Rookie mistakes

Last night I got to the place I wanted to set up camp at and realized it was a bad idea so I moved on. I ended up walking another couple miles and found a strip of land with power lines and decided to camp underneath them. Being my first night, I tried to find a place away from the roads so I could be relatively safe.... boy was I wrong! As I'm setting up camp, I hear sirens, cop car after cop car pulling up just on the other side of the fence.... and I'm freaking out "THIS IS IT, I'M GOING TO JAIL, THEY'RE TAKING MY GOAT!!!" All together around 13 cop cars with dogs show up all rushing into this group of houses. About an hour later I see them bringing a guy out, walking him to the car and then taking off. I sat there thinking... Is this a safe place to camp... but ended up staying hoping it was an isolated incident.

I organized my tent, cooked some food, read my bible, tied LeeRoy to a stake in the ground and got in my tent. The next thing I know, LeeRoy pulls out the stake and takes off running across the field. I fly out of my tent barefoot, chasing after him on sharp rocks and thistles at least 50 yards away from the tent. Time for PLAN B. I tied the rope around my waist making sure he doesn't get away again and went to bed. At some point in the night, I hear howling and barking right outside the tent. LeeRoy is awake with the rope tugging on my waist. I grab my flash light, throw my boots on, jump out of my tent and start yelling "GET OUTTA HERE!!!" I grab a few rocks and pitch them aimlessly into the field hoping to scare away whatever is out there. I decided to let the goat sleep in the tent with me to keep him safe from all outside predators.

After that incident, I was out and slept well through the night. I got up early in the morning to a tent full of goat poop. What a disappointing start. I unzipped my tent to pouring rain and my only pair of boots full of rain water. What a rookie move!

Needless to say, the first day was amazing however the night.... not so much.