I left Hot Sulphur Springs early in the morning just as the sun was coming up. The road ahead was long and flat, surrounded by mountains on either side. We walked most of the day with nothing too special or out of the ordinary. Walk walk walk. Ten or so miles later, we found ourselves at the edge of another town called Granby. LeeRoy and I headed straight into town and across a parking lot of a Chinese restaurant. A woman came marching out the front doors of the place while walking straight towards us. "What are you doing?" she asked with a scowl on her face. By now i'm pretty used to all the questions and curiosity that I get, so with a friendly smile on my face I answered, "walking with a goat across America". She stared at me for a bit and replied, "what kind of a jerk does that to a goat?" Taken back by her question, I pointed at myself with my thumb and said "this kind?" She looked me square in the eye and said, "I'm calling animal control!" and walked off. I couldn't believe what just happened and couldn't help but laugh. I kept walking on but the owners of the restaurant came out and invited me in for a free meal. I never refuse a free meal, so I tied Leeroy out front and went right in. The owners were so friendly and generous to me, unlike the strange women from earlier. They brought out so much food that I ate till I couldn't and ended up taking most of it with me. I thanked them for the meal, got Leeroy, and continued walking. Animal control never showed up.
About half a mile into town I spotted a veterinary clinic and decided to stop to have LeeRoy looked at. Anytime I walk through a town and come across a vet, I like to stop just to make sure there isn't anything wrong that I might have missed. His check up went great, so we continued down the road. I planned on staying in town and getting a hotel for the night, but none of the ones that I called wanted LeeRoy on their property, so we kept on walking in search of a good spot. Not too far off the main road I spotted a red barn-like building that looked abandoned, so I went in to check it out. It was definitely abandoned and looked like a decent place to post up for the night. So I got comfortable, finished my fried rice leftovers, and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I was woken up by some strange noises coming from the second floor above me. It sounded like someone was trying to rob the place and I was extremely freaked out. Tussling around, knocking stuff over back and forth, I could hear the sounds dash across the floor of the second level. (My first thought wasn't to pray, to be honest.) As I layed on the floor GRIPPED by fear, in my head all I was thinking was shit shit shit shit shit... It just repeated in my head the whole time. The light from the moon just barely lit the room and I could see LeeRoy in the corner unfazed and completely asleep. Eventually I gathered myself and reached for my pocket knife and flash light. Then I stayed as still as I could, listening to every sound as if it was a matter of life and death. I concluded that by the sounds of whatever "it"was, jetting back a forth, that there was a 50/50 chance it was not a person. But I couldn't be sure. I made the decision to "storm the castle" if you will. The plan in my head was to quietly unzip my sleeping bag and run up the steps yelling at the top off my lungs and just kind of free style from there. Haha. (Oh man, just thinking back, not only was that a bad plan, but the execution was even worse.) I unzipped my bag, pealed it back so I could jump up quickly. I started to get myself ready in my mind ..clinching my fist ... I opened my knife and tightly wrapped my fingers around it. Flexing my muscles to get the blood rushing, my heart is beating so fast, it feels like it's going to explode out of my chest.. 1,2,3, GO!!!! I jump to my feet and take a huge breath to scream, and (in 'perfect timing,') I suddenly start chocking on my own spit!!!! I make it about two steps and stop. I am coughing my lungs out and my eyes start watering. (In my head I'm like, "oh noooooo.") Retreat. (Haha.) I get to the open door to the stairs and all I can do is shut the door. There's an orange bucket with some garbage in it. I set it in front of the door (as if that will help). And I drop the knife and fold over coughing so hard.. It feels really crazy, the whole thing is happening so fast. I'm looking over at LeeRoy, he is on his feet. I can see that he is confused, but ready to tumble too... I gathered myself together and listen intently... Nothing. No movement..I'm staring at LeeRoy and he's staring at me .. As if to say, "what the heck are you doing?" His ears move around scanning for any sound of danger. I think for a brief second. I wish I could do that with my ears, it would be helpful in this moment. After what seemed like five minutes of standing completely still, I came to the conclusion that what ever "it" was, was gone...
I laid back down and did my best to fall back asleep. Then next morning I woke up suddenly. While remembering last night, I held still and listened... After the coast was clear. I let out a little laugh.. I looked over at LeeRoy and he looked back as I turned onto my side. I whispered to him. Crazy night huh? ... I wish he could talk.
About half a mile into town I spotted a veterinary clinic and decided to stop to have LeeRoy looked at. Anytime I walk through a town and come across a vet, I like to stop just to make sure there isn't anything wrong that I might have missed. His check up went great, so we continued down the road. I planned on staying in town and getting a hotel for the night, but none of the ones that I called wanted LeeRoy on their property, so we kept on walking in search of a good spot. Not too far off the main road I spotted a red barn-like building that looked abandoned, so I went in to check it out. It was definitely abandoned and looked like a decent place to post up for the night. So I got comfortable, finished my fried rice leftovers, and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I was woken up by some strange noises coming from the second floor above me. It sounded like someone was trying to rob the place and I was extremely freaked out. Tussling around, knocking stuff over back and forth, I could hear the sounds dash across the floor of the second level. (My first thought wasn't to pray, to be honest.) As I layed on the floor GRIPPED by fear, in my head all I was thinking was shit shit shit shit shit... It just repeated in my head the whole time. The light from the moon just barely lit the room and I could see LeeRoy in the corner unfazed and completely asleep. Eventually I gathered myself and reached for my pocket knife and flash light. Then I stayed as still as I could, listening to every sound as if it was a matter of life and death. I concluded that by the sounds of whatever "it"was, jetting back a forth, that there was a 50/50 chance it was not a person. But I couldn't be sure. I made the decision to "storm the castle" if you will. The plan in my head was to quietly unzip my sleeping bag and run up the steps yelling at the top off my lungs and just kind of free style from there. Haha. (Oh man, just thinking back, not only was that a bad plan, but the execution was even worse.) I unzipped my bag, pealed it back so I could jump up quickly. I started to get myself ready in my mind ..clinching my fist ... I opened my knife and tightly wrapped my fingers around it. Flexing my muscles to get the blood rushing, my heart is beating so fast, it feels like it's going to explode out of my chest.. 1,2,3, GO!!!! I jump to my feet and take a huge breath to scream, and (in 'perfect timing,') I suddenly start chocking on my own spit!!!! I make it about two steps and stop. I am coughing my lungs out and my eyes start watering. (In my head I'm like, "oh noooooo.") Retreat. (Haha.) I get to the open door to the stairs and all I can do is shut the door. There's an orange bucket with some garbage in it. I set it in front of the door (as if that will help). And I drop the knife and fold over coughing so hard.. It feels really crazy, the whole thing is happening so fast. I'm looking over at LeeRoy, he is on his feet. I can see that he is confused, but ready to tumble too... I gathered myself together and listen intently... Nothing. No movement..I'm staring at LeeRoy and he's staring at me .. As if to say, "what the heck are you doing?" His ears move around scanning for any sound of danger. I think for a brief second. I wish I could do that with my ears, it would be helpful in this moment. After what seemed like five minutes of standing completely still, I came to the conclusion that what ever "it" was, was gone...
I laid back down and did my best to fall back asleep. Then next morning I woke up suddenly. While remembering last night, I held still and listened... After the coast was clear. I let out a little laugh.. I looked over at LeeRoy and he looked back as I turned onto my side. I whispered to him. Crazy night huh? ... I wish he could talk.
This made me giggle.
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