I was up early and as quietly as possible got ready to leave. Almost everything was packed up the previous night, so it didn't take long. John was sleeping, sitting up, on the loveseat in the lodge. It looked odd and uncomfortable, but as someone who has also had sleeping issues, I wasn't going to judge - and actually felt a little bad for him. I hope I didn't wake him and didn't think I did.
I was on the road early. Temperatures were seasonal for South Carolina with little wind. As early as it was, there was almost no traffic.
Heading out, I made my way north and west. Another winter storm was brewing but I had over 24 hours to make it home. At least I wasn't chased out of camp by weather.
I listened to the book The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. It was about two people with the same name who's lives were somewhat similar but took drastically different paths. Other than a slightly weak ending, it was really good and a reminder that: There but for the grace of God go I...
The early part of the drive went very smoothly. I hit the Asheville area near rush hour - for a moderately sized city, the drivers seem to go out of their way to make it worse than it needs to be. As the day went on, miles and time seemed to slow, but it was a relatively painless drive.
I made it home to quite a bit of slushy snow left. The two younger dogs were ecstatic to see me - the older one lives in a bit of a sad grey fog at this point; she was probably mostly happy to be let out a little early.
I unpacked and did hunting-clothes laundry. I thought about tackling the pig meat, but I was worried that with barely enough time I would hurry and I didn't want to do that. Feeling like I had to do something, I changed the oil on the Ridgeline. This probably could have waited too, but I wasn't ready to just sit yet.
As my 13th year hunting hogs in South Carolina, every year is different. It was unusual being the only hunter in camp. Meeting interesting people is part of the fun of these adventures, yet I enjoyed being the only person in camp.
It is good to be home, to have safely made the nearly 1400 miles of driving with any major incident. Coming home with two hogs will mean a lot of awesome hog meat for quite some time.
Another winter storm is brewing, but this one won't come with the anxiousness of leaving SO to deal with it alone.
I started this trip thinking about work; I now have a long MLK weekend to get ready for that again. And at some level, I'll be returning with a slightly better mental state. The big question remaining will be: What will my next adventure be?
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