Have you seen Nate and Cassandra?

To pick up where I had left off with yesterday's journal, my plan was to go to
UW-Stout to use the computers. I headed to campus, and Nate and Cassandra went
to a place called "Acoustic Cafe'" for some coffee. As much as I wanted a cup
of coffee, I decided to head in the other direction to use Stout's computers.

As I had figured, I had a difficult time getting in there on a Sunday. I did
find a couple of computers throughout campus, but was not able to find one that
was already logged on with a username and password.

So your probably wondering..."Eli, how did you get on a computer to send your
journal update?". Here's some great news, and it was completely by chance that
I came up on it.

After being denied for a connection at Stout, I headed east a couple of blocks
from campus. I found a really nice parkbench to sit at. At this park there is
a huge bandshell (although I didn't see any posters for upcoming bands). It was
a nice spot to sit down and do some writing. When I turned my laptop on, the
computer gave me a message saying that there was a wireless connection present.
I clicked on that, and to my surprise it didn't need a username or password.
EUREKA! I'm not sure who's connection I was using, but thanks for the ride! It
worked perfectly. This for now will be the place that I'll be sending my
journals from. What a great surprise.

After sitting in the park for a good hour and a half, I went back to meet Nate
and Cassandra. They felt it would be a good idea if we went back to camp for a
while to gather some firewood being that we have been running short and have
been scavenging the ground for sticks and twigs in the middle of the night. I
have to agree that we would probably accomplish more by gathering wood during
the daytime. So that's what we did. In a matter of two hours, we've managed to
collect enough wood to last us for quite some time even though we're not sure
how long we'll be camping.

We then had dinner and proceeded to The Den for another night of beer and BS. I
met a man by the name of Paul. He seems to be a pretty good guy. Part of the
way through the night Nate and Cassandra had disappeared. I was under the
impression that they had just stepped out back for a moment, but after a while I
became somewhat worried.

I went out into the street to where the car was parked, and the car was gone. I
thought that one of two things may have happened. I figured that they had
either ran somewhere quick and would be right back, or one of them may have not
been feeling well and they had simply taken off (although I would find it a bit
strange that they failed to inform me of this).


So, I was stranded at The Den (which, if I might add is not a bad place to be
stranded if you like beer). I managed to sit there the entire night. I ended
up going to Paul's house and crashing on his couch.


Monday July 10th, 2006

As I had stated above, I woke up on Paul's couch this morning. He had to go to work at eight o'clock, so he basically gave me the boot (I know that he likes me, but obviously doesn't trust me enough to let me wear off my hangover at his house until about ten or so). He gave me a bike in which to get back to camp with. I haven't ridden a bike in a long time, but, ah, I guess it's a lot like riding a bike...you never forget how! Paul said that I'd be able to use the bike for as long as I'd like. I think that's great being that I can take some nature rides and get to know the area a little bit better. It only took me about fifteen to twenty minutes to get from Paul's house to the camp. Upon arriving there, I came to the aknowledgement that Nate and Cassandra had not been there the entire night. I wonder where they are (hopefully they haven't been out all night looking for me).

I took a swim in the pond and went into their tent to take a nap for a while. Upon waking, Nate and Cassandra still hadn't shown up. I thought I'd ride into town to look for them. I had hoped that they'd be at the Acoustic, or maybe on Campus, but hadn't seen there car anywhere.

I'm now at the bandshell park, and the internet connection is still up and running. It seems to be permanent, so I'm going to take full advantage of it.

My plan for this afternoon is to go to Wal-Mart on the north end of town. I'd like to buy some fishing equipment if at all possible. I've read through some fishing websites to find out what I need to do being that I have never gone fishing before. My journey over the last week or so has certainly been an educational one. I've learned so many things that I hadn't thought about before coming from the upper-class Madison neighborhood that I was raised in. I've come to this conclusion:

If you think you know everything...you don't. As they say..."There's always room for Jello".

I'm excited to get my fishing gear and head back to camp. I figured that it's probably a good skill to have. I'll fill you in on how my fishing is going.

I guess I'd probably better wrap it up at this point (while I'm stillambitious). I'll be sure to write more soon.

PS - Still no e-mails from Mom and Dad.
PPS - If anyone out there knows anything about how to catch Northern Pike or what baits to use, be sure to drop me reply or an e-mail...I could certainly use some advice.

Til Next time...
Eli