Double Creek road she repeated again and again, having turned off the navigation system to truly be unplugged as possible. Passing a small farm just outside of "downtown" she slowed to marvel at the chainsaw carvings being offered near the roadside. Deciding not to ask for directions she drove on slow enough to catch the few and far between road signs.
The door was sticky as Bud had mentioned and she found it just as he described. It was stocked up on fresh water in the tank attached to the side of it and Bud had recently added solar powered LED lights and called it all city like now. She forgot about the dry ice for the cooler box, but could go to Beau's for that in the morning, it was chilly enough that anything she had brought with her could stay in the car just fine. Speaking of chilly, she had to get that little cast iron savior going soon, it was her everything out here, heat, cooking, hot water etc... It was no more than a ten foot by ten foot log box, carefully crafted by Bud and his father in the mid 1950's. They had gotten the plans for it out of a camping magazine and decided to buy some property to put it on. Of course over the years both father and son and numerous family members had accented it with their own ideas. One being a semi-modern bathroom built in the eighties that actually had a tub. The bathroom being the only other room in the box and its walls went only as high as the eight foot high walls. The rafters were open and all manner of gear was stored up there by the looks of it. Getting the little stove going and checking out if the new lights worked, Lori sat down on the makeshift futon kind of cabin couch, a nod to some kind of Murphy bed she imagined and closed her eyes for a few minutes just trying to relax and be there.
Oliver came home from a day playing bridge at the tavern. The first thing he noticed was some ruts in the new gravel he had put in over the summer. They were leading up to the Hudson's place and that was unexpected. The kids just started school, and it will be a while until seasons open. Besides it was private property and Oliver didn't need folks spreading out his gravel before the Winter hit. It took him a while to get to the cabin, it was smack dab in the middle of forty acres and he slowed when he saw a car there. Lori must have nodded off for a few minutes or an hour, one or the other because the knock scared the crap out of her. "Hello?" came a male voice from the door, Lori didn't know what to think so she grabbed the shotgun hanging up on the wall. The dust and rust flying off of it made her cough, but it gave her courage. "Yes?" She replied. Oliver had noted the key and buoy that was hanging from the door and relaxed his grip on the .38 that he carried. "Just the neighbor checking in on the property for the Hudson's!" Lori relaxed and opened the door a crack, she immediately recognized him from the last time they were here. Bobby, Gulliver? "Oliver Cain miss?..." He too recognized her and they began the piecing of who each other was. After a few minutes and a laugh or two Oliver realized what was going on and left her in peace. He gave her his phone number but warned that service is spotty as a Leopard. Well, she was awake now, better make the most of your unplugged time girl, she thought to herself. It was then that she realized she had no idea of how to go about it, there was no web site telling her how folks did this?.... Okay, I can at least get comfy and start to work here on my heat and food, something will come later...
She sat there for what seemed like eternity, looking into the fire she was proud of at that moment. Looking into those flames like some ancient eye candy, click bait, visual stimulation. It was so intoxicating that she noticed it and had to pull herself away from the show. She had brought some books and some paper, they didn't need power so they qualified. Looking through the titles and seeing nothing appealing at the moment she sat back and drifted off to sleep. Three lours later she woke up in a bit of a fright, the fire had gone down in the little stove and there was zero light coming from anything. That coupled with the fact that she was momentarily confused about where she was, shook her for a millisecond before she remembered where that light switch was. Aghhh! blinding LED lighting immediately came on, Thanks Bud!....
For her first night there she slept rather comfortably and nothing spooked her or woke her up. She didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, little naive city girl or just not a jumpy one? She had a breakfast of granola and berries she had brought with her noting the Cheeto's had to go too. One of the things in those interviews with those women was their wish to have taken better care of themselves health wise. She thought she would walk down to the lake and enjoy this bit of Indian Summer the area was having, cool, chilly nights and beautiful sunny days. Perfect weather in her mind, if it would just stay this way for her time here she would be happy with that. She hadn't put a time limit or frame on this trip, she had all the time off she needed, she was just trying to see if she could take life at a different pace. If she knew the answer she wouldn't be doing this anyways.
In 1969 on a quiet Brook Street in London a thirty something year old woman stops the vividly dressed young man. He was with a similarly dressed young woman and they were walking with their arms wrapped at the hips. His face goes from an almost ecstatic wide smile to pardon the phrase white as a ghost and serious as all get out. Angry at the woman he pushes her aside and pulls his girl along with him. This old honky lady just told him he was going to die in 1970 cause of drugs and stuff... Jimi don't like voodoo, not like that...
Lori hiked the quarter mile or so to the lake. It was not entirely the Hudson's but a good deal of it was, most still considered pristine. This part of the woods folks seemed to be more stewards of the area that developers. It had the same sense that Santa Fe had on her with an almost Artsy vibe. The people were weird as anyone else but not the weird like some Deliverance kind of thing she thought. She saw a boat on the very far end and it was just a speck, a rowboat with someone fishing. That was a good two miles away but on this clear morning you notice stuff like this. Just being here is already helping but she is fighting back all of the automatic reactions still in her, like looking for her phone incessantly. It was going to take a hard luck approach to this unplug thingy, but she also felt like she was on the right track. It was the workaholic part of her that was going to kill her, not the digital drugs. Closing her eyes she remembered what an old boyfriend had said about meditating, just concentrate on breathing in through your nose. Calm, deliberate and deepening breaths. If you have too many things pop up visually, then picture a white dot on a black wall or vice versa and just concentrate on that and breathing. She leaned against the large rock that a glacier had so nicely deposited some tens of thousands of years ago, it was warm with the morning sun and she began to get a little bit of "it."
The door was sticky as Bud had mentioned and she found it just as he described. It was stocked up on fresh water in the tank attached to the side of it and Bud had recently added solar powered LED lights and called it all city like now. She forgot about the dry ice for the cooler box, but could go to Beau's for that in the morning, it was chilly enough that anything she had brought with her could stay in the car just fine. Speaking of chilly, she had to get that little cast iron savior going soon, it was her everything out here, heat, cooking, hot water etc... It was no more than a ten foot by ten foot log box, carefully crafted by Bud and his father in the mid 1950's. They had gotten the plans for it out of a camping magazine and decided to buy some property to put it on. Of course over the years both father and son and numerous family members had accented it with their own ideas. One being a semi-modern bathroom built in the eighties that actually had a tub. The bathroom being the only other room in the box and its walls went only as high as the eight foot high walls. The rafters were open and all manner of gear was stored up there by the looks of it. Getting the little stove going and checking out if the new lights worked, Lori sat down on the makeshift futon kind of cabin couch, a nod to some kind of Murphy bed she imagined and closed her eyes for a few minutes just trying to relax and be there.
Oliver came home from a day playing bridge at the tavern. The first thing he noticed was some ruts in the new gravel he had put in over the summer. They were leading up to the Hudson's place and that was unexpected. The kids just started school, and it will be a while until seasons open. Besides it was private property and Oliver didn't need folks spreading out his gravel before the Winter hit. It took him a while to get to the cabin, it was smack dab in the middle of forty acres and he slowed when he saw a car there. Lori must have nodded off for a few minutes or an hour, one or the other because the knock scared the crap out of her. "Hello?" came a male voice from the door, Lori didn't know what to think so she grabbed the shotgun hanging up on the wall. The dust and rust flying off of it made her cough, but it gave her courage. "Yes?" She replied. Oliver had noted the key and buoy that was hanging from the door and relaxed his grip on the .38 that he carried. "Just the neighbor checking in on the property for the Hudson's!" Lori relaxed and opened the door a crack, she immediately recognized him from the last time they were here. Bobby, Gulliver? "Oliver Cain miss?..." He too recognized her and they began the piecing of who each other was. After a few minutes and a laugh or two Oliver realized what was going on and left her in peace. He gave her his phone number but warned that service is spotty as a Leopard. Well, she was awake now, better make the most of your unplugged time girl, she thought to herself. It was then that she realized she had no idea of how to go about it, there was no web site telling her how folks did this?.... Okay, I can at least get comfy and start to work here on my heat and food, something will come later...
She sat there for what seemed like eternity, looking into the fire she was proud of at that moment. Looking into those flames like some ancient eye candy, click bait, visual stimulation. It was so intoxicating that she noticed it and had to pull herself away from the show. She had brought some books and some paper, they didn't need power so they qualified. Looking through the titles and seeing nothing appealing at the moment she sat back and drifted off to sleep. Three lours later she woke up in a bit of a fright, the fire had gone down in the little stove and there was zero light coming from anything. That coupled with the fact that she was momentarily confused about where she was, shook her for a millisecond before she remembered where that light switch was. Aghhh! blinding LED lighting immediately came on, Thanks Bud!....
For her first night there she slept rather comfortably and nothing spooked her or woke her up. She didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, little naive city girl or just not a jumpy one? She had a breakfast of granola and berries she had brought with her noting the Cheeto's had to go too. One of the things in those interviews with those women was their wish to have taken better care of themselves health wise. She thought she would walk down to the lake and enjoy this bit of Indian Summer the area was having, cool, chilly nights and beautiful sunny days. Perfect weather in her mind, if it would just stay this way for her time here she would be happy with that. She hadn't put a time limit or frame on this trip, she had all the time off she needed, she was just trying to see if she could take life at a different pace. If she knew the answer she wouldn't be doing this anyways.
In 1969 on a quiet Brook Street in London a thirty something year old woman stops the vividly dressed young man. He was with a similarly dressed young woman and they were walking with their arms wrapped at the hips. His face goes from an almost ecstatic wide smile to pardon the phrase white as a ghost and serious as all get out. Angry at the woman he pushes her aside and pulls his girl along with him. This old honky lady just told him he was going to die in 1970 cause of drugs and stuff... Jimi don't like voodoo, not like that...
Lori hiked the quarter mile or so to the lake. It was not entirely the Hudson's but a good deal of it was, most still considered pristine. This part of the woods folks seemed to be more stewards of the area that developers. It had the same sense that Santa Fe had on her with an almost Artsy vibe. The people were weird as anyone else but not the weird like some Deliverance kind of thing she thought. She saw a boat on the very far end and it was just a speck, a rowboat with someone fishing. That was a good two miles away but on this clear morning you notice stuff like this. Just being here is already helping but she is fighting back all of the automatic reactions still in her, like looking for her phone incessantly. It was going to take a hard luck approach to this unplug thingy, but she also felt like she was on the right track. It was the workaholic part of her that was going to kill her, not the digital drugs. Closing her eyes she remembered what an old boyfriend had said about meditating, just concentrate on breathing in through your nose. Calm, deliberate and deepening breaths. If you have too many things pop up visually, then picture a white dot on a black wall or vice versa and just concentrate on that and breathing. She leaned against the large rock that a glacier had so nicely deposited some tens of thousands of years ago, it was warm with the morning sun and she began to get a little bit of "it."
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