A Rondy-Voo Journal - Part 1

Howdy, folks! This be Scribe here, gettin' ready to give an account of our doin's at the Cache Le Plew (that's French, jest so ya know) Rendezvous! So you'd better find a seat, as this'll be quite a tale...
On the 17th of Sept, Mountain Man, Reaches Up, Little Big Man, and I went on up to the site of the rendezvous, and began settin' up camp. Boy, was that fun (nah, jest kiddin'! We was all half dead by the time we was done)! Really though, it was perty neat seein' our tent an' stuff set up.
After that, we all got dressed up in style! Yeehah! Boy, did our buckskins feel good after such a long time o' wearin' them flatlander garments! We was ready for shinin' times at the rondy-voo( that's mountain man spellin').
When we had got all ready, we went 'round to the different other camps, greetin' old friends, and sayin' howdy-do to new ones. Yep, 'twas all perty nice, and in no time 'tall, we was feelin' at home, talkin' the good ol' mountain man language (that most respectable tongue includes ol' favorites, like "ain't"), and gettin' good an' dirty (yep, ye can't be one o' the group without a respectable 'mount of grime, soot, and sod rubbed into yer clothes, hair, an' all! Ha!) :D
Then, as 'twas gettin on dinner time, I, bein' dubbed camp cook all o' the sudden, began the evenin' meal: homemade beefstew an' cornbread! Yum! :)
After we had done stuffed ourselves full ( yessiree, I even filled that hollow leg o' mine), dinner clean up began! Well, as I was the camp cook o' sorts, I "arranged" for Little Big Man to do the dishes ( any o' ya'll ever cleaned cast iron afore?). Did he ever like that! :) I'm still awaitin' his thanks!
While the "washerman" did the dirty dishes, I stuck a pot o' water on for hot cocoa ('twas dark by this time). Twenty five minutes later, I took it off, believin' that the water was well nigh scaldin' already (I done forgot that cookin' o'er the fire ain't the same as on a gas stove... not that I know what one o' them is). I poured the water into the cups of cocoa, stirred well, and then served 'em, waitin' for praise about my superior hot-cocoa -makin'-expertise! Five minutes later, all I heard was "yeck!" and "did you stir this stuff up?". Even Dad made a face at the brown liquid in his cup! What went wrong? Turns out the fire hadn't quite heated the water enough, and ya'll know that them cocoa packets don't stir up when the water ain't hot! To tell the truth, it was quite nasty. The water was brown alright, but there wern't no taste; jest brown, unmixed cocoa powder at the bottom o' the cup! Yeck! :)
Well, that did it for the first day, and soon we all retired to our bedrolls and blankets for a good night's rest. As it was rather warm, I decided I wouldn't get in my sleepin' bag, but would jest lie there under the blankets. A couple hours later, I woke up freezin' (wish I had had a thermometer). Then I found my warm bag most agreeable! :D

-Scribe