The One That Got Away?

Ever wonder if Mr/Mrs Right came this close and you didn't seize the moment?  Is there someone out there exactly like you only of the opposite sex? OR if it floats your boat the same sex. You know what I mean tho right? 

This blog should have been posted in Writtin's but I decided it was about travel...

and this blog is about Travel, as well as Photography, Art, Nature, Hiking, Birds, DIY projects, Scraping, Wildlife, Reselling,  and Living Simple --gosh maybe I need to change the title to
Jack of All Blog-Topics?.  

Okay picture this....on my recent trip I was looking for the trailhead to Opossum Creek Falls! I had followed the signs and then the signs pointed to a very overgrown dirt n gravel road, the grass in the center was way high as if no one had been down it in a lonnng time! Wilma (my GPS) was saying "turn right now on Turkey Ridge Road".

                     

Rain had begun to spatter on the cracked windshield and I drew my mouth up all the way to the right and announced to the girlz, who had already heard thunder, and their ears were down and they had  that look on their long faces...."DANG now its raining"...So I pulled onto the dirt road but stopped to check other possible waterfalls nearby because this one is a 4 mile round trip hike..not something I want to do in the rain, and the directions say  (I'm mumbling all this to myself outloud as I read).... drive 2.2 miles to the trailhead on the left...park and hike 2 miles .

 I'm asking myself if I even want to go to the trailhead its 2.2 miles on a slick wet gravel road the trees are leaning in and swatting the top of the DLEX and the dogs are worried about the thunder!  There was a sign back a ways that read Tugaloo Falls...and it pointed off to the left...I'm flipping through the contents trying to find it in my SC Upstate Waterfall Hikes handbook. Maybe a better bet for now, but I was not seeing it as I flipped through.

About that time an older model slightly rusty Subaru wagon was coming off Turkey Ridge Rd...There was an old canoe securely fastened to the top of the Subaru and on the back a mt bike and a NC plate....a man at the wheel.  He pulled up to the stop sign...I could tell he too was checking a map or something paper in his lap...I rolled my window down...he saw me so he did the same..My dogs immediately begin barking, they are always protecting the van, our camp site, me...and I hear from his car also.....a DOG Barking!!

I notice the man is damp his hair stuck to his head...like he got caught in the rain...he was dressed in regular clothes from what I saw I am up high and can see down into this car... exactly what one would wear out in the wilderness...but he does not look like he shops Outfitters catalogs or LL Bean, probably does not have a swish on his shoe or a big N I get so tired of cookie cutter footwear on cookie cutter people...he looks like he gets his stuff at the thrift store,  same as me...he was younger than me maybe his mid to late 50'S. (Ha you thought I was gonna say 30's din't you???)

If you ever watch the TV show Grimm  have you seen the character Monroe? Well he reminded me of a shorter version of Monroe, he seemed shorter but he was sitting!  

Its raining harder now, the wipers are on, my engine is running, the AC and Defogger are on, cause its SC and its HUMID....and I've got 2 dogs barking a'la' stereo in my ears right behind my seat!  I turn to them and yell "shut up" then I turn to him because he has said something...but he's busy yelling at his dog who is trying to get in his lap and bark out the window..."shut up"!

Then I say..." did you drive to the trailhead?"

"YES, but it started raining and 6 cars are already there so way too crowded for me."
Then he's saying shut up to his dog again.

I say "oh, okay... well the road looks slippery now, so I think I'll come back some other time." Then I yell shut up at my dogs.

"Yeah, me too," he replies...then I say,

"What about this Tugaloo Falls, I saw a sign back there...you ever hear of it?"

He says, "I was just checking it but can't find it in my book."

Hmmmm I have to wonder does he have the same book on his lap?

The rain was getting in I waved goodbye and rolled up the window I waited for him to pull out but he never did, he had gone back to studying whatever was on his lap, so I back up and onto the highway and went past Turkey Ridge Road  a ways to turn around...he was still sitting there when I went back past...

That's when I drove up to the General Store and got an ice cream cone from "Charles Manson"...(from a previous post) while I was in there I did ask "Charlie" if he knew anything about Tugaloo Falls...he said,

"as far as I know there is no Tugaloo Falls, it's a f-d up sign like a misleading, wrong turn sign...(he left out the for tourists part)... there is a spot up there where the rafters take out of the Tugaloo lake but no falls." 

                  

Then a young fellow in line behind me spoke up and said, "there is a falls but you can only get to it by boat."

Charlie raises his bushy brows and twists his mouth to the left.

"OHHHH... okay well thanks"...I leave with my $5 cone I zipped out in the rain...outside my dogs are barking in the van I hear them...I have left the motor running and the AC on for them...I duck inside and just as I'm pulling out the Subaru is pulling in...I have to wonder 3 things:

1. Did he ask Charles Manson about the Tugaloo Falls?
2. What kind of ice cream did he buy?
3. And did Charlie and the other local give each other that look when the male stranger came in and asked the same thing?

Sometimes life is kinda weird...he could have been the perfect companion for me, or he may have been too much like me therefore I would despise all his flaws, IOW=my flaws, or he could have been hiding out from the FBI, however I will never know!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.