Date: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 01:39:58 -0700
From: borischen <borischen@zoho.com>
Subject: camping in kentucky, chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen.

Tuesday we finished building the shower and both took advantage of the
newest amenity in the valley. The good part being none of the water went to
waste like it did down by the creek.

Our garden showed the signs of being watered more as well. Lee really took
over the garden plot. He got a bunch of thin strips of scrap wood from his
department at work. They were strips of lumber about one inch by one inch
about four feet long. Next he got a pile of metal straps from the hardware
store that came with these little wood screws and fastened them into longer
pieces. He got several big rolls of chicken coop wire fencing to go around
the outside of the garden, buried the perimeter about six inches into the
rich black dirt after digging out the expected ton of rocks first. But he
got it done before we came down together and started planting stuff back in
May. I think the lack of irrigation kept the size of the veggies short.

He weeded the soil by hand like a good Amish farmer once or twice a
month. Today we both worked in the garden on our hands and knees. He had
one row of onions and carrots, one of potatoes and tomatoes and the last
one of corn, cucumbers and lettuce but I don't think this garden gets
enough hours of daily sunshine to grow corn. We'll see.

It turned out to be like a day working in the sun. We showered that
afternoon, the plants surely said `thank you.' We built a fire in the pit,
then did some drinking and talking that night.  ---- Late in the morning on
Wednesday we hiked back to the truck, a hike which doesn't feel nearly as
long or challenging since I first came here. Since it's not a straight line
the total distance is just under three football fields in length each
way. We've discussed cutting more trees to move the parking spot much
closer to the valley. We've also discussed a new path, making it straight
which might shorten it to just under 600 feet door to car door. When that
walk sucks is when we're getting freezing rain. Even if it's wet out you
can still walk in the weeds next to the path to avoid the mud but you can't
do that with ice. I hate freezing rain more than anything else on earth.

First we agreed on supplies to get, mostly food, then we gathered our
garbage to dump at the gas station. After walking about twenty feet up the
trail Lee stopped turned around and laughed at me. I was surprised at first
then he reminded me that we were totally nasty and unshaven, not
civilization-ready.

After a laughing about-face we headed for the cabin to make ourselves
presentable. Even without a shower we both wiped up nicely and with
baseball caps on, nobody would know we came from the land of
no-running-water.

We stopped and got some fried chicken, which some folks down here take real
seriously. They say that KFC was started not too far from here over in
Corbin. Then we ducked into a Radio Shack to get some LED's and wire
because I was going to make us a custom string of lights and reflectors out
of empty aluminum cans to mount permanently on the ceiling of the cabin and
maybe one outside the door on a switch.

When we got back to Lee's Valley, or "LV" as we've started calling our
temporary home, we had a big feast of hot chicken with sides of corn and
coleslaw which we had to eat due to our lack of refrigeration. The leftover
chicken went into a double layer plastic bag into the creek which ran about
50 degrees this time of year which was not refrigeration but better than 83
degrees. And while we were there we also brought back about fifteen gallons
of water for the shower and cooking. We now had three food grade five
gallon buckets with lids for hauling water.  ---- Thursday.

On Thursday it looked like some of the veggie patch was ready to pick. We'd
extended the chicken wire to cover the sides and made a top too because the
birds were getting everything the rabbits couldn't.  Between the two of us
we picked six large potatoes, several carrots and some radishes. When Lee
chased out a rabbit that made it somehow into our cage he pulled out his 45
and wasted it on the spot. Poor animal never saw it coming. My left ear was
deaf after that shot for the next hour. It happened so fast I had no time
to prepare, it was like he screamed "Fucker!" then came the huge BANG! The
poor little critter was splattered badly then got tossed into the fire pit
for proper disposal. Lee won't eat rabbit, I never tried it but it looks
like a lot of work for very little meat.

We had veggies and canned ham for dinner today, with wine and cigars
after. That evening we decided to sit in front of the fan powered by the
deep cycle battery because it was really humid and muggy. Just for comfort
Lee shed all his clothes then I did the same.

We had the radio on softly playing an ESPN station from Cincy listening to
a Cincinnati Reds ball game while we chatted about our early lives and
rooted for them to beat the Cardinals. I also had a nice time staring at
his body lit by the tiny LED lighting I made for the ceiling of our place
giving the indoors a soft warm lighting. I could stare at his chest and
stomach all day long.

I think he never considered himself as being attractive before. One day Lee
confided in me that he thought his dick was small until he got sexually
active with other boys and never saw one in person that was bigger than
his. Of course the internet is full of `em.

Sometimes Lee would tease me with his bare chest by leaning back as if
stretching and yawning. There were also times he wore a really large tank
top, he would pull the strap up close to the side of his neck and show off
a tit for me while we were eating but seldom make it obvious, always like
it sort of happened by coincidence.  ---- Friday.

Friday morning it was cloudy out with rain in the forecast. We started
cleaning up the trails after breakfast. We got this hand tool with a sharp
horizontal blade on the bottom of a wooden handle like a broom stick, not
sure what they're called. It's for cutting grass I think. We walked
together on all our trails with that and the hand clipper trimming back all
the trail invading branches and saplings. Lee told me every other year he
used Round-Up on the trails and all around the clearing and sandbox.

About 4pm Lee sniffed the air and said, "Better get supper started, rain's
comin." He knew from years of experience here the smell of approaching rain
in these hills. Without TV it was the best way we had to forecast the
weather, along with our old glass barometer hanging in the cabin.

We had pasta, chicken, garden onions, and boiled potatoes for dinner
tonight. While we were eating sitting on the bench the rain showed-up. It
started with a few spits of water then a deluge. We had to scramble to get
everything of value inside. It was a cool rain but before it got dark out
we went outside and showered, then rinsed off under the rain dripping off
the makeshift gutter we put on the cabin roof. That night we listened to
the radio and laid in bed naked talking all evening.

It turned out to be a very romantic evening, we slowly stroked each other
to orgasm laying on our bed and wiped up each other's jizz. In the distance
the thunder rumbled but never got close to us. Just in case I disconnected
everything from the antennas outside.

Our battery power ran down early tonight due to the cloud cover so we went
to bed early.  ---- Saturday.

Saturday the rain continued off and on but not nearly as hard. We ate
inside all our meals today and didn't get clothes on until about 2pm when
we decided to go fishing in the creek to the east. We never caught anything
so it was canned Pacific Salmon instead. During the rains we'd run together
to the outhouse to pee and right back. We never went together if poop was
involved.  ---- Sunday.

Sunday conditions on UHF seemed to be great, we got two bars on the 3G
wireless. We both checked our emails and made sure the outside world still
existed.

So far this was the most relaxing vacation I ever had. Sure we worked some
and had to put more effort into some basic stuff. Calling for delivery
pizza was out of the question but our homemade was really decent. Bad part
was we were slowly outgrowing our tiny 8x8 cabin deep in the woods in our
own two acre valley.

The rain stopped and the sun came out Sunday around 1pm. Since our network
of paths are mostly clay we couldn't walk around much since they were all
slick as snot. We spent that morning discussing the future of this site,
the subject of adding-on came up. Between him and me we drew up rough
sketches for how to increase the size of this cabin. Neither of us wanted a
repeat of the building materials hauling task. Since we built a simple
bracket to sit over the wheelbarrow to hold at least two sheets of plywood
at a time the task of hauling stuff from the truck was no longer a
guaranteed backache but still a pain in the neck.

Our plans on the legal pad today seemed to point out that another cabin
aimed at the septic system might be able to allow us to add an indoor
toilet and simple indoor plumbing. Our discussions determined that our big
wish was for indoor plumbing, a simple sink, toilet that flushed, and a
simple shower. Even if it was hand powered water that would be better than
the long walk to the creek and water you couldn't really drink as-is.

"I met this guy in the factory that has an old gas powered one-inch well
drilling machine." Lee blurted out.

"What about your plans to run hose from the creek?"

"Well that would only work about eight months a year but a real well could
give us water all year long we could drink right from the tap."

"Yeah, but I bet the ground water here is hard as hell too."

"Well sure it is. You should see my Uncle Dave's utility sink the clothes
washer dumps into, it looks like it got painted brown years ago. It's
supposed to be white. His toilets are always fluffy brown but it tastes
decent."

"Did you price a well screen and pipe casing?"

"No, but he said when he sometimes pulls old ones his customer usually
wants a new one. We could probably acid wash an old one and hand clean it
of any stones and make it like new in no time." He replied with a smile at
the prospect of having actual running water inside the cabin.

Our drawings and discussions seemed to conclude that another cabin section,
like the first one sitting towards the septic tank would be the way to
go. We could hand-dig a trench for a three inch sewer pipe and hand cut a
hole in the side of the tank we made.

Lee would pursue the well option, we would share costs and get a hand
pitcher pump and position the well where the second section of cabin would
go so the well would top-out right next to where a kitchen sink would
sit. We'd design the inside of the next section to add a cooking-washing
area, a water closet, a tiny shower, a water tank in the attic, and storage
space. Later that day it came to me to change the size of our planned cabin
section. We agreed to shrink our plans to eight feet wide but only six feet
long - towards the outhouse. The smaller size would also cut the costs and
amount of lumber to transport from the truck. I think the smaller size
would be less bouncy in the floor and better tolerate the weight of a freak
winter snow fall.

Another drawing Lee made had the ideal long term cabin plan enlarged to
four total units like a plus sign (+) with the wide walls facing a small
central courtyard, about 8x8 in which we could do whatever. The next unit,
the one with water and sewer would be oriented at a right angle to the
first one, only touching at the corner with no direct connection between
the two. This meant we'd need to add a back door to the original cabin.

That afternoon we both sunbathed in our birthday suits on the Cottonwood
log sofas. We laid down a bath towel, laid out in the sun for 30 minutes
per side.

Lee laid down first, I grabbed the tube of sunscreen and got to my knees on
the dirt path by the sofa then squeezed some lotion on the center of his
chest and some near both knees and one on his lower stomach.

First I started with his furthest shoulder, rubbed it down his arm then
back up to around his arm pit, then across to the other arm, the side of
his chest and flank of his side closest to me. Next I worked on his
furthest side which was hard to reach, but if I couldn't reach it neither
could the sunshine so I went back to his upper chest to gently do his neck,
cheeks, chin, nose and forehead.

Now I went slowly down his chest sliding my hand back for forth all across
his chest then down the lumps onto his stomach. The sunscreen lotion got
smeary in the thicker pubes growing around his belly button. Eventually I
got his entire front side done, we both were turned on but the sun was on
the move. I did myself and laid on the next sofa over to soak up the rays.

We both laid for half an hour then rolled over. Our backs only got about 20
minutes because the shade of the trees started to block our direct
sunshine. The longest daily sunshine here was by the garden. The hardwoods
around the clearing lean-in leaving only a smaller hole to see an
unobstructed sky. Further south along the shooting range the opening to the
sky is much larger as you get towards the actual center of Lee's Valley
which is about 150 feet south of the fire pit.

About 4pm we showered together after hauling another load of water up to
replace what we were about to use.

Dinner was later than normal but bedtime came early. We read this evening
with what was left of the battery charge in my e-book readers. Lee is not a
huge reader, it was a trick finding something he found truly interesting to
get him to want to read when I did. Sometimes I would read to him, which he
seemed to like. When I read hot gay sex stories he would kneel next to me
and give me head when he got too hot himself.  ---- Monday.

Monday morning we left for my house about 9am after closing up stuff and
carting all our trash up to the truck along with our sketches and
valuables.

We got to my place about 11:30am after stopping at the lumber yard to get
some ideas what stuff costs, like pipe for the sewer line. I estimated it
was going to cost about $600 to build the addition from new materials. Lee
said he would go in search of scrap lumber again since he was getting to
know the right people to ask. Problem was with the worsening economy more
and more people were doing the same thing as us.

The first thing we did at my place was utilize the bathroom and laundry
machines. For a couple hours we had no clothes on at all in my place
because we washed everything we had with us.

I made us a small lunch, he put on an old swim suit of mine and went
outside to see what could be done with my broken hot tub, could it be fixed
or should it be scrapped and used at Lee's Valley. He determined the heater
was clogged and broken, a shorted heating element. The previous owner lost
some underwear, it got stuck in the heater and eventually plugged the pipe
and shorted out. Lee said we could fix it for about $30 or scrap the whole
thing and take the pump and heater to LV. We later decided to repair it
instead since we had no power really in Kentucky to operate any of that
stuff. It was dead sitting there on the back deck when I bought this house
years ago. It was nice to think we might actually be able to use it some
day soon.

Finally our clothes got dried, it felt nice after a long hot shower to put
on clean clothes but I still didn't let him wear a shirt around the
house. We ordered delivery pizza tonight, a luxury we didn't have for the
past week or so. I got an extra-large, medium crust with pepperoni, cheese,
onions, sausage, and banana peppers. This should last us to breakfast
tomorrow, along with a nearly limitless supply of wine and bottled water.

We ordered a book from Amazon on how to live in the wilderness comfortably
without electricity. I bought the new well casing, he agreed to re-build an
old well point screen at his home in Dayton. He'd start on that as soon as
he got back home.

We also devised a plan to clear a spot to the north of our cabin for solar
panels, facing the cabin from the clearing it would be about seventy feet
behind the outhouse, going up the north slope of Lee's Valley towards his
Uncle's David's place. We could cut trees and build an elevated support to
maximize sun hours and not tamper with what he had carefully built in the
clearing. We could save the wood for a planned woodstove to heat the place
in winter.

There was so much work to do our conversations were always about what we
wanted to do more than all the stuff we'd done already, we were growing
closer and closer without speaking about `us' out loud. All I knew was I
loved being around him, I loved looking at his body, he loved spending all
his time with me and was always awestruck at how smart I was despite my
total lack of hill-smarts (as he calls it). Combining his brain and mine I
think we made one normal gay man.  ---- I put on pajamas about time the
pizza was due. The delivery guy arrived with two bags, one hot the other
cold. He brought three bottles of wine, chilled. One pizza box, extra
large. A six pack of beer, and a box of chicken nuggets and another with
stuffed jalapeno poppers. Then there were the bowls of dipping sauces and a
stack of paper towels and packs of crushed red peppers. Total bill was
$109, we gave a $20 tip for his two mile drive and 70 foot walk around the
back of my house.

The delivery guy looked younger than Lee but was really thin and hot, my
gay radar was pinging like crazy. I think Lee's was too after he heard the
gay accent coming from the kitchen because he walked in only wearing white
briefs to check out the delivery boy. As he carried-in stuff his bare
smooth lower belly showed again and again, plus his t-shirt was tight as
paint, there was nothing left to the imagination. He smiled and inspected
Lee from head to toe when he sauntered-in trying to look all hot and
hungry, but the guy disappeared fast with the cash.

Luckily my ice box was mostly empty so we didn't have the eating pressure
like we might in Kentucky with no electricity. We watched a movie on
Showtime and went to bed tired from a long day, lots of stuff got done
today.

We slept in my bed on opposite sides. I slept like a baby, Lee barely
snored. We took about a twenty minute long shower before bed.  ----
Tuesday.

Tuesday we got up early and went to Lowe's again on a spy mission to price
things and make more lists, plus we got a replacement for the heating
element in my hot tub. For lunch today we stopped at an Olive Garden in
town. There was supposed to be a guy cutting my yard today, about right
now.

"You know what you should do Lee?" I asked him while we were eating right
after the waiter brought our soup and salad.

"No, what's that?" He said slurping on a large spoon of hot soup.

"You should move-in with me. I got lots of space. You could have your own
room and stuff. It would save you the cost of rent every month. How much
you payin' now?"

"I've lived there since I moved up here from Uncle Dave's house. Boy was he
mad when I left."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, he didn't speak to me for a month after I actually left. He spent
almost six months trying to convince me how I would never make it in Dayton
because of the recession."

"Well you're doing basically alright now, right? You got a nice place to
live, a decent vehicle, good health, what else is missing?"

"I think he was mostly worried about losing control over me."

"Huh?"

"Didn't I ever tell you about him back when I was a kid?" Lee asked as his
eyebrows raised up briefly.

"No, never spoke much about him except his hips and lungs were bad, he's
retired, spends every winter in Florida."

"I'll tell you at home."

Lee got this look on his face I never seen before, like he was upset or
something because after that he mostly didn't speak. We went straight
home. The subject of him moving-in with me never came up again, not sure
why that was.

The landscaping guy was loading his fancy riding mower onto the trailer
when we arrived. He never came to the house, I pay by mail once a month, he
cuts the grass twice a month unless I do it myself, which is rare.

At home I was pleased when Lee pulled his t-shirt off over his head and
laid on the sofa in the den overlooking the back yard. The new heater
element was laying on the kitchen table in a Lowe's bag.

He looked sad like I never saw before. I got him a tall glass of wine with
ice cubes to make it a bit colder, he took a few large swigs and laid back
down. I sat on the floor beside him, my right arm over his belly and chest
gently sliding my finger tips over his tits and down to his stomach. He
seemed pre-occupied, then Lee took in a deep breath but still didn't make
eye contact.

"It started when I was in sixth grade." He began. "I had to cut the grass
every week. His yard is so shady not much grows but weeds. They'll get tall
if you don't cut `em once a week, like you saw him doing.

It was a Saturday afternoon, I spent the night at my friend Calvin's
trailer down the street. I was supposed to have the yard done by 2pm, I
didn't get home 'til almost 5pm but it rained all day. He was pissed. My
uncle's got this famous temper. He told me several times I was lucky my
father never lived to raise me because his temper is much worse, until that
day.

When I got home the yelling started. He was swearing and throwing crap at
me, my stuff, shoes, school books, my phone, stuff like that but he never
hit me. I ducked a few times, which made him even madder. I tried to
explain but he wanted flesh. I think he was big time drunk like he said my
dad and his pappy drank too.

Things got out of hand, I tried to run. He grabbed my arm, tossed me on the
floor'n choked me. I passed out. I'll never forget his face being all
crazy'n fire red hanging right over me, his spit dripping onto my face as
he choked me on the kitchen floor, then everything went black.

I woke up later in his bedroom. I was on my stomach, he was on top of
me. My ass was like on fire. It took me a while to figure out what was
going on at first I thought he was beating me with his legs or something
but he was fuckin me. I pooped blood for two days after that. He locked me
in my room until Monday morning and wouldn't speak to me the rest of that
week. I kept to myself at school. People asked me about the bruises on my
neck but I made up some bullshit story.

He never said anything to me about it but two months later he bought a
trailer in a place in Florida and started leaving every winter after that
day. The neighbors who own the bait store with the gas pumps up the road
watched me, their mom taught me how to cook, run the clothes washer, do my
own dishes since I was alone every year from November till May.

About a year later one night when he was good and drunk I was in my room
and he tried again but I was too strong. I punched him in the stomach, he
puked shit nasty booze on my bed. I remember his huge dick hanging over my
stomach. He got off me and never tried again. (pause in the story, about
ten seconds of silence) He's told me I get his estate when he dies, but I
got no idea what that is because he refuses to talk about it." Lee finished
still mostly staring blankly at the ceiling, but his eyes looked really
wet.

"Wow. Quite a story. He'd still go to prison if you ever wanted to press
charges y'know."

"Yeah, nothin'd come of it, plus I think he more'n made up for it. He
worked for the railroad from 15 to age 67 then retired. He was a union
officer and rail inspector so he'd be gone sometimes for two weeks at time
on some train that electronically inspected rails and ties. He made good
money but never spent much. He's kinda cheap, like me I guess."

"Is that what made you gay?"

"Oh hell no! I was dicking around with two of the neighbor boys since third
grade back in the clearing. I just never tried fuckin any of 'em. I think
my uncle raped me because of the times he caught us goofing around in the
woods, y'know, playing around naked, sucking each other. He knew. He knew
but he never said`ny thing. I think he had no idea what to say to a gay
nephew, Dave's quite the redneck."

"I never talked to my folks either but I'm sure they knew since I was a
kid. Most parents know, most moms know." I added.

"Mine never did, I was like seven months old when they died."

"Yep, you told me, what a sad story, but you seemed to turn out alright?"

"I'd liked to've gone to college, maybe someday. Bet you got some wild
college stories, right?"

"Uhh, no not really. Sure I had some good sex but not a lot. I was really
focused on school and way too shy to ask too many people out. Our school
didn't have a gay club like they do today. I grew up in the gay dark ages
on the Kent State campus."

"I can only imagine."

"Nah. It's nothin. What matters now is us having a good time and improving
our lives. Speaking of lives, you want a refill?"

"Sure!" Lee smiled, which was nice to see after his long sad story and his
long sad face.

I went to the kitchen to pour another glass of wine for both of us. The sun
was setting outside. We'd actually sat there talking for quite a while.

While I was cleaning up from our early pizza dinner he came in the kitchen.

"You got any of that TFE plumbing tape?

"I think so, that's the thin white stuff?"

"Yep."

"In the garage in one of the upper tool box drawers."

I pointed to the garage door, he went on his own in search of the tape. I
heard steel sliding drawers banging in and out, then silence, then the door
slammed shut. Lee walked across the kitchen, into the den, out the sliding
door and onto the deck. He laid on his side by the access panel and
installed the replacement water heater element, re-connected the wires and
closed the thing up, then he returned the tools to the garage and washed
his hands in the kitchen sink. I was in the bedroom setting up for what I
hoped was a night of sloppy sex.

I set two towels by the sink and refilled the soap pumps in the shower.
Then I walked into the bedroom to spray lavender on the bed, grabbed the
bottle and started spraying when something caught my eye, it was Lee
standing in my bedroom door, naked, hair mussed-up, partial boner, and a
smile. He looked so hot I wished I could snap a photo just then.

He walked in the room up behind me un-doing my pants, which fell right to
the floor, followed by my underwear. He took me by hand to the bathroom we
both pee'd in the toilet. I turned on the water, the music system and the
colored LED lighting in the corner pillars of the shower enclosure. We both
walked in the large shower standing under what felt like a hot tropical
shower. I quickly scrubbed my crotch front and back then my hair, I have no
idea but assume he did the same. The room was pretty dark and steamy
already. The lights were way dim, set on deep blue, the music soft
instrumental, something like Yanni.

I wanted this to be a night to remember.