How I spent my summer vacation Part One By Donica Covey

My summer vacation was actually quite enjoyable for the most part. Here is a play-by-play run down. If you are easily bored turn away now.

Tuesday June 19: woke up at 5 am. Showered, did final packing and drove over to pick up best friend and her two boys (ages 11 and 12) Loaded their remaining stuff into truck. We were on the road by 7 am. Realized I forgot something AGAIN (this seems to be an annual event). Turned back to my house. Searched high and low for CD (Yeah I know so what if I forgot a CD. I had created it especially for this trip…) couldn't find it anywhere. Gave up and got back in the truck. It is now 7:30 and so I am obviously half an hour behind schedule.

Planned to eat lunch in Rolla. Arrived too early for lunch. Decided to drive on to West Plains. Were planning on stopping at the sale barn so they could enjoy the experience. (I happen to LOVE sale barns!) We parked and as soon as we stepped out of the truck the two boys groaned “What’s that NASTY smell?!?!?!” Went inside the building. Were there a total of five minutes before I was informed they would rather see their beef on a bun where God intended it to be rather than on the hoof. We left. Went and had burgers down the road.

Arrived at Big Flat and unloaded the truck then put all the groceries away. Then headed off to retrieve ATVs for a little ride before dinner. Spent remaining afternoon on ATVs.

After dinner we went on out night drive. This is also an annual tradition we spend two hours crawling along a mountain road (driving 20 miles an hour) while looking for wild life. Very disappointing night.

Seems the deer and other animals were at their biweekly poker game rather than being out where we could see them. Did finally see about 6 in total. They must've lost all their corn at the table. Either that or it was strip poker and after having to unzip away from their hides they were too embarrassed to be seen in public

Came home went to sleep.

Wednesday June 20: Woke at 8. Spent entire day ATVing and shooting. Boys began to argue. Had lunch. Boys complained about what they were being given to eat. Longed to tie boys to chairs and duct tape their mohts. Best friend mentioned wishing she could see a snake.

Sent BF and kids off on ATV while I did dishes and kicked back on the porch enjoying the peace and quiet. They returned and BF told me she got her wish. A large black snake slithered across the road in front of her ATV.

Decided to go meet a friend and her grandson at one of the local swimming holes. As we drove around the camp section a large bird sat on an old stump. The stump was situated between the men’s and women’s out house…the bird? An extremely large vulture. The truck didn't faze him. Us taking his picture didn't faze him Apparently the outhouse really DID smell like someone/thing died in there.

Had supper. 10 pm went on night drive. Saw 18 deer, 5 skunks, one wild kitten, one dead rattlesnake, one live rattlesnake (BF is thrilled now she’s seen 3 snakes although the dead one didn’t count.), 5 bats. Glad it wasn’t poker night. Got back to trailer about midnight went to bed.

Thursday June 21: Father showed up at my door at 8 am. He was ready to take us out ATVing. Spent the next 9 hours riding through woods, fields and roads. Also swam in a wonderfully ice cold spring fed creek. Kids loved it. I loved it. Decided to picnic and my dad found us a wonderful spot. All we had to do was cross the creek. We waited for him to cross. He got stuck. Thank goodness we invested in an ATV wench on my toy.

Hooked up wench, I had to reposition so as to get enough traction to pull him out. Got him loose. I was now stuck in mud. Flipped ATV into 4 wheel drive and removed myself from mud. Decided to find another place to picnic. Got back on said trail and were checking out all the tracks in the mud. There were deer, wild hog, turkey, raccoon and bear. Yes bear. This was differentiated from other tracks due to size and shape. Did I mention the claws that were glaringly obvious? Oh sorry. There were claws. Obvious claws. Became extremely excited. Hoped to see the bear, but from a safe distance of course. Never saw it. Completed ride. Returned to trailer. Relaxed for a while then went back out.

Best friend saw her first roadrunner. The bird was unfamiliar to her so I had to tell her what it was. She was like “OOHH!” then turned and looked at bird. “MEEP MEEP,” her imitation of Road Runner was spot on. The poor bird dropped his lizard (I guess that means he lost his lunch?) and jerked around not sure of what to do or where to go. We laughed until we almost cried.

Then she told me she thought that roadrunners were bigger. Like the size of Coyote. This is what happens when you let people get an “education” about wildlife from Looney Tunes...

Night drive. 1 dozen deer, 4 bats, 1 owl, 3 skunks, one raccoon.

Tune in next time for part two. Same bat channel, same bat time...

Huggles,
Donica