A Weekend with the Conway River, pt 3

Sunday, 05 April 2009

I slept like crap Saturday night. I dragged my arse out of bed at about seven-thirty. Coffee and camp slop. Mountain Dew (Electric Hillbilly Piss). In short order I was bright eyed and bushy tailed. Amazing how brisk air right off the bat along with massive doses of caffeine will utterly eradicate the effects of a bad night's sleep.

As I broke down my tent and gear I discovered my camera. It was in the foot of my sleeping bag. Who the hell knows how it got there? The only thing I could figure is that I must have bent over in the tent to pick something up and the camera fell out onto the sleeping bag. I must have then inadvertantly kicked it into the foot of the sleeping bag.

We had only two cigarettes left and those were gone in short order. So after breaking camp we headed out. At the entrance to the RWMA, we pulled over and Earl turned on his cell phone. Beep! Beep! Blip, beep!

Civilization had officially reestablished its noose on our necks.

<HAL>"Dave, you were away, Dave. Where did you go? I missed you. You should never leave me like that, Dave."</HAL>

Can I get a what, what from my sci-fi nerds? In the house with a 2001, A Space Odyssey reference! Oh yeah, and toss in an HTML reference for good measure. Dork-tastic!

We went for the first store we saw, needing nicotine by this point. Wolftown Mercantile Country Store to the rescue! It seemed like a cool little Mom and Pop operation. There was a large iron firestove in the middle of the room around which tables were situated. Some old men were at the tables drinking coffee, eating biscuits (they smelled delicious!), and playing cards.

There was a variety of ammunition under the glass of the counter - 12, 20, and 410 gague shot and slugs, 22 ammo, some 7.62 and .308. There was more, but that was all I got a chance to read. A variety of hunting and fishing gear adorned the shelves alongside normal convenience store fare. The door outside had a placard proclaiming this establishment as a Game Check Station. Cool. A great resource for future trips.

The lady that walked up behind the counter was kind of uncool, though. She either had a permanent sneer affixed to her face or she was doing a terrible job concealing her contempt for Earl and me.

I guess we didn't exactly look like the locals, but damn! I'm a Virginia native from Barboursville - not exactly a metropolis. Didn't she read my Hillbilly Haiku? Sure, I live in Charlottesville now. Yeah, it's a college town and, yes, I work for the University. But it's not like I'm a Professor of Gay and Bisexual Studies or even a professor, for that matter!

Maybe she was just having a bad day...