With the off topic "Yuck" story I figured it is about time I relate the "Groover" story that Wanda & Pete liked so much when they were in Kernville for a visit. As some of you know our family does quite a few multi day rafting trips and have boated from Canada to Costa Rica and many rivers here in the west. One factor in preparation is to figure out how much gear ,food, and various other supplies to bring along and that is primarily Gwen's duties. One very important item is what we call the "Groover" and the various additional Groover annexes that we need depending on number of days and number of folks on the trip and that along with guiding the raft falls into my duties. We can not leave ANYTHING behind on the river. The groover is generally an army surplus rocket box that has a cut down toilet seat that fits neatly inside, and either has a double bag system or a special valve that allows flushing at an appropriate facility. (Now I digress abit as someone surely is wondering why we call it a Groover. We call it a Groover after an early trip where the toilet seat was left at the put in and you can figure out where the grooves were.) Well on this particular San Juan river trip we had a brand new Groover and was trying out the new regulations for a new system the government was setting up (they don't want feces bags in trash dumps but baby diapers are ok). The new Groover was all decked out with a great gold colored paint job, and a fancy blue lid. The ten of us spent several wonderful days on the river and generally when getting off a river trip you are looking for a hot shower and a place to relax for the old folks and a little excitement for the younger crowd. There were two other young single ladies along on the trip with our daughter and after tossing some gear into our daughter's pickup , covering the back with a cargo net they took off for a shower,change of clothes, and found a western bar that had a men's tight levis contest. They didn't tell us how long the contest lasted, but upon returning to the truck found that someone had taken two dry bags with sleeping bags and various outdoor apparel. The local deputy arrived and seemed pretty bored by the whole report thing, until he got to the part about the "Groover" being stolen. It took some clarification, but when he finally figured out that not only had the thief stolen a porta potty, but a ten people-six day supply very FULL porta potty he could hardly contain himself.
We have no idea if the perp ever was captured, but if he was no doubt he has a really different alias. I could just imagine two guys fighting over who gets the special golden box with the blue lid. This probably put the deputy into the hall of fame for report writing.

Don



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