Miles traveled: zero
I sleep until a blazing 6:30am, which is quite an achievement considering I’ve woken up before dawn and have a hard time sleeping in. It’s so cold in here and I have two blankets piled on top of me!
Soon Rafiki enters the room, then Denis. Not long after we’re all awake, Denis is pacing around the small kitchen making breakfast.
I’m working on my blogs while all this happens.
“It’s hard to get everything out at the same time,” Dad tells Denis. This was not a big task for Denis, and soon he had potato casseroles with cheese and onions, sausages, chorizo and eggs. It was so tasty. I was quite impressed with Denis’ cooking skills!
Although, based on what he said earlier during a hike, I knew he was probably a better cook than me. Denis knows some things!
Rafiki cleans the dishes and the three of us spend much of the day on the couch. I spend most of my time setting up my blogs.
Then come some household chores: cleaning the tent zippers with a toothbrush and lipstick, putting away food, more laundry, replenishing the first aid kit. Then again poké bowls for lunch!
I feel like I can’t really do much with my bag since I have to have everything ready for my sleeping bag to compress properly at the bottom.
Dad prepares a delicious pasta with Italian meatballs, feta cheese and cherry tomatoes. The bread was crispy and buttery. Now it’s so hot in the house that everyone takes off their fleeces.
Once I finish the dishes, Rafiki helps me put them away and we move to the bathroom to find the holes in our sleeping mats.
First we tried the dawn dish soap method: rubbing soapy water all over the mats and pressing them to see where the bubbles appear.
This process will probably take 45 minutes between the two of us, with no luck. Rafiki is talking to the invisible hole, quite frustrated.
“Did you submerge it in water?” Dad shows his head.
The next thing I know, Rafiki is calling me to come back to the bathroom. His mat is submerged and a stream of bubbles explodes from his bag.
Mine is next! It takes a couple of tries, but we found it!
We dry our carpets and read the repair kit instructions. We have to rub the stain with alcohol and then let it dry. The glue dot that is placed is so rubbery that our fingers get stuck. The piece that goes on top of the glue doesn’t stick well either, since the glue is very sticky.
Dad tells me to massage the glue into the mat. You take out your repair kit and are disappointed because both of your adhesive covers are ruined because they are sticking together!
Dad says this has never happened to him before. I’m not sure what we had such a hard time with our repair kits!
«Please don’t let me forget to take my crustless cookies out of the freezer tomorrow!» I remind both Denis and Rafiki… at least twice each.
I convince Denis to sleep on the couch so I can take his bed, not that it took me much to convince him. His only request was that I sleep next to a bag of Fritos at night (an open bag of Fritos, yuck!).
«No!» say. “The smell will enter my nostrils while I try to sleep!”
It comes two more times to put the Fritos back if I moved them or to check that I hadn’t moved them.
This bed is so comfortable! I’m happy to be able to sleep in it. After all, Denis likes the sofa or the floor.
Our last night in Big Bear is sure to be a good night’s sleep!
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