Road Trip

VII

Day 34

 The sound of crickets can be peaceful and calming when you wake up to them on a camping trip, it's sort of a reminder that you're away from civilization for a while but I can't stand them anymore. Mother Nature can fuck off with those stupid little insects at this point. 

 This time, Jensen was up way before me. I also just didn't want to get out of bed either. 

 All I had to do was survive one more night and we'd have finished this endurance trip thing or whatever the brochure called it. Eventually, I crawled my way out of the tent and joined Jensen around a small fire. There was some small tin can being suspended above the tiny flickering flame and I knew it wasn't water, I could smell it. It was sweet. 

 "Warm blueberry mush?" I asked as I pulled Jensens unzipped sleeping bag tighter around my freezing frame. 

 He laughed a little. "I'd like to think about it as warm blueberry pie without the crust." 

 I shook my head at him, a smile dancing across my lips. "You're such a dork." 

_

 By about nine in the morning, the heat really started to pick up. At least Jensen was clever this morning and before making his crustless pie, he collected and boiled more water for the day.

 The longer we continued the rest of the journey to the final destination, the more I couldn't wait to get home. Or at least back to civilization- a shower seemed like heaven. Having some sort of food in me this time made the trek through the wooded area a lot easier this time. My sugars were up to a normal level again and I was fairly hydrated, I'd call that a win for today. 

 Jensen and I filled the silence of the hike with what we can't wait for back home. Above all, Jensen couldn't wait to have his car back. It wasn't anything fancy but he loved it. He would say that he'd rather fix up his old Acura than to get another one but I knew he wanted a new one. I simply told him I wanted a shower. Of course, Jensen being himself with a lack of a filter, turned the whole conversation about me wanting a shower into a conversation filled with little innuendos. To be honest, I couldn't blame him.

_

 "Here," I handed a bottle of water over to Jensen. He took a quick swig of the clear liquid and passed it back over, "That was like liquid heaven right now. This heat is killing me but on the bright side, the ribbons are no longer pink or orange. All I'm seeing are green ones. I think we're closer to the end than we originally thought." 

 The thought that we're so close to being done was phenomenal. I couldn't wait to spend the last night in the woods before going back to civilization. I knew that there was still about another day or so after we get out of the wilderness but we'd have food which is another bonus. 

 We walked a while longer in silence with only the sound of the little creek running beside us and the snapping of twigs underneath our feet. By the time it was about two o'clock, Jensen stopped abruptly in a clearing where the creek had pooled and the trees that lined the clearing had bright neon green ribbons tied. "I think we made it here first. We're the first ones at the end!" Jensen cheered. 

 "No way, really?" 

 He nodded his head, "Yeah, I think this is it." 

 I dropped my large backpack which caused a little puff of dusty dirt to fly up around the base of the bag. Crouching next to my bag, my head in my hands, I couldn't stop laughing. Jensen followed suit, bending down next to me, wrapping me in his sweaty embrace. He kissed the top of my head before we both stood up to begin setting up camp for one more night out in the woods, or the lack of woods this time. 

_

 The extra little bits of food we'd saved were delicious that night. Around a fire that was more than a flickering flame, we had another night of Jensens crustless pies with the two full cans of blueberries I'd picked before we left. We also had two cans of peaches and two cans of tuna left so we shared those too. Feeling like we had more of a meal for our last night was probably the best I'd felt in weeks but the entire experience overall was amazing and after I knew I was back to full health, I would do it again given the opportunity. 

 Going to bed that night was difficult for a whole new reason; I couldn't wait to go home, or rather, back to the hotel. Because the fire was larger for our last night, I was warmer crawling into my sleeping bag but Jensen still slid into mine again with his over us; the heat from the fire wouldn't last all night. 

 It seemed as though neither of us found it easy to sleep that night because we'd stayed up for hours more than expected just making conversation on random things like aliens, stars and constellations, past civilizations, and much more. 

 I finally felt like sleep was coming soon. I turned over, facing Jensens direction as I tucked my head in a little lower to keep warm. He pulled his arm up to situate it higher than its previous location on my waist, pulling me in tighter. "Goodnight," I mumbled. 

 He gave me a quick little squeeze before releasing slightly, "Goodnight Kait."