The previous week was far too busy at work and filled with too much stress. I was looking forward to a few days off and to hog hunting. My last trip to Canada for bears wasn't that long ago, but mentally it seemed like it was. The extra time off around Christmas seemed like I wasted a phenomenal amount of time; I watched a lot of TV. But I was able to mostly use my vacation through both 2020/2021 which is a win. I say mostly because there were a few days were I ended up logging on to work - too much...
After packing everything up Friday, I was up around my normal time for work. After taking care of the dogs, it was a quick shower and I was out the door around 4:00. The dogs just thought it was a normal day of work.
It felt good to be on the road. Early traffic was predictably light, although there were many places through the day where it seemed like it was much busier than it should have been. I listened to the book Sex on the Moon by Ben Mezrich. It is a very well written book about a man (Thad Roberts) who throws away a promising career at NASA by stealing some moon rocks to sell. As the book progressed, I kept thinking, "What a waste to throw away so much." but it doesn't sound like things in the end turned out too bad for him. Whether he would admit it or not, his notoriety certainly launched his present life (how may other people who have been convicted and sentenced to nearly a decade in federal prison give TED talks?). Little can be (easily) found about the wake of destruction in other people's lives. Charisma and evil are not mutually exclusive.
The book made the drive go very quickly. Sunday was expected to have a winter storm through the area I was driving, which was evident with the pretreatment of roads. At least the storm wasn't pushing me out early as it seems to so often. It was cloudy through the day, so no sunrise near Tennessee, but it was still pretty in the usual places.
I got to Rick's early afternoon. The lodge looked like there was a full camp with crap everywhere. I can't say this made me very excited. Not that I always mind other people, but the lodge gets cramped quickly with so many people. Not long after I got there, Rick texted that all 4 would be leaving early in the morning. It got better when he said I would be hunting with Denis and Claude.
After dark the four hunters from Philadelphia came back with a smaller hog and a bobcat. They were a good group of guys - father and three sons. The lodge was a bit chaotic; I just sat back and stayed out of the way. They were leaving really early, so thankfully it wasn't a late night. Getting up into the top bunk, I told the guy below me that I wouldn't break through.
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