In the beginning...

I first saw El Capitan in the summer of 1987. We worked at the same boy scout reservation but at different camps. There were two camps; he was at one and I at the other. I was already a Reagan Republican and Cap was anything but. Yes, he did use to be rather left of center, but that was before he had a real job. I am not sure we talked more than once that summer. I guess either his hair was a bit too long or I was a bit too close minded, probably a bit of both.

In 1989 we ended up working at the same camp. He was doing a mule packing/gold miner living history program and I was director of shooting sports. So our paths were crossing all the time. 18 June 1989 is the first of many times we got drunk together. There was much drinking and deviltry that summer. But that is for another time. Good times were had that summer. El Capitan says he is writing a book about those years. I reckon a lot of names are going to have to be changed to protect not only the innocent but the guilty as well. The only productive activity that summer was answering the elusive question as to how many grains of pyrodex you can load in a 50 cal hawken and not break your shoulder when you fire it. It is a bigger number than you might think. Oh and don’t eat the tomatos unless you wash them with soap and water first. Lots of soap and water