Saturday September 29 - Cover Found

Saturday September 29 - Cover Found


It rained last night … poured … but I was safe, totally hidden and dry. I arrived at my usual setting early, several hours early, too early to situate myself as that would undoubtedly draw attention. So, I sat a short way off and waited, and as I looked around, not 20 feet behind me was another spot, in the open, uncovered but ideal for sleeping two and hidden from all directions, as long as you don't stand up, wave your arms and holler, "Hey, here I am". And this is about 8 feet above and not 20 feet from a main street.

As I sat it began to sprinkle, and it was pretty obvious this was going to be an all-nighter. So I decided to wander a little in hopes of finding cover. And I hadn't gone 30 yards before I saw it. Certainly not a day time hang out but perfect for the nights. A relatively new building situated on a hill, with the front at the top and the rest of the structure supported progressively as it continued back, and the side extending out from the supports about 8 feet, with a walled basement under the main structure within the supports. This left an area towards the front in under where the light could not penetrate and had obviously remained dry since it was constructed. The ground under the extended sides was small stones, but in the shaded area that I could utilize it was covered with a padding of dried leaves and grass clippings. I assume it all gets blown here by the wind naturally as the entire area around here is well kept and landscaped.

So I crawled under and up further into the darker area, took off my leather and spread it out over the ground cover, and was set for the night. And beyond my roof … it poured, virtually all night, but I was dry and comfortable.

Later in the night one of my "coons" came from around the front of the building and went past me down the hill, about 20 feet in front of me. It never had a clue that I was there. I could see young people walking by returning from down town about 2:30 A.M., maybe 20 yards away, oblivious. Two "coons" reappeared, coming toward me, they had not seen me. So I made my presence known by banging my half full water bottle on the wall. It made a sound like a drum and scared the "b-jesus" out of the coons and they ran back down the hill and into the woods. Eventually I fell back to sleep, waking at 5:30 A.M. when the alarm on my cell phone went off. The only thing missing is a bathroom … "over the river and through the woods …"