My Childhood:
I grew up on some old backroad, in the middle of the ‘twiggs’, on my parents farm. Their farm was so deep in the South, your closest neighbor was maybe within 1/2 of a country mile.
We were surrounded by Mother Nature on every side, with lots of interesting stories & history at every corner. Back in those days, this ol’ backroad led to (what used to be) a small town.
Those were the ‘good ole days’, when you didn’t need a licence to drive a 4×4 from your house, down to the end of your road, turning off to the right, cruising along the path of a dusty old dirt road, over the ol’ wooden planked Indian Creek Bridge, and up the hill of a loose gravel blacktop road, to your best friends farm, in the curve, on the left.
You also didn’t need an overseer for this scenic drive, if you were over the age of 10.
Life was so easy, and laid back in those days. No one was worried about the dangers of the outside world, because in the town where we all lived, we rarely got any visitors from out of town’ers. This was mainly because our little town was so small, it was usually passed by without a notice.
Now that all of us have grown up, left the nest, and some of us have familys of our own, we always remember the good times that were had, on these ol’ backroads.
Sometimes, if we are in the area – we will slowly cruise drive down that little stretch of road that we used to travel like it was our religion way back when; reminising on all of the memories of the good times with family and friends that took place in this beautiful part of the wilderness.
This Time in Place:
That’s exactly what I was doing, earlier this afternoon…. On my way into town. I was passing the now vacant farm that I spent so many cherished childhood memories at, taking captures of the rich landscape along the way.
I was crawling along the road, when something up ahead caught my eye. I looked just up the hill, at the road infront of me, and gasped – What I saw, made me lose my breath…. “Is that a Wolf??” I asked myself, completely in awe of the majestic creature that was trotting up the road, towards me.
I brought my truck to a smooth halt on the side of the road, and watched the creature as it too, paused in mid stride, in the middle of the road, staring back at me.
We both sat there, gazing at each other for what seemed like several minutes, wondering what the other was going to do next?
Just as I was pulling my phone out, to see if i could sneak a capture or two, without scaring the beautiful creature away, up over the hill came a car that was going way too fast… obviously not paying one bit if attention to the road infront of them. The moment I saw them and noticed the rate of speed in which they were going, I immediately started flipping my daybeams on and off, to get the attention of the speeding & greatly distracted driver.
My actions worked like a charm, the driver slowed a considerable amount, and inched around the beauty. Gradually, they passed me, wearing a sheepish grin on their face, accompanied by a half wave, as if to say “Thanks for the warning.”
After they passed, I managed to get one decent capture. I crept up towards the top of the hill. As I neared the beautiful creature, I noticed that it was not a Wolf, but instead a beautiful Husky, wearing a pink collar.
I was able to creep up to the hill, just a few feet from the beauté, when I stopped the truck, just watching and waiting for a response.
She looked back at me, not moving an inch. I looked at her, smiled as I said, “Hi sweetheart!” As I reached my hand out the window, she immediately came up to me, sniffing my hand and giving me kisses! Again, I spoke to her, saying “You are SO beautiful!! What’s a pretty little thing like you doing out here?”
She instantly started wagging her tail, till her whole body was moving because she was so happy! I was just thankful she didn’t try to eat me!
I pulled off the side of the road, as far as possible, and clicked on my hazards. I cautiously got out of the truck as I grabbed my phone, not wanting her to jump in the cab, and walked the overly estatic ball of fur towards the back of my truck, out of the way of any possible oncoming traffic.
Once I managed to get her to calm her wiggling self down a bit, I took a look at her tag. It read: “Mishka” with a local number below. I got the number off of her tag, and as soon as I hit call, I hear someone in the distance, calling her name…
The line clicks, as someone on the other end of the line picks up and a female voice says, “Hello?”
I ask if this is the owner of a Mishka, I get a “Yes Ma’am, I was just outside calling for her.”
I then go to tell her where she is, and that I would stay here with Mishka, till her owner arrived. She said, “Ok, thank you! I will be there in just a moment!” And we both hung up.
I was immediately greeted with plentiful puppy kisses, from the beautiful Mishka. She was now on all fours, in the bed of my truck, towering over me, making me feel very small. Did I mention, I absolutely LOVE puppy kisses!!?
Less than a minute later, this beautiful young lady comes walking up the road towards us, we introduce ourselves, and shake hands. She apologized about Mishka’s behavior, to which I said I didn’t mind one bit, I was just thankful I wasn’t a meal! We talked and laughed for a bit.
She repeatedly thanked me for staying with her dog, till she got to us, too keep her out of harms way. I told her, It was my pleasure! I briefly explained that I grew up on this road, (literally just across the street from them) and I know all too well how people abuse this road. The last thing any of us need, is a tragedy.
A conversation or two later, we exchanged #’s, and we went our separate ways, with the promises to text each other later, as both of our phones were dying.
Later, when I got a few of my errands completed, I texted her, and we chatted for a bit.
……. To be continued …….
Volpe Life 