Lady Goes Walkabout - Chapter 2
Day 11
I managed to get out the door and to walk. I circled the neighborhood two times, and then walked out to another neighborhood nearby. I didn’t see anything new, but I enjoyed getting out and the feeling of movement. The sun on my skin, and the feel of sky above my head lifted me up. Just knowing there is no roof, no ceiling, no halogen lights or heavy beams, just far reaching sky made me feel free, taller and able to keep moving. I walked until I felt hungry. I had forgotten how hungry I could feel at times. Back at the house I made a quick cheese sandwich, sliced an apple and took my lunch to the back porch. I started dreaming of other places I could walk, and of even camping. My food had never tasted so good. Whatever kind of apple that was, I need to find it again. And the cheese, bread and mayo, I really enjoyed my lunch, simple as it was.
Day 12
I am disgusting! I am gross! I stink! There, I get to use the word from my 12-year-old journal, gross! I am sitting at my kitchen table, itchy, dirty, and yes, gross. My neighbors think I am crazy. They are probably right. All this started because I bought a hammock. I had enjoyed sleeping outside so much I decided to do it again. This time I wanted a little less hip pain, so I went shopping and picked up a camping hammock. I didn’t know there was such a thing, I thought you could only camp in tents.
Yesterday I decided to sleep in the hammock in the back yard, but first I was going to walk, maybe have a picnic somewhere and sit in my hammock. I filled my book bag with a couple of sandwiches and some cookies, a water bottle and a thermos of my leftover coffee. I added my new hammock and a flashlight, just in case, and I also stuffed my raincoat in the bag. I felt fairly well prepared for a day walk.
I walked out of my neighborhood but this time I walked away from town. I did buy a soft drink and candy bar from the drug store first. I’m not sure what they thought of me, walking around the suburbs of the south wearing the pack, but no one said anything. I walked down two-lane roads, avoiding traffic, and I enjoyed my pretty country walk. I passed a horse farm. Two horses wandered up to the fence to see what I was doing. I fed them tasty grass from my side of the fence. A lady walked out of the barn, waved at me, then wandered off to finish her work. I continued, passing a few high-end neighborhoods, fancy houses in country style, big porches rarely used, tiny lots. They liked living by the horse farms, on the edge of the country, but these communities just recreated the same old suburbs.
My plan was to walk, enjoy a picnic somewhere and then go home, put up the hammock in my back yard, and camp beside my indoor plumbing filled home. I stopped at the intersection of those large power lines crossing the road. Looking down the power line pathway I could see what looked like a trail to forever. On impulse I turned and followed the dirt path. As soon as the road was out of sight I stopped for lunch. I sat on my raincoat, which is why I brought it, and pulled out my food. First I ate one of the sandwiches, drank my water and enjoyed the cookies. How much fun it was to eat outside after a good walk. I looked up to see two hawks circling lazily in the sky. What a pleasant place. I dozed some.
When I woke up I didn’t want to go home just yet. Looking at the sky was nice. Listening to birds and breezes was peaceful. I walked along my dirt path, wondering how far it would go. The clearings under power lines are not all smooth trails. There are places where huge piles of dirt have been pushed up and left as giant mountains. The same was true with dead trees, they had just been pushed into a pile. I had to maneuver around the trees, but I loved climbing the dirt hills. I felt like a true explorer, gazing off into the woods from on high. Far off I could see rooftops, and a road. Back down off the hill I was simply back in the trees.
I came to a spot covered in high grass. I didn’t want to walk in that because of ticks. Beside the high grass was a deep pile of dead trees. To my side the woods opened up, and in the shade I saw a perfect place to tie up and try the hammock.
Who knew there was wilderness, so close to home? Who knew I could walk to such a place. I dropped my bag, pulled out the hammock, and eventually strung it between two trees. I tested it out, very comfortable. In the distance I could hear dirt bikes, I had seen tracks on the dirt piles. Luckily they never came my way. After a while I needed to pee. Nervously I looked around. I hadn’t seen people almost the entire day, but I still felt the need to hide behind some bushes to drop my pants. First time to pee outside! I dripped a little on my shoe, and I had not thought about toilet paper. I wiggled and dripped then finally pulled my pants and underwear back up. Ick.
The sun moved closer to the horizon. I decided to eat my last sandwich before heading back home. Reaching into the pack I felt something tickly, itchy, followed by pain. Ants were crawling up my arm. Screaming, I brushed them off, flinging my pack against a tree. The ants scattered. So did the contents of the pack. I shook the pack, shook my raincoat, and tossed the food far away. Done finally with the ants I tried to gather my things back. I found the raincoat, and the thermos and coffee. I calmed myself with my lukewarm drink and enjoyed every drop. It was time to go home, and it was getting dark. I needed a shower and wanted to put something on the ant bites that were itching.
As the sun went down the mosquitos came out. My ant bites hurt, the mosquitos stung, and I couldn’t find the flashlight. I looked all around, but the darkness defeated me. Finally I gave up. I was terrible nervous about walking back in the dark. I tried to remember how rocky the trail had been, and if there were places I could get lost. A strange thought crept into my mind, why not just sleep here and walk out in the morning.
“Is that allowed?” I wondered.
But who would I ask? Should I have to ask? My house might miss me. I tried to talk myself out of sleeping here, while the hammock looked more and more inviting. I balled up my raincoat for a pillow and climbed into the hammock. I was going to get to sleep in the woods after all.
I slept pretty well at first. Then I woke to noises, snuffling breathing chewing noises. Something had discovered my sandwich. That something hung around for a long time, but finally drifted away. I dozed. I woke again. It was breezy and the cool air felt good. The bugs were gone and I didn’t have to scrunch so tightly into the hammock. I heard another noise, a kind of wet splat, followed by another and another. Rain fell and I shivered under the raincoat that only partially kept me dry.
Sometime before dawn the rain stopped. I wish I could say that was the worst part of my crazy little adventure. But, of course, I am bothered by many different things.
As soon as the sun came up I gathered all my belongings. My wet hammock, my wet pack, my wet self, and I began to walk home. It was a pretty morning, the clouds moved on, and the birds were especially active, but I was wet and itchy. When I came to the road it was still early, and the road was empty. I just put my head down and watched my feet, one foot and the other foot, moving me closer to my shower. As the morning wore on cars started passing by, I just kept stepping, kept looking down and moving. Then the worst possible thing to happen, well, happened.
“Cassie?.......Cassie Simpson?”
I kept walking.
“Cassie, is that you?”
It wasn’t just any neighbor that had pulled over in her car. It was Bonnie “supermom” Edwards. Bonnie’s shiny clean Civic was in front of me, pulled off the road. With her window down Bonnie’s clean face looked out, a few wisps of perfect blond hair spilling from her ponytail.
“Cassie? Hop in. Let me give you a ride. Are you…..OK?”
I looked in the window of her car. Two toddlers were in the backseat, one drinking from a sippie cup. Both looked at me wide eyed. Bonnie looked very concerned.
“Thanks,” I said. “I’m kind of a mess. It would be better if I walked.
“Nonsense.” She hopped out of the car, opened the trunk and pulled out a towel.
“For playground days,” she explained as she handed it to me. “Get in.”
I sat in the car trying my best not to touch anything, placing my pack at my feet. We drove off. In a few minutes Bonnie asked, “Did something ….happen….. to you?”
“No, really I am just fine. Just a long walk is all.” I felt foolish as well as itchy, dirty and smelly.
After a few minutes she tried again. “Cassie, do you have someone you can talk to? A friend, family, a pastor?”
We pulled into my neighborhood, and my driveway.
“Bonnie, I am fine. I was just……” I wasn’t sure what to say. “I was doing some research for grad school, for my thesis.”
“Oh”, she sighed. “Well, I hope you….enjoyed…….learned……a lot.”
“Thanks for the ride. Bye kids.”
I nearly flew into the house.
Now that I’ve written, and eaten and had coffee, I’ll shower and sleep and never leave the house again.
Day 13
Yesterday was embarrassing, but yet it was fun. Not fun in the nice music and good dinner sort of way, but just fun. I enjoyed the walk. The ants were awful, but if I had looked before dropping my pack I could have avoided that. The rain was a pain, perhaps some kind of tarp would have kept me dry. I know I was a mess when Bonnie saw me, but her reaction was extreme. She was worried because she found me wandering down a country road, dirty and wet. Also, maybe I had acted embarrassed. That might not have helped. Why do we think we have to act a certain way, or find our pleasures in only accepted manners? What is wrong with walking? Nothing.
I drove out to the nature park and walked all morning. Again I took a picnic lunch with me. A few other people were out enjoying the day as well, and we nodded to each other, friendly and unconcerned. I found a nice spot beside the river, sat on my raincoat again, and just relaxed. Two guys walked by, said hello, and scrambled up some rocks to also enjoy the view of the water. I began to think. Walking on trails, in nature parks and woodlands, places where people are expected to walk, we are not strange. Walking down country roads, or especially city roads, we are strange. Who decided that?
After lunch I drove to a bookstore at the mall. I found hiking guides, trail guides, camping and backpacking guides. I looked through all of them. I was surprised to see so many books about hiking and camping. I bought a couple of the books, and then I drove to the outdoor store on the other side of town. The same guy that had sold me the hammock was there. I asked him what to do with rain. He showed me some tarps and ropes, but mentioned that sometimes a tent is the best thing.
I bought the cheapest tent I could find, a sleeping bag and a mat to go under the bag. I picked up a cooking stove, pot, a new flashlight, and some rope. I was warned that all these items would be fine for car camping, but not for backpacking. That was OK, I wasn’t sure what I was doing or even what I wanted to do. Car camping would be fine.
Back home I looked through the books and discovered a campground less than an hours drive from the house. Excited, I packed up what I needed, planned some meals and drove off.
Day 14
I am beginning to think I am one impulsive girl. Just because I found a book on camping I bought a tent. Just because I bought a tent I drove to the campground. It was near dark by the time I picked out a site and set up my tent. I ate a cold dinner of tuna on crackers and then sat at the picnic table until I was tired. I crawled into the new sleeping bag and fell asleep quickly. Today, as soon as the sun came up, I was awake. It took me a while to figure out how to light the stove to boil my water, but eventually I had a breakfast of oatmeal and my coffee. I also ate a bagel. Now I am going to walk all over this place, just explore and see what is here. I’ll take bagel sandwiches and water, and just go. A lot of folks are camping here, as I write I can see families moving around, kids playing and people building fires. I can smell bacon and coffee. I like that smell.
Later
I had a wonderful day! I wish every day could be like this one. I walked all over the campground. At first I walked on the roads, passing all the campsites. Then I followed a road to the lake, and walked around the water. I saw people fishing, boating, and just exploring, like me. After I ate my lunch by the water I started back to the campsite. On the way I passed the ranger station, where I had paid. They had a map of trails, so the rest of the day I hiked up and down the mountain, circled the lake and generally wore myself out. Once back I braved the stove again, fire scares me, and had a wonderful dinner. Who knew noodles and canned meat could taste so good. I prepared for a campfire, and as the sun is going down and it is getting harder to see to write, I will put away the notebook and light the fire. Do I have to go back to my house?
Day 15
I ran out of food, and so I returned home. I was tired, and it was good to sleep in my bed, do laundry, shower and relax on the couch. I think I like camping, and I am ready to do some more. No one has offered me a summer job but I made enough with the teaching during the school year. If I don’t spend too much, and am careful, I should be OK through the summer without a job. I am beginning to make plans, somewhere in the deep part of my mind, and that scares me. I might not be here in Georgia after next week. I could go anywhere, see anything. Who knows? I pulled out a road atlas of the US, and my heart started pounding. Lines everywhere, pointing to all sorts of places. Like my path under the power lines, once I start along a path who knows where I might end up. The maps almost made me dizzy, considering all the possibilities. This time though, I will make a few plans. I do have bills to pay, a house to keep up. I need to think a little bit. In the corner of the house a little smoke whipped around, and disappeared.
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