Papaw and Grammy were out and about when we woke up, so the boys and I had the house to ourselves. Brett fried up the rabbit he had killed last night for breakfast this morning. It tasted like victory.
We enjoyed a quiet, lazy morning. I spent several minutes just watching the hummingbirds on the back porch.
We decided to hike to an old graveyard at the far edge of Brett's grandparents' property. Brett hadn't been out to the site himself for at least a couple of years. We drove the farm van as close as we could before the terrain required us to proceed on foot. Several segments of the old path were now overgrown with branches and briar. Brett employed a machete to clear the trail as he led the way. Had he not already known where to find the small graveyard, none of us would have seen it; it had been completely engulfed in kudzu. Brett slashed through the vines and found the graveyard's wall. We climbed over, and he continued to clear the vegetation, liberating two of the gravestones. It appears that anyone who used to visit and care for these graves has long since passed on.
Brett's ability to remember the way and his sense of direction were impressive. I certainly could have used some of those skills for my hike outside of FloydFest! During our trek to and from the graveyard, we saw a plethora of old bottles and jars, a couple of rusty bicycle frames and an old toy truck, and some monstrous vines.
Brett spotted a turtle, which he had never seen on the property, and wondered where it had come from. It didn't take us long to find the answer as we soon stumbled upon two more turtles engaged in a procreative endeavor.
When we returned to the house, Brett and Mikey decided to see if the fish were biting at the small pond, and I headed out for a bike ride on Shadowfax. According to Google Maps, the Tobacco Heritage Trail connects to the Richmond and Danville Trail. However, when I followed the GPS directions, I ended up back at the same dead end I had been before. I tried riding through the stones and overgrown grass for a while to see if the trail picked back up, but I could find no sign of a connecting path.
Discouraged, I decided to ride through South Boston to Halifax and then back to the house. Along the way, I passed a large cemetery. It had paved roads, manicured lawns, and well-maintained headstones. I rode around the grounds for the sake of contrast compared to the long-forgotten graveyard we had visited earlier. We're all just passing through.
Riding Shadowfax felt great today, although I realize I definitely need to get him a front bag. My ride lasted two hours, and I returned to the house just in time for supper, which included the fish Brett and Mikey had caught. Brett's desire to shoot and eat a rabbit had been satiated, so we stayed in and watched an old episode of Gunsmoke with Papaw.
I'm not sure what I'll get into tomorrow, but I'll keep ya posted!
Cheers, y'all!
- Jon
Tomorrow...
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