'Get A Receipt'
Chapter Two of the Saco5 adventure
By JON GRANEY
Friday, August 9, 1996:
Along our journey to the Mt. Washington Valley, we had to stop for tolls, gas, ice and food. Rich suspiciously kept saying, "Get a receipt!"
We really didn't think much of it until the end of the trip.
We pulled into Saco Valley Canoe, Friday afternoon. Rich headed into the shop while I went into a neighboring country store. I bought some marshmallows and a lottery ticket. I won four bucks.
"Free marshmallows! " I told the clerk.
We had to sign a release for liability reasons. Rich signed 'Richard Dzidaul.' Jeff signed 'Jeffrey Vale.'
I signed 'John Rockoff,' and Jeff2 (Jeff Quinn) signed 'Buster Hymen.' It was the start of something very bad.
We headed down to the river and loaded our two canoes under light rain. As we waited for Rich to return from dropping off the van, we attempted to hijack a brand-new Coleman cooler mistakenly left on the river's edge. But a canoe rental employee caught us and told us he'd take it back to the shop for safe keeping. Damn.
Rich showed up, and we headed downriver at 4:30 p.m. The mosquitoes had already started biting, but the rain kept them down. For several miles we smoked cigars, shot the breeze, and enjoyed a leisurely ride down the river.
We pulled up onto a huge beach where there were several other camps around 7 p.m. We all had one thing in common. We were being eaten alive by mosquitoes. By 8:30 p.m., we were in our sleeping bags inside what was left of our tent.
In our next episode, The Night Of A Thousand Mosquitoes, we'll recall the night we declared war on bugs and everyone on the beach.
Stay tuned.
"New Hampshire would be the perfect state if it didn't have tolls."
~RICH DZIADUL, August 9, 1996~
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