Saturday, June 21, 2014

Lake Ouachita - Arrrr-Kansas


A few weeks ago, my brother called me to talk about something. I got a little nervous because, well, just because…lol. Anyway, he goes on to tell me that this is the time of year that the scouts go on what they call “High Adventure”. One of the adults who was supposed to go had a conflict, and he wanted to know if I could go and help out. At first I was hesitant because I have a lot going on with work right now. But, my brother hardly ever asks me to do anything…. So I figured I better man up and figure out how to get it done.

The trip was to Lake Ouachita in Arkansas. I’ve never been, so I was excited. We met up with another troop and loaded up 9 canoes, kids, and gear, and drove up there. It took about 7ish hours. Once we got there, my first thought was…. Wow, the lake is awesome! An added bonus was that I had no cell phone signal, lol…. I mean …. at all…. no signal bars, nada. I even had a little circle with a diagonal line through it, lol. Anyway, I learned that it’s definitely nice to completely unplug from technology. The only thing I used my phone for was taking the pictures you see here.

So…… there is a slightly funny story to the pictures below… lol. I got up early one morning about 5am thinking it would be fun to go for a walk in the dark and see what noises I could hear. I heard some pretty creepy sounds out there ,, kind of hard to describe. But anyway, the sun starts to come up and I’m walking on the road. I see from a distance a little something slowly moving across the road. As I get up to it, I realize it’s a wild tarantula. I’ve never seen one in the wild, so I was pretty stoked. I got a little stick and gave it down to him to crawl up on. He did for a little bit, but seemed to want to crawl towards my hand, so I figured… hmmm, better not risk it…lol. I gave him the stick….lol. I snapped one of the photos below at that point. Then, I pulled the stick away and he raised up to put me on notice….lol. I snapped another pic. At this point, he decides he’s had enough of my bullshit, and comes running at me super fast! Do spiders run? Lol…. I had no idea tarantula’s could move that fast!!!! LOL. Just imagine a woman sounding scream and a 6ft dude running like mad!! That little guy didn’t stop chasing me until he knew for sure that I was chumpin’ out…lol. Then, he went back to his leisurely slow speed crawl and went on about his business crossing the road again. It was hilarious … and I was certainly glad nobody except mother nature was there as a witness.




Anyhoo…. Lake Ouachita is a beautiful area, and I’m sooooo glad I went! I thought I would share my story and pictures with everyone considering it’s Saturday and markets are closed. I hope everyone is doing well, and that you have an excellent weekend!! And remember, tarantula’s can run…. So stay on your toes if you see one in the wild!! :-)