“Sugar Plum, Thumper, Gabby and I are going camping this weekend.  Would you pick up some provisions at the grocery store?”

“What brought this on?  I thought you had given up on that idea after your last adventure with Taryn and Robby?”

“What adventure?  We just had some good old fashioned fun.”

“And froze to death and were miserable to hear Taryn tell it.”

“Well, I learned a lot that time.  We will be fine.”

“Tracker, did you check the weather report?  Last time you got snowed on.”

“The Weather Channel says it’s clear skies until Monday afternoon.  Then we’re supposed to get a weather system.”

Sugar Plum heads to town to get all of Tracker’s favorite foods and treats for the hounds.  When she returns home, Tracker is loading up the truck.

“Tracker, where’s your tent?”

“Sugar Plum, I’m roughing it this time.  I want to be one of those mountain men who can survive in the wilderness.”

Sugar Plum just shakes her head and goes in to pack the cooler.

Bright and early the next morning Tracker heads out with Gabby and Thumper.  Sugar Plum made sure Thumper had her “St. Bernard” collar on with some Gatorade and she made Gabby wear a harness with small saddle bags so they had food if the got separated from Tracker.

“Bye, Sugar Plum.  We’ll see you Monday morning.”

“Bye, Tracker.  /Take care of the dogs. . .and yourself.”  Sugar Plum chuckles to herself, “They’ll never make it through the weekend.”

“OK, girls, here’s our spot, right by this creek so we can have fresh water.  What do you think?”

Gabby and Thumper were so glad to be out of the truck after the bumpy ride up the mountain, they didn’t care where the camp was.  The way Tracker was driving, they both got pummeled by their gear and were glad when Tracker decided to undress them.  They immediately went into the creek to play.

Tracker gathered sticks to build a fire and found some deadfall to make a shelter.  As he cut and wove the branches, Gabby disassembled the fire. She thought all those sticks were for her to play with.

“Gabby, what did you do?  Now I have to start all over again!  We have to get the fire going soon because once the sun drops behind that mountain it will get cold fast.  Now go!  Play with Thumper.”

“All right.  Here are two sticks that should work.”  Tracker starts rubbing two sticks together to start his fire.  He was really serious about roughing it.  Unfortunately, he missed that day at Boy Scouts and 20 minutes later all he has to show for his efforts are blisters.

“Hmmm, maybe a flint will be easier.”  He pulls some pieces of arrowheads out of his pocket.  “Good thing I found these.  I have to get this fire going.”

Tracker spends another 20 minutes working with the flint with no luck.  Even though he could get a spark, he couldn’t sustain it long enough to get the fire started.

“Girls, we have a problem.  Without a fire, we will freeze and you won’t have dinner.”

Gabby and Thumper look at each other.  “No dinner!  We’ll fix that.” 

They run over to Tracker’s gear and get his backpack.  Between the two of them, they get the zipper open and find his lighter.  Gabby brings it over and drops it at Tracker’s feet.

“Gabby, this isn’t right.  We were going to be survivalists, but I guess if we don’t survive tonight, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”

Tracker gets the fire going and catches a trout for dinner.  He fixes it and some grits Sugar Plum packed.  The dogs eat their stew and curl up by the fire.

“OK, girls, I have everything cleaned up.  I’m going to stoke the fire and then crawl in the sleeping bag.  Come lay next to me to help keep me warm.  I’m not used to sleeping without Sugar Plum.”

A few hours later, Tracker wakes up shivering.  “BRRRRR, it’s cold.  What happened to our fire?  Why are we all wet?  I guess I didn’t make the roof tight enough.  The weather man was wrong again!
“OK, let’s just crawl deeper in the sleeping bag.  Our body heat will warm us up soon.”

Just as they were all drifting off to sleep again, the weather changed.  The rain turned to snow and Tracker was miserable.  “How am I going to make it?  I’ll never find the truck at night.  I won’t be able to see any of the markers along the way.  We’re going to have to stick it out.”

Thumper and Gabby had moved to the bottom of the sleeping bag and were all cozy.  They were both sleeping so soundly, Tracker couldn’t get them to move.  All he had covering his upper body was his jacket.

“I’ll light my pipe to help warm me up.  Oh, no!  My lighter got wet.  Now I’m really in trouble.”

Just as he said that, “Holy Hannah!  The roof’s caved in!!!”

Thumper and Gabby start snarling, thinking Tracker is trying to get them out of the sleeping bag.  When they finally pull their heads out to see what is going on, they are dismayed.  This was not what they had planned for, being buried in snow.  Neither of them liked being cold.

“Well, the only thing we can do now is make an ice cave.  I’ve seen them do it in the movies when people get stuck in avalanches.  Come on, Gabby start digging.”

About a half hour later, they are all warmed from their efforts and have a rough shelter to get them through the night; however, when the sun comes up, they are buried in 6 inches of snow.

“How are we ever going to find our way out of here?” Tracker whines.  “My trail is buried.  Sugar Plum was right again.”

Tracker climbs up as high as he can and tries his cell phone.  “Sugar Plum, we got snowed on.  I won’t be able to find  the trail out.  Maybe you should call Search and Rescue.”

“Tracker, not this time.  I stuck your GPS in your backpack and turned it on.  If it didn’t get wet, it should have the trail marked so you can get back to your truck.  If not, at least it can get you home; we programmed that when you first got it.”

“Sugar Plum, you’re a life saver.  We’ll see you soon!
“Come on, girls, we’re going home.”

Thumper and Gabby practically leaped for joy.  Home!  What a great place!

As they walked in the door an hour later, all three of them hugged Sugar Plum.  Not only had she been their savior, but she had a big pot of elk stew waiting for them.

“Sugar Plum, remind me never to do that again.  I think I flunked Survival 101.”

“I know one thing for sure, Tracker, these girls are never going with you again.”  Thumper and Gabby were already asleep by the fire.  There’s no place like home.  There’s no place like home.

                                                                        Aly Matthews Bruner

      THE END