Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 14:39:14 -0700
From: borischen <borischen@zoho.com>
Subject: Camping in Kentucky Chapter 2

Chapter 2


Friday arrived. I never saw Lee at work. We both arranged to leave work
early. I slipped out about 11:30am and drove home to pack food and water
then stop at the Circle K to load up on ice.


By 12:30pm I was rolling into the mobile home park, found his trailer and
parked next to his truck. He assured me nothing would happen to my car
parked there. I saw why... there were two state police cars parked in front
of other trailers in that part of this facility.


He came out moments after I drove-up. Lee was wearing his usual, jeans,
boots, and a black worn t-shirt with a small round hole near the center of
his stomach. His gear was in two large duffle bags in the back seat of the
truck, I loaded mine in on the other side. We closed doors, literally
climbed-up into the front seats, he twisted the key, the truck rumbled to
life, so far so good.


Within minutes we were on the interstate heading south for Cincinnati, the
Ohio River and into Kentucky. The further south we went the hillier the
land got, the warmer it got outside too. This was November, the shadows
were long and the leaves were mostly off the trees. Most of the corn fields
along the interstate were cut flat months ago now.


We stayed on I-75 down to Cincinnati, over to I-471 then across the Ohio
River into Covington, Kentucky which is the southern half of the twin
cities. I-471 takes you to I-275 where you get off on Hwy 27, which goes
south to Claryville. Luckily traffic was going fast, we made great time.


We drove though Claryville then outside of town, turned onto a small paved
road that winded around between the hills, up and down too. I could see
some homes way back off the street, many looked kinda dumpy, some looked
nice. Saw several dead vehicles and farm tractors. Lots of CB antennas on
towers and several semi tractors in driveways. There were small bait and
ammo stores and an occasional small gas station. We turned right, at one
point Lee pointed to a small house with really tall grass in the front
yard, he said that was his uncle's place. Then we turned left down a dirt
road with two tire tracks but at least the trees didn't swipe the sides of
the truck.


Maybe another mile and we turned onto another two-rut trail but it only
went maybe thirty feet and ended at some big trees. Off went the truck but
his keys stayed in the steering column. Lee climbed out, opened the back
door. I did the same. We carried our gear down a footpath that headed out
straight in front of his truck. I had a cooler with wheels and the rest of
my stuff in a surplus military duffle bag with shoulder straps. Lee had two
of the same bags but no cooler. I wasn't sure what he was going to do for
water or food.


It was quite a hike. I was huffing and puffing by the time we got to the
top of the hill. The woods were so thick you couldn't see down into the
valley from the rim. The ground was rocky, black dirt and clay, lots of
foliage, vines, huge oak and cottonwood trees, lots of bird sounds but no
flying insects that I could see. We finally made it to the clearing. It
looked exactly like Lee described.  ---- By the time we got there I was
thirsty, sweaty, and sore. My back was aching and I wondered if the wheels
on my cooler even existed any more. Lee pointed to a spot near the round
clearing where the ground was mostly sandy.


"Pitch your tent there, put your stuff on that bench." He said pointing at
the far side near a huge diameter log cut into the shape of a
sofa. Glancing around I think I quickly counted about six of those
things. There was a stone fire pit in the center, maybe six feet in
diameter, higher up than the rest of the clearing. It almost looked like
some ancient ceremonial spot.


I set down my stuff and opened one end of my bag dumping it on the sand
spilling my gear with a loud crash of tent poles, aluminum pots and pans,
plates, and other stuff. Lee ventured off to check out the entire valley,
said he'd be right back.


On the north side of the clearing they had a tent spot about twenty feet
square with logs staked in place around the perimeter, filled with sand
like a giant sandbox. Perfect place to camp on nice soft ground. This place
seemed really thought out and well planned but it also looked like it
hadn't been used much lately.


By the time Lee came back I had my tent set-up, sleeping bag out, water out
of the cooler. And yes, the wheels on the bottom of my cooler were fine,
which was quite impressive considering how many rocks it got dragged over.


Lee joined me dumping his stuff near mine, within the first hour our camp
sites were set-up and ready to use. He suggested we go in search of
firewood. I grabbed my hatchet he grabbed his 45cal pistol and lead the
way.


We found a few downed trees with smaller limbs, we cut three taking turns
with the hatchet. No short logs for us, we chopped off long thick limbs and
pulled them to the fire pit. Adding kindling we found on the ground we had
a fire going in no time. Nothing like roughing it. Before we started
chopping off the tree parts we wanted for our fire Lee shot a few rounds
first to shatter the wood making cutting go much faster. I turned my head
pressing fingers into my ears. With each shot a huge cloud of wood
splinters and chunks flew into the air.


Lee said he makes one trip down here every February to chop down two trees
for firewood for the next season. He knew exactly where to go to find just
the right size pieces of firewood.


He unpacked some prepared camping meals, just add water `n heat. We hiked
over the hill to the east in the opposite direction of the truck to where
he said the nearest water ran by, a nice clean stream. Lee had his water
filter, I grabbed mine. We both had collapsable water jugs. Thirty minutes
later we returned to camp, each set out to make dinner.


The sun was low, the temps were dropping, the sky was getting darker, the
campfire was small and fading fast. By 9pm we'd both went to our tents
without much conversation after dinner. I simply did what he was doing with
my own stuff.


I laid on my back listening to the sounds of the nighttime forest, birds,
bats, crickets, and a rare frog croaking in the distance. I fell asleep
listening to all the forest sounds.