After studying more that morning, I headed for my (much needed) outing after having some lunch.
On the drive over, I was reminded at how flat it was up here, a.k.a no wind barriers.
The park was very nice, the trails lead along a small river
(large stream), which were mostly wooded right along the water, but then
cleared out into open prairie as you moved away from the river. As I started
for the trail that would immediately cross the water, a small snake crossed the
trail in front of me. It, no doubt, startled me, but hey I am out in its
territory and even though I DESPISE snakes, I was decently calm about it.
A little ways after I crossed the water, I encountered
snakes number 2 and 3 within about 3 steps of each other. Now I know, I am out
in a wooded area, close to water, there are bound to be snakes out there, but
do they have to cross 2 feet in front of me?!? I really wish they wouldn’t! And
for the most part they just slowly meandered across the path, like they were
enjoying watching me cringe at their sight.
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| Number 3 |
After numero 3, every moving leaf and every rustle along the
path became a snake in my mind. So I decided to turn my music up so that I
wouldn’t pay attention to the sounds and kept my eyes peeled on the path in
front of me. Luckily the trail opened up onto the prairie and I wasn’t as
worried about them.
The trail stayed like that for a while before crossing back over
the water to head back to the starting point. So now closer to the stream=back
into brushy, wooded trail. Soon enough #4 crosses in front of me!! Now I am
just freaked! I am glad no one was around because I am sure they would have
thought I was acting like a child (I kind of was, I won’t lie, I just about had
tears in my eyes). I decided my music is going to be turned down and one
earphone is coming out so that I can maybe be a bit more prepared if one
decides to cross me again. All I want to do is get back to my car at this
point!
Not even 5 minutes later, a big #5 crosses in front of me,
going super slow…THAT’S IT, LORD GIVE ME WINGS TO GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! Eyes
are now scanning every inch of ground as I keep walking; every rustle in the
leaves makes me jump. Some of you
probably think I am exaggerating…believe me, I’m not! Soon enough I come to a
fork in the trail. There is a map (pictured below, indicating “you are here”)
and according to it, I can either keep going straight which is shorter, but
turns into an ‘interpretive/self-guided’ trail which I interpret as narrower, and more snake friendly, or you can go right which goes out into the open prairie, which is longer, but I would imagine has fewer snakes. Is that even a question...GO RIGHT! That turned out to be a good decision as I didn't see another snake, arrived safely at my car, and drove home.
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| Sick, nasty devil |
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| See ya pretty water, your not worth the risk of heart attack at the age of 22 |
On a side note, Autumn is here! This makes me very happy! I saw so many pumpkin patches on the short drive this weekend, it got me very excited, I had to resist the urge to stop and get some. For the time being, I will just burn fall scented candles to get me in the Fall mood.
Hope you had a good weekend!
Love and miss you,
Dani
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in me. -John 14:1
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