The Abandoned Tent (the rest of the story)

            And there it sits! Anita's new tent in an almost perfect setting.    The photo was snapped from the road as we were going off for some pizza.  The road crosses in front of the area but it also Ys off to the left and goes down a very steep incline.   We wanted to go down it but it was extremely washed out and Anita didn't want to risk her car on it.  Below and behind the tent was the Cheat River and it would have been nice to camp next to that.   After set up,  off we went for Pizza which we brought back here and ate.   We should have been forewarned of the events to come by the fact that this site seemed to be a party site with a bag full of booze cans and other "stuff".  We cleared some of it up. (bag to the left).    Nothing to do here as we didn't have wood for a campfire so we turned in early. The first thing that happened was the truck from the previous photo came by going at a fairly reasonable speed and went down that steep washed out road to the river.     About 9:30  the dogs from the previous photo started baying and woke Anita up (they were very close!)   But they only sounded a couple of times and stopped.   And then...  and THEN...  the Same truck in the lead and Another truck came and they were revving the engines on those trucks for all they were worth.   When the trucks cross in front of the tent the headlights make it appear they are coming right INTO the tent.   The two trucks were right on top of each other going at high speed down a washed out, very steep hill.  And Banging... something was Banging so Loud.   Was the truck behind actually hitting the truck ahead?  That is what it sounded like!  Obviously whatever they were doing they were drunk doing it.   No one in their right minds would hit that road at those speeds!  It scared the wits out of both of us!   I had two fears.   This is the first:   Many people assume Anita and I are lesbians. (we are not, just best friends) but people think we are.   In some places, it could be worth your life if people think that and here we were in a very remote area, no cell service, darkness all around... well, I warned Anita not to show her face!   My second fear was the fact that at my age I can no longer just jump up off the ground and run for it.  Two hip replacements did nothing to fix the knees which are essential to this type of maneuver!  Not happening and in this situation I was so flustered I could not get up at all!  I felt caught like a rat in a trap and those headlights seemingly baring down on us at a frightening speed.        So.  we lay there for a bit with hearts pounding remembering the first guy had hounds and so therefore also had at least one gun, possibly more and was not a friendly person to begin with.   We no longer felt safe there so we grabbed anything worth anything and got in the car to drive 18 miles to the nearest Walmart parking lot where we spent the remainder of the night.     Sleep for me was Impossible even though the car seats reclined all the way back.   It was a very long, long night as I thought over all the possible scenarios of what almost happened and what felt like happening.   My personal thought was it was a private vendetta between two drunks that played out on that backwoods road.   Anita and I have found ourselves in quite a few bizarre and sketchy situations but this was by far the scariest.   Much more than the "space ship" that buzzed us on our New York camping trip.         These guys were not after getting to the hounds as quick as possible because immediately after the first sound of them, they quit and if a hound as treed a coon or a bear, they will keep baying at the base of the tree until the man comes and pulls them off.    I don't know, maybe we made it worse than it was in our minds.   But I don't think so.  Anita is generally fearless but even she was ready to go!   We returned for the tent at first light of day and were happy to see that it had not been tampered with.  And that is the rest of the story.  I have more photos of this splendid, memory making day to share but this was most definitely the defining part of it! It isn't called Wild Wonderful West Virginia for no reason!  The question now is...   will I ever convince Anita to go wild camping again??  LOL
   

Taken on: July 21, 2024

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wild

camping

remote

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Sets appears in: • Adventures with Anita

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Camera: Canon EOS 80D, f/8.0, 1/500 sec, 77mm, ISO 1000 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 80D
Lens:	TAMRON 18-400mm F/3.5-6.3 Di II VC HLD B028
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	77mm
ISO:	1000
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.4 (Windows)
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