Sometimes, You Wake Up the Sleeping Dog

By

Michael J. English

Every time Mason passed by the Waldo Lake turn off on Highway 58 he was reminded of what had happened there so many years ago.

Carol, his beautiful bride of two months, had suggested that they should go camping. She, a native Oregonian with worlds of camping experience, and he, a transplant from the suburbs of San Francisco, whose idea of roughing it was staying in a less than four star hotel, decided to tent camp at an unimproved campground in Waldo Lake area of the Cascade Mountains. Mason had insisted on the unimproved camping area. He knew that Carol’s camping experience was car camping in campgrounds with bathrooms, running water, picnic tables and other campers no more than ten feet from your tent. He had argued that it didn’t make much sense to drive all that way to commune with nature with about 500 hundred strangers jammed into campground not much larger than a city block.

Mason had another reason for not wanting to car camp; he didn’t want Carol to be "The Camping Expert." Mason had discovered recently that when Carol believed she knew more about something than Mason, she tended to become somewhat overbearing. Mason had not noticed this tendency prior to their marriage but recently had become annoyed by the discovery of this trait in Carol and further annoyed by its increasing occurrence. There had been more arguments in the last two months than in the whole previous two years of their relationship. They had argued about finances. They had argued about decorating. They had even argued about how best to train Mason’s German Shepard, which he’d had for a year before he met Carol. Anyway, Mason didn’t want Carol to start telling him what to do or not to do.

Mason’s strategy for leveling the playing field as it related to camping wasn’t all that effective.

Carol dictated what food to bring and what clothes to wear. Mason won the argument about equipment. He had taken a crash course in camping by hanging out at REI (Recreational Equipment Incorporated) the previous weekend trying to learn everything you needed to know

about camping. Carol had to admit that she didn’t know much about equipment like tents and stoves and first aid kits. So, Mason got to feel good about one part of their pre-camping planning, but he wouldn’t feel good for long.

The morning of the trip had gone badly. Max, Mason’s German Shepard, was up to his usual car phobia behavior. Whenever Max had to be taken anywhere in the car he would start drooling buckets of drool. If it was a short trip this could be handled with a towel on the back seat. On longer trips, Max had to have a tranquillizer. The doggie downer had been administered a little too late and as Mason packed the cooler with ice, Max’s drooling turned into vomiting. This necessitated returning home to clean up the mess and as they headed down Interstate Five, Carol began let Mason know how he could train Max out of the car phobia.

Mason was trying to contain the anger that was seething within him from Carol’s rebukes, when he missed the turn off for Waldo Lake. When Carol let him know he’d missed the turn, Mason lost control and began yelling at her. He had never yelled at her before and she started crying which made him feel like a heel. It didn’t, however, make him apologize; he was still too angry.

After turning around, they drove the rest of the way in silence.

Because of the dog vomit and missed turn delays, they arrived at Taylor Burn Campground late in the afternoon. It was blazing hot, and as they got out of the car; squadron after squadron of B-52 sized mosquitoes attacked them. Before he could open the trunk and get out the insect repellent, both Mason and Carol had almost been eaten alive. The mosquitoes had even attacked Max. After practically bathing in mosquito repellent and still angry from the fight, they were able to get the camp set up, make dinner, have a camp fire, and retired for the night with almost no conversation.

Mason was awakened by a tugging on his sleeping bag and Carol whispering for him to listen to the growling sound outside the tent. Carol asked what it might be and Mason said he thought it could be a bear. He told her to stay in the tent and if she should feel the tent move to run for the car. He told her he would go out and see what it was. He slowly unzipped the netting of the tent door and peeked out and around the side of the tent. He suddenly let out a loud yell and jumped out and ran in the direction of the growling sound with Max barking and yelping behind him. Carol could hear both Mason yelling and Max barking as they chased down the path toward the lake.

When Mason returned to the tent Carol threw her arms around him. He held her there for a long time. When she asked him what it was, he said he wasn’t quite sure, but that he had read that if

you make a lot of noise you usually scare bears, mountain lions and other wild animals away.

This incident changed their relationship. Carol considered Mason her hero. He had risked his life for her. She quit trying to be in control all of the time. Mason and Carol grew to have a great respect for each other and a wonderful marriage. Mason smiled as he remembered that what he had seen and heard that night: As he looked around the corner of the tent he hadn’t seen a bear; he had seen Max sound asleep and loudly snoring.