Our final stop came into view. We\u2019d traveled bend to bend. I wondered if the forest road would ever have an end.
\nWe\u2019d planned this trip for weeks to Yellow Jacket Ranger Station. The cabin was a welcome sight, way back in God\u2019s creation.
\nI couldn\u2019t help but notice the old outhouse up the hill. And shouldn\u2019t privies always be a pleasant walk downhill?
\nThe northern late-fall wind blew through the cabin\u2019s cedar door. I stuffed a blanket in the cracks from ceiling to the floor.
\nThe cabin was an icebox. It was dark at half past six. The woodstove begged for fire. I chopped a birch log into sticks.
\nSo I struck a match and lit the kindling, closed the door down tight. The old woodstove would prove its worth giving heat throughout the night.
\nMy mind turned to the outhouse, uphill fifty yards or so. I had taken care of business so I didn\u2019t have to go.
\nFor dinner we ate chicken stew, left from the night before. I ate like no tomorrow, didn\u2019t know what lay in store.
\nOutside the night was closing in. I heard a coyote yip. I wondered, \u201cDoes he feel the cold? The fall air bites a bit.\u201d
\nMy sleeping bag lay by the stove. I soaked in all the heat. And sleep was just a blink away, a long day now complete.
\nBut then, I\u2019d say around midnight, or somewhere there about, my stomach set to growling, \u2018cuz the stew was needing out.
\nI hoped this might be just a dream. How could it be for real? But my stomach soon convinced me from the cramps that I could feel.
\nI grabbed my boots and flashlight, stepped out in the cold night air. I must have been an awful sight, just boots and underwear.
\nThe run uphill with cheeks pressed tight met early morning sleet. But nothing could deter me from the outhouse one-hole seat.
\nA builder stamped his name inside the rickety old privy. Why did he build it up so high? I\u2019d like to stamp him silly.
\nI dashed back to the cabin through the sleet and pouring rain. Then stoked the fire and downed an Alka Seltzer for the pain.
\nOld Mother Nature wasn\u2019t very kind to me that night. And with every uphill trek I cursed the builder\u2019s name outright.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Our final stop came into view. We\u2019d traveled bend to bend. I wondered if the forest road would ever have an end. We\u2019d planned this trip for weeks to Yellow Jacket Ranger Station. The cabin was a welcome sight, way back in God\u2019s creation. I couldn\u2019t help but notice the old outhouse up the hill. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":20768,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160,2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22863","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cowboy-poetry","8":"category-commentary"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22863"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22863\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22864,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22863\/revisions\/22864"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}