Stoner Family Bear Camp 2008

My dad took this picture of the woods on the second day of bear season. Tuesday, November 25th. What a spectacular place to be! God is an awesome artist!!

You need to know that bear camp for the Stoner family (Laura's family) is tradition. It's something that we all look forward to. When it is possible, even the women and children go and enjoy the peace and serenity found in a winter mountain. The women cook supper and have a warm meal ready for the guys as soon as they get back to the cabin so that tired bodies can be dragged to bed ASAP for much needed rest. This year, Mark was able to recruit several buddies to share one of our hallowed spots. From our area here, two van loads headed towards central PA on Sunday evening. Mark's friend Byron Gurnee, his son Kenton, and a friend from the church he pastors, Wayne Drury, traveled in Wayne's van. Mark, Daryl, Josh Covert and Lee Shorts traveled in our van. Just outside State College, the guys decided to take a short cut into the camp and turned off 322 just past Skimont. The road would take them up over Tussey Mountain and drop them down the other side closer to the camp. This would give them the opportunity to arrive, unpack and get a little more sleep than going the whole way around the mountain through Reedsville. The conditions of the road appeared to be okay for travel but before they had driven very far, our guys took off on an unforgettable adventure. Mark turned the wheel to round a curve, but the van did not cooperate according to instruction. Our Caravan took on a mind of its own and decided that "he" was tired of being a van and wanted to try being an airplane. I can't imagine exactly what Caravan was really thinking because "he" made this decision impulsively without consulting the driver, and in an instant, Mark, Daryl, Josh and Lee were airborne! Hey! We all know that a fish is a fish and a bird is a bird, and while some "birds" can swim, fish certainly can't fly. So as you can see in the pictures that follow, our Caravan landed somewhere it did not belong. To make the adventure even more ridiculous, Wayne's van made the very same impulsive decision, and flew off of the roadway and down over the bank right after Caravan! Talk about bad influences!!! Mark said that when he consulted his rearview mirror in mid flight, he observed Byron bouncing in Wayne's van looking quite a bit like a big beach ball!! Hee, Haw!!! I wasn't even there but the picture that creates in my mind's eye has me laughing right now. You know how those beach balls kind of "float" in slow motion? Roaring out loud!!!! Well, we don't know how Wayne managed to keep from hitting Mark, but we are thanking God that no one was seriously hurt. Byron hit his head on the inside roof of the van but I would think that you can't really scramble already scrambled eggs!! Just kidding, Byron! Breathe, buddy! After discovering that everyone was okay, the guys laughed like idiots. When Mark called me to tell me what happened, the guys were making more noise than a that of a henhouse! Mark called triple AAA, but the guys used the adrenaline build up to get the vehicles out. Wayne's van was fairly easy to get back on the roadway, but old Caravan was a tad highsided and the load in the back that Josh and Lee brought along offered no mercy to the poor vehicle. Of course, we should be gracious with Josh and Lee and remember that this is their first time hunting bear in our neck of the woods and so they were simply trying to be prepared for --what?---they didn't know! Let's just say that the guys did not get that coveted extra sleep and in fact got less than if they had just gone the long way around and been done with it. Mark said that he would have to initiate the guys going to camp for the first time. It's tradition, y'know. I told him that he didn't have to do it all in the first night though!

Lee's digging in his luggage to make sure the picture of his beautiful wife didn't get broken. (Just kidding!) Josh and Daryl are the other two guys here.

Mark called for AAA. Kenton made sure he gave the right directions!

This is Kenton Gurnee, Lee Shorts, and Josh Covert early Monday morning following a restful night of enduring a lumberjack in the cabin. That's another whole story in and of itself. You'll have to go along next year to experience what that involves. Poor Josh looks like he could use a boost! I think there's a pop machine around the next tree and they just installed a new cappuccino bar up at the halfway point. Hang in there buddy!

This is the gang for the year 2008 with the exception of Wayne Drury, who graciously preserved this memory for these crazy guys. You gotta' love 'em! Left to right: Josh Covert, Daryl Fultz, Mark Fultz, Lee Shorts, Aaron Witmer, Byron Gurnee, Kenton Gurnee, Ron Stoner, Lew Stoner, and Ben Snyder. Mark, Ron and Lew Stoner are original members of our family gang. Lew Stoner is my (Laura's) dad. The guys have dubbed him the Patriarch!

These are a couple pictures of the pipeline where the guys sit. To give you a better perspective of this mountain, click on this picture to enlarge it and then find the three guys pictured at the bottom right of the mountain. The guys here are Dad Stoner, Josh Covert and Lee Shorts.

No. There were no bear shot this year but the time was time well spent together and the memories carved in this sliver of time are priceless. We thank God for the gift of our "extended family" and for graciously granting health and safety another year.