger than our group of about 12 or 15. The first few years, Clark's father Russell would come out from his apartment in town to sit with us. We shared the same birthday so he always remembered me.
We sat around the campfire that first night and got all loaded up. Then we drove into the big city of Ridgeland - 500 people, 3 bars and a small grocery store. Hustons had a huge tent that many of us slept in. It was all the usual suspects - Vic & Fred, Jane, Hauser, Mike, Tom, Brad, Catfish, a girl we called Hotsy Totsy, Bob and Jane E. And a few more I can't think of.
The next day Hustons cooked us some of the best breakfast grub I've even had in my life! They worked for Oscar Mayer and brought bacon, sausage - the whole 9 yards. We all pitched in to clean up, using water boiled on the ancient stove top in the cabin. Then we took off for the Apple River, some 45 minutes away. It was a raucous good time. We had lots of beer - tied to our tubes in a cooler. Back then there were huge targets along the river route for us to throw our cans at. There were few port a potties.
Jane had a good time as I recall, pretty much swigging the same beer the whole time. I imagine there was some recycled beer in there! Ick. It was a pretty calm ride until the end, when there was a riffle that swallowed poor Paul's glasses, and I sliced my leg on a rock. Good thing all the alcohol in the river cleansed the wound. Paul ended up wearing Lori Huston's glasses the rest of the weekend. On the way back from the river, we stopped at Teresa's - another little bar in the middle of no-where. We played redneck songs on the juke and drank more beer.
The rest of the weekend we hiked, explored an abandoned house nearby and mostly sat by the eternal campfire. Moose and Hauser put on the fireworks show with a box of fireworks Dad brought back from Missouri for us. There was a little battle ship that we floated in the horse tank and tank that flipped and fired into the crowd. We made s'mores of course, and I became a Turtle - you bet your sweet ass I am! One red hen, two cute ducks - I'll never forget it. I also learned the dirty Boy Scouts version of the Beverly Hillbillies song from Moose.
I have to say that first time at Hustons was such fun. Clark and Joyce were younger then than I am today, and they were people I looked up to. Great parents - demanding yet a lot of fun. They sure could drink! I grew to love the whole family.
Through the years, we went to Ridgeland many times for the 4th of July. Sometimes it was rainy. Other times too cold to tube. But we always had fun. We even took the kids for several years and introduced a couple Creston families to the joy that was Huston's Ranch. Writing this blog makes me yearn for those days. But I've grown to love 10,000 Crestonians and it's a lot closer to home!
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