Monday, September 5, 2016

Labor Day Weekend 2016 at Roo's Place


You cannot discover new oceans
unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore. 
~Andre Gibe~

My journey of discovery has been quite the journey.  I would have never guessed how it had actually unfolded and still continues to unfold.  The ups, downs, profound, highs, lows, unexplained, mistakes, friends and yes, people using me for their benefit but mostly the journey has been exhilarating and a bit scary at times.  Would I trade any of the experiences?  No, because it is my own and distinct journey.  I have some great friends locally and also from all over due to my journey.  I have been blessed having my husband on this journey with me too.  Not all the time but many times he has been with me.

I have not been at Roo's Place as much as I have wanted this summer.  My work, family, health and commitments have limited me there.  In fact the whole month of August I had not camped there and it had left a huge hole in my life.  I was determined to changed that so I invited my family and my friend Harriett to Roo's Place this past Labor Day Weekend.  I was blessed to have good friends and family to share in the experiences there this past weekend.  I wasn't sure if anything would happen because I haven't been there in a month.  Other than the winter time, I am there every weekend or almost every weekend.  I think my car can drive up there on auto-pilot.  LOL



Harriett followed me to Roo's Place on Friday and we arrived after dark.  My husband and one daughter got there almost the same time.  My other daughter with her husband was coming up much later.  We sat around the camp fire.  Off and on Roo would get anxious and even tried to climb unto my husband's lap or my daughter's.  Harriett went to bed and then my husband went up to the main forest road to wait for our daughter and son-n-law because they had no clue where we were and it was a hard place to find.  So my other daughter and I sat around the camp fire talking and reading.  I saw some eye shine directly across from where I was sitting.  Both of us heard some knocks and movements around us.  Roo keep doing her grumble/growl and was nervous.  Eventually she calmed down and laid by us.  My husband came back and told us he had seen some eye shine and it sounded like it was around the same time I did.  He then got in his car to find our daughter and husband who was lost and needed help finding us.  

Real late my husband with daughter and son-n-law in tow finally arrived.  We talked for a bit and then we all went to our tents to sleep.  Harriett was in her camper van and the rest of us was in 3 tents.  That whole night Roo woke me up with her growling, short barks, grumble/growls and moving around the tent.  The next morning Harriett told me she saw some red eye shine, heard Roo do a short bark and then shake her whole body.  I knew she did the shaking a couple of times since she woke me up when she did.  According to Harriett the eye shine was in the same spot her late husband Dick had seen last Labor Day.  Only with Harriett it was red eye shine.  I am thinking the 3 tents, late arrival, long absence and new people must have made the group there not sure of us.

My husband and the kids went kayaking on Saturday while Harriett and I explored close by and pretty much stayed around the camp site.  We went down to the structure to see if the food gifts were still there.  As we are walking down I was showing her where we usually find the marbles and where my husband had found the orange one the last time there.  As I was pointing it out I saw a blue marble!  I had left one on the log in front of the structure but that was a couple of months ago and it should have still been there.  There was no way it could have naturally made its way there.  We were up hill and many feet away.



It looked like it was pushed into the ground.


I took the marble and left them a feather and pretty cone that was different than the ones around that spot.  I pushed the feather's end into the ground so it wouldn't blow away.


Saturday night Roo wasn't as anxious and I was able to sleep.  Before going to sleep we were hearing knocks off and on all around us.  Then when we woke up on Sunday, my daughter told me she heard a couple of howls to the east of our camp site!  She had never heard or have any interest in Bigfoot before so she had no inkling of what howls were.  I would like to point out she does know the sounds of coyotes and other animals and she said it was not that or even hooting of an owl.

Sunday night we had a late dinner and this night as soon as it got dark Roo was anxious and watching all around us.  I did hear some knocks.  We had cooked some ribs on the camp fire and then sat down under our sunshade to eat.  Away from the camp fire.  Harriett and I continued to sit around the table talking while my daughter and husband went and sat by the camp fire.  While we were talking I heard and felt at the same time a sharp ping like a small rock hit my chair.  It seemed like it came from the trees to my right and forward a little.  I said, "did you hear that?"  To Harriett and she said yes she did and it sounded like a small rock.  My daughter then said she saw it come out of the trees in a line drive and then heard it hit my chair.  She said it was the size of a quarter.  She then said she heard several knocks just before it happened.  I checked the ground but found only pine cones and a small hard wood chip but no rock.  It was dark and we would have to check the next morning.  It could have been a hard small pine cone but my gut and the way it sounded when it hit and how it felt made me think a small rock!

The next morning my daughter found a small quarter-sized rock by where I had sat.


Harriett and I went down to the gifting structure to see if any of the gifts of food was eaten.  None was but I figured they wouldn't.  They seemed to eat when we leave.

We walked by where the blue marble was found and where I had left the feather but it was gone!  Plus we found an impression right by it.  They had moved the pretty cone and left another impression with toes by that!





The hard part was leaving to come home.  I am not sure what will happen next but if it does then it does.  I have decided not to expect anything there.  The marbles and prints are cool but having had 2 rocks thrown at me this year there is a bit unnerving.  Exhilarating but unnerving.  Not sure what to think.  So I hope you enjoyed my weekend like I did.  I am trying to make plans to go this weekend.  If not then the next.  I am going to try to find some unusual marbles and see what happens.

So until next time I wish you and yours a wonderful day and a bight tomorrow.

SQUATCH ON!   MY FRIENDS, SQUATCH ON!!