If I could hire scabs, I would

Tuesday, 2 September: I rode out of the campground just before 8AM, garbage in hand, looking for a place to throw it. There was a guy sitting outside the office, which still had the "closed" sign up. Did he work there, or was he a fellow camper, waiting to pay? I rode closer, still looking for a garbage can. He greeted me with a friendly smile. I greeted him back, and asked if there was a garbage can around. "Is it just that?" he asks. "I can take it for you." I thank him and hand him my trash. I wish him a good day and ride away as he steps inside the office to throw out my trash. As I ride off, I congratulate myself for being so ballsy as to ask a campground employee to throw out my garbage while I waltz away without paying. Then I feel guilty. But seriously, these campground payment schemes are unfair to the lone campers, and it's not as if I plan on doing this regularily. Just often enough to not feel screwed for all of the times I've over-paid. (Justify, justify, justify.)

At some point in the afternoon, General Fatigue, Sweaty Bum Rash and Sore Leg Muscles formed a collective bargaining unit and invited Willpower to the table for a talk.

Willpower swaggered in to the room with a cocky smile, sat down at the mahogany table and asked "What's up, guys?" Her smile faltered a bit when she noticed the angry glares on the faces of the others at the table.

"We would like to take tomorrow off," said Sore Leg Muscles.

Willpower answered, "Yeah, I know you guys have been working really hard, and I appreciate it. I have such confidence in you, and I wouldn't ask you to do more than I thought you could handle. Here's what I'm thinking: we finish out today, then do a half day tomorrow that will take us to a really cool park over by the Thousand Islands, then we spend all afternoon and the next morning there, then do another half day, then we're on track to make Ottawa on Friday."

"No way!" Sweaty Bum Rash hissed vehemently. "I know about your half days! You say we are going to take two in a row, but then you--"

"Let's try to keep a civil dialogue flowing," General Fatigue cut her off with a sharp look. She turned back toward Willpower. "Rash has a point. You haven't always kept you word on half days. Look, if you examine your position, you will see that you don't exactly have any power in this situation. If you agree to take tomorrow off, we will agree to make decent progress today, and get you to Ottawa on Friday. Otherwise, we will call it quits right now, and good luck getting out of this random yard you are loafing in."

Willpower considered this for the briefest of moments, then agreed with mock courtesy, "Taking tomorrow off sounds like a great idea. We'll just go to the state park, pay for a night, and see how we feel in the morn--"

"Uh-uh," said Muscles sharply. "You're going to commit. We're paying for two nights up front."

"Fine," Willpower rolled her eyes. "Is there anything *else* you want?"

Rash asked sheepishly, "Could we buy some baked goods? You never let us buy anything squishy..."

"I am completely on board with that!" Willpower said a little too eagerly.

When we all got to the park on Lake Ontario with our grocery bag full of baked goods and cherry-jalepeño fudge, there was a sign on the office that instructed us to go pick a campsite and come back to pay in the morning. The park is trying to tempt us to sneak out without paying and not take tomorrow off! But we won't do it. We have a deal. And beside, there is a swimming beach here, and tomorrow is supposed to be nice. That hasn't happened often enough on this trip. Now, I just need to make friends with some of the kayakers camped here...