At the house where I live in Dickinson, there is a nice gas grill on the back porch, and a nice gas grill on the front porch.  The house is in a quiet rural area.  But, about half of the time, I don’t want to eat at home, because my room mate, the home owner, starts doing things that ruin my dinner:  watching a stupid television show, talking non-stop about problems, tripping over something and causing a cascading crash that goes on for minutes.

In one of my trucks, I have a bag of charcoal briquettes, matches, charcoal lighter fluid, plates, paper towels, and utensils.  I normally have a small cook out grill in the back of my truck, but the leg screws got rusty and it was unsafe so I threw it out.  On Friday, I went to the store and bought a new small charcoal grill for $25.  I went to the grocery store and bought some hamburger meat, some hot dogs, vegetables, and aluminum foil.  I was looking forward to going to Patterson Lake to cook out because it had been a nice, warm, sunny day.

When I got to Patterson Lake, it was as busy as a WalMart parking lot, and people were driving around fast and aggressively like they were in hurry.  I hate it, and can’t understand it, when people drive fast at Patterson Lake.  Are they thinking that they are going to miss seeing the water, trees, and grass if someone else gets there first?  I have seen it before, and this is how it was on Friday, that new four door trucks and new Suburbans drive 35 mph to 40 mph to get to a parking space, come to a stop fast, and then the people don’t know what to do or why they came, and they leave in about one minute or less because it’s not like television, and there is nothing going on.  Of course there is nothing going on dumbass! it’s trees, grass, water, and clear sky.  It would have been peaceful and quiet if people like you wouldn’t keep coming and going at 40 mph.

I parked by the covered picnic tables at the north side of the parking lot.  I have been cooking out at this spot since 2011, and have done so many many times.  I had to assemble the new cook out grill that I had just bought.  As I was assembling this grill on my truck tail gate, I noticed that the new concrete path that was built last year, now passes about twenty feet from the picnic tables.  Walkers and people walking their dogs kept passing by, talking and looking at me.  I came to Patterson Lake to get away from people and eat in peace.  This location was not going to work.

When I got done assembling the new grill, I put it in the back of my truck and I started driving to the west end of the park to find a place to cook out away from people.  Half way to the end of the park, I could see that there were people parked at the west end of the park too.  I was angry, that I could not get away from people, and I would have to go home and cook out on the gas grill on the porch.  The whole point of my trip to buy a new grill and go to Patterson Lake, was to not have to eat at home with my room mate.

Though I was angry at how absurdly busy Patterson Lake was, I think that I understand it.  There are a tremendous amount of new apartments and new town homes in Dickinson.  The apartment dwellers don’t have any yard, and on a nice day, they don’t want to stay inside their apartment that they have been stuck in all winter.  The apartment dwellers want to get outside and do something.  There are not a lot of things to do in Dickinson, so the only thing that many people could think to do, was drive to Patterson Lake.  Although when they get to Patterson Lake, they don’t know what to do, and they just turn around and leave.