WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:17.239 It's gonna be all right, I had told her, and it was more 2 00:00:17.359 --> 00:00:22.160 or less. She ended up with a cast on her leg from the hip 3 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:26.519 down to her ankle, and I have to do two hours of physical therapy 4 00:00:26.600 --> 00:00:32.320 each weekday for the next couple of months. My car was destroyed. My 5 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:37.479 wife only speaks to me when she absolutely has to, because she blames me 6 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:42.000 for every bit of what happened to our daughter and everything else on me, 7 00:00:42.479 --> 00:00:45.479 and I guess she has the right too. But it's going to be all 8 00:00:45.560 --> 00:00:52.079 right eventually, at least I hope it will. We've had a tradition in 9 00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:56.679 our house ever since our daughter was two years old. Once a month we 10 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.119 have a family adventure where we go and do something that we've never done before. 11 00:01:02.119 --> 00:01:04.840 It doesn't have to be big or an expensive thing, it just has 12 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:11.120 to be something new and different. You would think that would be easily accomplished 13 00:01:11.239 --> 00:01:15.239 with so much being available to everyone these days. You can't turn on a 14 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:21.359 television or a radio that someone isn't shouting and blasting at you to go here 15 00:01:21.439 --> 00:01:26.599 and do this, or go there and experience that. Those are the type 16 00:01:26.599 --> 00:01:30.519 of things my wife and daughter tend to go after. They enjoy doing things 17 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.920 that their friends have done, so they can talk back and forth about it 18 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:38.799 and compare notes. I don't blame them. They get a real kick out 19 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.280 of doing that, and in all honesty, most of the time, the 20 00:01:42.400 --> 00:01:47.239 weekends they have planned turn out to be a lot more fun than I would 21 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:49.760 have originally thought them to be. After hearing what we were going to be 22 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:56.680 doing, driving two hours to go ziplining for an hour is not something I 23 00:01:56.680 --> 00:02:00.000 would have come up with, but it turned out to be fun. A 24 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:05.719 full day of picking blackberries and then making them into jelly wasn't, at least 25 00:02:05.719 --> 00:02:10.159 not for me. But anytime an event has finished and I can look around 26 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:15.479 in the car and see my wife and daughter smiling and laughing and talking a 27 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:19.599 mile a minute about the fun they had, well, I'll take two out 28 00:02:19.639 --> 00:02:23.840 of three is a win. Every single time. I could be having the 29 00:02:23.840 --> 00:02:27.479 worst time in the world all day long, but if those two were happy, 30 00:02:27.879 --> 00:02:31.400 then it was a complete win. On the other side of the coin, 31 00:02:31.439 --> 00:02:36.439 though, is that they don't always see things the same way I do. 32 00:02:37.159 --> 00:02:40.080 They don't feel so fortunate after some of the choices I've made for our 33 00:02:40.159 --> 00:02:46.159 outings, so I've learned to let them make most of the selections and planning. 34 00:02:46.599 --> 00:02:49.520 But now and again I will have an idea and I just know it 35 00:02:49.560 --> 00:02:53.280 will be a home run. It usually isn't, but I keep on swinging. 36 00:02:53.879 --> 00:02:57.520 You can't hit the ball out of the park if you never swing at 37 00:02:57.560 --> 00:03:04.159 it right. An entire weekend panning for gold in a creek and spending the 38 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.280 nights in an authentic cabin that had no electricity, no running water, and 39 00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:15.080 no indoor bathroom had been a huge swinging mists. The two days of hunkering 40 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:20.680 in bushes with paperback field guides and binoculars just to see how many different birds 41 00:03:20.719 --> 00:03:25.080 we could identify, well, that had been another disaster. Me forgetting the 42 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:30.680 cans of bug repellent hadn't helped a bit. The worst was when I wrangled 43 00:03:30.759 --> 00:03:36.879 us spots in a Pioneer village attraction for a fee. They will let you 44 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.879 dress up like pioneers and work in the village while other tourists walk around and 45 00:03:40.960 --> 00:03:46.960 watch you work. Well. I was a blacksmith's apprentice and it was great. 46 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:53.360 Jan my wife was a candlemaker. I didn't stop hearing about the burns 47 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:58.000 from the hot wax on each of her fingertips for weeks and our daughter, 48 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:01.719 britt her name is Brittany, we call her Britt was allowed to swing a 49 00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:05.400 long stick with a wire paddle attached to the end of it and beat the 50 00:04:05.479 --> 00:04:10.960 dust out of rugs for two days. Well, that week end had been 51 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.560 a gigantic swing and a mess. But how they laughed and teased over what 52 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:19.959 a dufaus i was made the whole thing a great memory. There was a 53 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:24.839 lot of laughing going on about that trip and many of the ones that had 54 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:29.680 preceded it. But there isn't much laughing going on now. Two of us 55 00:04:29.720 --> 00:04:32.519 are too busy trying to heal, and the other is still too frightened and 56 00:04:32.600 --> 00:04:39.839 angry about what could have happened to find any reason to smile. Thinking about 57 00:04:39.920 --> 00:04:45.560 what might have been still scares me nearly to death. How in an effort 58 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:51.160 to show someone a good time almost cost her her life. They are allowed 59 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:56.279 to break down and be terrified and cry, and it's good for them to 60 00:04:56.279 --> 00:05:00.120 get that out of their system whenever they can. But I'm not allowed that. 61 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:02.360 I have to be strong for them, and I have to be the 62 00:05:02.439 --> 00:05:08.279 one they can lean on. All of this was my fault. I have 63 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:13.519 this friend. Now that's not exactly right. I know a guy that I 64 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:16.399 work with. I have no idea why the son of a gun ever owns 65 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:20.439 a house, because he's never there, And when the clock hits five at 66 00:05:20.480 --> 00:05:25.399 work on Fridays, he's running to his truck to go spend the weekends out 67 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:30.399 doing something hairbrain. He thinks that he's some sort of modern age Tarzan. 68 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:35.160 There's a trail in the woods or a hill somewhere that he hasn't wanted to 69 00:05:35.199 --> 00:05:41.199 climb or height, and he lives on energy drinks and granola, and he's 70 00:05:41.319 --> 00:05:46.120 built like a steel cable. He's all the time shooting off down some river 71 00:05:46.199 --> 00:05:49.600 in his kayak with his fishing pole, or he's jumping off a cliff hanging 72 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:56.560 onto a hand glidder. Now he says he has a life wish rather than 73 00:05:56.600 --> 00:06:00.959 a death wish, but I think he's about half out of his But he 74 00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.240 always has great stories to tell on Monday, so I went and I hit 75 00:06:05.319 --> 00:06:10.959 him up for some ideas that I thought a much lazier man and his wife 76 00:06:11.000 --> 00:06:15.439 and thirteen year old daughter might enjoy. I didn't want to climb up the 77 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:20.240 sides of the Egyptian Pyramid or dodge anacondas in some South American river, but 78 00:06:20.399 --> 00:06:25.160 nice, fun, easy things that weren't so likely to get us killed. 79 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:29.120 I also knew that he would give me a dozen or more, and I 80 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:31.439 was just hoping that one or two might be something that I could use. 81 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:35.639 He ratled off a couple of things off the top of his head, but 82 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:39.920 he promised that he would make me out a list by the next day, 83 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:44.680 and that's what he did. Some of the things he wrote down I would 84 00:06:44.680 --> 00:06:48.600 have said were too dangerous for those airborne soldiers to try, but a couple 85 00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:54.120 of suggestions didn't sound half bad. Now. I wish now that I had 86 00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:58.120 wadded up his list and thrown it away before looking it over the second time, 87 00:06:58.680 --> 00:07:02.480 but I didn't. About two hours driving from where we live, he 88 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:08.240 knew about a parcel of property that belonged to a corporation, but it was 89 00:07:08.319 --> 00:07:13.360 overseen by a friend of his. There wasn't much to oversee because nothing was 90 00:07:13.399 --> 00:07:16.199 going on on the property, so the man usually just did a drive by 91 00:07:16.399 --> 00:07:21.480 once every so often. The property had been bought for a future development, 92 00:07:21.680 --> 00:07:27.160 but so far there were no plans to start doing anything with it. It 93 00:07:27.199 --> 00:07:30.040 was too costly and the risk were too high to start any real work on 94 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:35.160 the property at that time. But what made the development so risky was what 95 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:41.959 also made the property so interesting. He told me that he went there often 96 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.639 to just hike around and have a few looks. With a call, he 97 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:48.399 could probably get permission for me and my family to go and do the same. 98 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:53.480 I should have taken a pass right then, but I asked him to 99 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:57.439 make the call, and the next week ind we set out for an adventure 100 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.600 like we had never had, and I hope God forgives me for what I 101 00:08:01.639 --> 00:08:05.680 took my family into. I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. 102 00:08:07.800 --> 00:08:13.480 The drive turned out to be closer to three hours instead of two, mainly 103 00:08:13.519 --> 00:08:18.519 because we started getting into the much less populated areas and the lack of state 104 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:24.600 maintained road and there weren't any signs anywhere. We had to guess and fumble 105 00:08:24.680 --> 00:08:28.560 our way along through the directions that he had given me, which weren't exactly 106 00:08:28.720 --> 00:08:33.879 precision filled. But because of the idea I had come up with for the 107 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:37.240 month's excursion being a pretty good one, or so I thought at the time, 108 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:41.720 I had taken a day off from work to make it a three day 109 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:46.039 weekend. My hope was that it would be so great that we would have 110 00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:50.240 the greatest time for three days, and if it wasn't, we could ditch 111 00:08:50.279 --> 00:08:54.519 it all early and Salvag's part of the weekend by doing something else. So 112 00:08:54.600 --> 00:09:00.200 after a long and confusing drive that Friday morning, we finally found a oat 113 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.039 path that my guy had called the road we were supposed to take into the 114 00:09:03.120 --> 00:09:09.480 property. Even though both my wife and my daughter were well aware of the 115 00:09:09.480 --> 00:09:13.360 fact that we would be camping outdoors, they still managed to look surprised and 116 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:18.600 put out when they opened the car doors and there weren't any bathrooms visible. 117 00:09:18.679 --> 00:09:24.039 They carried on for a bit and then darted behind trees and clumps of bushes 118 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.360 to commune with nature, and then we all pitched in and had a great 119 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.399 time of setting up our tent and chairs and all in all, I was 120 00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:35.720 considering the week end off to a great start, and judging by all the 121 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:39.679 giggling between my gals as we were doing it, they were having a good 122 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:46.200 time. Things couldn't have started out much better. When the curious squirrel came 123 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:54.279 up and immediately befriended Brett, everything got perfect and Brett had a buddy now 124 00:09:54.519 --> 00:09:58.519 and My wife was glad to admit that I had finally done good with a 125 00:09:58.519 --> 00:10:03.799 plan, and spent the afternoon taking pictures and eating sandwiches and telling stories and 126 00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:09.440 enjoying being with each other in the quiet where everything smelled fresh and pine scented. 127 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:13.480 My wife and I held hands as we laid in the tin in our 128 00:10:13.519 --> 00:10:18.360 sleeping bags, and we listened to our daughter as she whistled lowly. She 129 00:10:18.399 --> 00:10:24.879 doesn't snore, she whistles she always has, and we both fell asleep listening 130 00:10:24.919 --> 00:10:28.679 to her. I was ready to head out as soon as I woke up, 131 00:10:28.919 --> 00:10:33.879 but my wife insisted on me building up the fire so she could make 132 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:39.200 us all breakfast. It was when I saw their faces after I told them 133 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:43.320 why exactly that we had come to this particular place that my home run was 134 00:10:43.399 --> 00:10:48.679 in serious jeopardy of turning into a game ending out caught on the warning track. 135 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:56.120 The reason for the delay in developing this property was twofold. Half of 136 00:10:56.120 --> 00:11:01.440 the property was going to be terribly expensive to do anything with because it was 137 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.799 made up in large by swampy bog type areas that flooded in the spring rains 138 00:11:07.039 --> 00:11:11.600 and then never drained like most ground dead had it been an acre or two, 139 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:16.879 well, that was one thing, but this property consisted of many more 140 00:11:16.919 --> 00:11:20.360 times that amount of acreage. The other half of the property was dry because 141 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:26.360 it consisted of the hardwood uplands and ridges that surrounded the lower swampier areas. 142 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:31.559 It was not as easy to work with because of the way that the land 143 00:11:31.679 --> 00:11:35.799 laid, and dangerous and expensive to try anything because parts of it was littered 144 00:11:35.840 --> 00:11:41.960 with caves fourteen that my guy was aware of. He was sure that there 145 00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:46.399 were more that he had not yet discovered. Whoever had bought the property had 146 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:52.240 been likes in doing their homework first, but my guy had done his, 147 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:56.639 and now I had him out to every cave that he knew about. I 148 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:01.559 thought a bit of speed lunking for a couple of days might roll their socks 149 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:05.480 up and down. The looks on their faces when I made the announcement assured 150 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:11.639 me that I was mistaken. It took me thirty minutes to convince them to 151 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:16.840 trust me and give this at least a genuine try, And seeing that I 152 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:22.120 was losing the battle in the war, I resorted to something that I was 153 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:26.600 highly effective, but that I'm in no way proud of. I began listing 154 00:12:26.799 --> 00:12:31.320 the monthly adventures that we had taken, but that they had planned that were 155 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:37.399 heavily centered around the fairer sex having the most enjoyment. I had gone along 156 00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:43.240 and said nothing, and even paid for the experiences, and even though men 157 00:12:43.320 --> 00:12:46.720 were a distant second place on the scale of making sure that the visitor had 158 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:54.600 a swell time. The wreathmaking from wild or grape vines and flower arranging trip 159 00:12:54.679 --> 00:12:58.399 had been the first one that I brought up, and that started them to 160 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:01.960 staring at their shoes. But by the time I got to the weekend of 161 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:07.759 painting on old bits of wood and rocks with brushes made from broomed sage and 162 00:13:07.879 --> 00:13:11.600 tufts of hand spun wool, they were in complete agreement that it was time 163 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:16.679 that old Dad had a chance to grin. And they promised me that they 164 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:20.360 would dodge the bats and the mole crickets and never protest, and all that 165 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:24.759 mattered was that I had a good time looking around in dirty and damp old 166 00:13:24.879 --> 00:13:28.840 caves. Well, I knew it was a promise they would not keep, 167 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:35.799 but they had finally agreed to go, and so we set off. The 168 00:13:35.879 --> 00:13:39.440 first one that we finally discovered did not help my case. In the least, 169 00:13:41.080 --> 00:13:45.759 instead of the underground wonders that I had promised, we found an alcove 170 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.600 in the side of a hill that wasn't much larger than my daughter's walk in 171 00:13:48.759 --> 00:13:56.279 closet. Someone taking a chunk of rock heavy and limestone and scratching the words 172 00:13:56.720 --> 00:14:01.080 Frampton comes Alive on the wall only caused them to roll their eyes at each 173 00:14:01.120 --> 00:14:05.679 other, and the fact that it had been so long ago when Frampton was 174 00:14:05.759 --> 00:14:09.039 actually a thing went right over their heads, and I scored no points for 175 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:15.440 pointing it out to them, so I put on my most optimistic face and 176 00:14:15.519 --> 00:14:18.600 led the way to the next one. I never could tell exactly what they 177 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:24.080 were whispering to each other as they both talked behind me, but I'm sure 178 00:14:24.240 --> 00:14:26.720 that I had heard my wife tell Britt just to humor me, and this 179 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:31.600 time tomorrow that we would be on our way back home and we could probably 180 00:14:31.639 --> 00:14:35.039 stop for pizza along the way. Well, I walked just that much faster 181 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:41.440 after hearing that exchange. Over the course of the next hour, we found 182 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:46.039 three more of the caves on the map that I had been given, and 183 00:14:46.200 --> 00:14:48.279 one was no bigger than the first one that we had found. If it 184 00:14:48.320 --> 00:14:52.480 was even that big, and the other two you could actually walk inside and 185 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:56.799 look around. You couldn't do much more than that, but we were finally 186 00:14:56.879 --> 00:15:01.080 all three in a cave, and I could see the interest beginning to grow, 187 00:15:01.559 --> 00:15:07.360 at least on Brett's face. I did. My wife is definitely not 188 00:15:07.480 --> 00:15:13.039 a fan of caves, but she gotted it out and came inside and did 189 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:18.000 rather well so long as she could be near the entrance. Thankfully, we 190 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:22.679 found no graffiti on the walls and no litter aside from a shed snakeskin on 191 00:15:22.720 --> 00:15:26.840 the floor. The fourth had been almost exactly what I had been hoping to 192 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:31.600 see and show them. The path was steep. It was steep going down, 193 00:15:31.600 --> 00:15:35.240 and it would be that way going back up again, but it was 194 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:39.000 worth all the sweating and grunting, and the cave when we finally reached it 195 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:43.840 was nearly the size of our home. Little alleyways had jutted off here and 196 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.919 there that never went so far for a person to become lost in, but 197 00:15:48.039 --> 00:15:52.919 deeply enough that you could explore them and be filled with wonder at what might 198 00:15:54.000 --> 00:16:00.759 be just around the next corner. We traced indensions on the walls our fingers, 199 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:03.960 and we listened to the echoes of our voices. We took photos, 200 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:08.320 and I pretended to be a caveman, complete with all the grunting and fist 201 00:16:08.399 --> 00:16:12.600 thumping on my chest. Well, they laughed and laughed at that until I 202 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:15.960 grabbed my wife by the hair and tried to drag her across the room like 203 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:22.720 a caveman theoretically might drag his woman. She didn't dig it, not at 204 00:16:22.799 --> 00:16:26.840 all. She also didn't dig the blisters she was getting on the backs of 205 00:16:26.840 --> 00:16:30.519 her ankles from her tennis shoes instead of her more supportive footwear that I had 206 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:34.879 suggested she wear. And when she was back at the top of the ridge 207 00:16:34.919 --> 00:16:40.240 and obvious discomfort, I knew enough to know that it was not the time 208 00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.039 for an old I told you so. I suggested that we pack it in 209 00:16:45.080 --> 00:16:48.279 for the day and try to find one or two more caves, and next 210 00:16:48.320 --> 00:16:52.840 morning before we headed back home, she had a different plan in mine. 211 00:16:53.440 --> 00:16:57.240 I should have gone with my plan, but her plan turned out to be 212 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:00.919 another I told you so, but I will never bring up for as long 213 00:17:00.960 --> 00:17:06.599 as I live. My wife's plan was to go back to where we were 214 00:17:06.680 --> 00:17:11.119 camped and sit for a couple of hours with their shoes off before starting to 215 00:17:11.160 --> 00:17:15.599 throw things together for our supper, while Britta and I went on and had 216 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:18.960 our fill of cave discovering, and when we returned, we would all have 217 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:23.359 a great meal and enjoy each other's company before turning in, and we could 218 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:29.599 get an early start back the next morning. Britta and I watched her walk 219 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:33.799 away, favoring her steps as she took them, and we agreed that we 220 00:17:33.839 --> 00:17:37.240 would only explore one more cave. The other eight or so on the map 221 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:42.759 could wait until another time for a part two of this experience. She was 222 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:48.200 almost out of sight when she turned and blew us both a kiss. It 223 00:17:48.240 --> 00:17:51.559 turned out to be nearly half a mile long walk to get to where we 224 00:17:51.599 --> 00:17:56.720 should start looking for the next and our final cave of the trip. We 225 00:17:56.759 --> 00:18:00.240 had given the cave that we had searched for a thorough looking at, and 226 00:18:00.359 --> 00:18:04.319 when we emerged finally, I noticed that the sun was lower than I had 227 00:18:04.359 --> 00:18:08.559 expected it to be, and I told Brett that we needed to hurry and 228 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:14.000 not take any chances with her mother's mood, and she agreed, and we 229 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:18.200 both moved the march up to double time. We were hustling, We were 230 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:22.519 having fun together still, but we were definitely hustling through and around the trees. 231 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:26.240 That was when, in a bit of an out of breath voice, 232 00:18:26.279 --> 00:18:30.599 she told me to stop growling at her. She didn't think it was funny 233 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:34.799 and it made me seem immature to try to scare her. Well, I 234 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:40.160 didn't know what she was talking about. I just assumed that she had heard 235 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:45.200 something she didn't recognize, and she blamed it on me. Well, she 236 00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:48.720 was tearful when she demanded that I stopped making the noises. The next time 237 00:18:48.839 --> 00:18:52.720 she spoke, I swore to her that I had done nothing, and was 238 00:18:52.799 --> 00:18:56.640 just before giving her one of those hugs that only fathers know how to give 239 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:03.559 daughters to make everything okay again. When we both heard the growling, it 240 00:19:03.640 --> 00:19:07.400 came from behind us. She had called it growling, but that really wasn't 241 00:19:07.400 --> 00:19:14.319 what it was, wasn't to my ears anyway. It came again, like 242 00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:18.240 thunder from a building storm, rolling across the valley and heading our way. 243 00:19:18.960 --> 00:19:23.559 But unlike thunder, this sound had an urgency or an intensity to it. 244 00:19:25.400 --> 00:19:29.599 But it was not a growling. It was a roar or a bellow as 245 00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:34.160 a primal scream. It was an announcing of a presence and an awareness that 246 00:19:34.279 --> 00:19:38.559 it knew where we were, that we were somewhere we should not be, 247 00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:45.279 and we were interlopers in a place that tolerated no interlopers. Brit looked at 248 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:49.039 me, and the few freckles she had across the bridge of her nose had 249 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:53.839 all but disappeared because her face had grown so pale. She was looking to 250 00:19:53.880 --> 00:19:59.559 me for an answer, for reassurance, for confidence that everything was going to 251 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:03.799 be just fine. I looked her in the eyes and I lied to her. 252 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.440 I told her that we had probably gotten attention of a wandering bear or 253 00:20:07.559 --> 00:20:12.680 perhaps a bobecat. I didn't know what was making those terrible sounds, but 254 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:18.000 I was sure that it wasn't what I had suggested. My only thought at 255 00:20:18.000 --> 00:20:21.759 the time was calming my daughter, and I would have told her anything at 256 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:25.119 the time. So I took her by the hand and I told her that 257 00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:27.640 we needed to hurry. It was going to start getting dart soon, and 258 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:33.839 animals tended to hunt and roam around more at night. The light seemed to 259 00:20:33.880 --> 00:20:37.440 work, and we took off, not in a panic run, but much 260 00:20:37.480 --> 00:20:41.920 faster than a walk. We didn't hear more roaring as we moved through the 261 00:20:41.039 --> 00:20:47.160 darkening woods, and we felt better. We didn't start running until after the 262 00:20:47.240 --> 00:20:51.960 section of tree limb as big as my leg came flying through the air and 263 00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:56.359 caught me flush in the back. She kept asking me what had happened and 264 00:20:56.480 --> 00:21:00.240 what was wrong and was I all right? And I wanted to answer, 265 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:03.559 but I wanted to breathe more, and every ounce of air had been driven 266 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:08.799 out of my lungs. We needed to move, but I needed to breathe 267 00:21:08.920 --> 00:21:14.160 first. I knew I should be calm and the breath would return, but 268 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:17.759 I was in a panic mode, and the harder I struggled to breathe, 269 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.640 the farther away the air seemed. We could hear crashing of tree limbs snapping, 270 00:21:23.039 --> 00:21:26.519 and I was holding Bret tight against me so she wouldn't look around. 271 00:21:27.119 --> 00:21:32.200 I couldn't see anything. I didn't want her to see anything if something appeared. 272 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:37.480 I held her tightly and stared into the dusky trees while my chest slowly 273 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:42.400 fill the air again like a lifelong chain smoker. I could hear its heavy 274 00:21:42.480 --> 00:21:48.519 breathing. I needed her to run now. I pushed her away from my 275 00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:52.119 chest and I took off, running with her hand in mine, and she 276 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:56.160 understood, and she didn't argue. We ran and we stumbled, and we 277 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:00.640 skidded and slipped, and we straddled small applings, and we took I don't 278 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:06.880 know how many limbs to our faces, but we never stopped running. We 279 00:22:07.000 --> 00:22:11.240 might have slowed down once we thought we had put enough distance between us and 280 00:22:11.359 --> 00:22:15.599 whatever was behind us, But the roaring began again, and somehow it didn't 281 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:22.000 sound like it did earlier. Now it sounded enraged, like running from it 282 00:22:22.039 --> 00:22:26.359 had been an insult. It was angry, and I didn't want to see 283 00:22:26.359 --> 00:22:30.359 it. When it was angry. We ran even faster, with no idea 284 00:22:30.599 --> 00:22:34.160 where we were going. We only knew that we had to get away. 285 00:22:36.240 --> 00:22:40.640 She was crying and her free hand pressed against her side where the stitch was 286 00:22:40.680 --> 00:22:45.640 clutching her insides, but she kept up with me. And then a rock 287 00:22:45.759 --> 00:22:48.680 the size of a cantalope missiled through the air, just over our heads and 288 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:55.279 crashed loudly against a tree, and whatever was behind us roared the loudest that 289 00:22:55.359 --> 00:22:59.839 had had up until that point, probably angry that it had missed us with 290 00:23:00.039 --> 00:23:04.599 it's thrown. And we ran even harder, and then I fell and dragged 291 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:11.680 my daughter right along with I didn't know that I had been unconscious. My 292 00:23:11.759 --> 00:23:15.319 daughter was slapping my cheek and crying and screaming at all the same time. 293 00:23:17.240 --> 00:23:19.400 I tried to make the fall clear from my mind, but I couldn't. 294 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:25.960 I had no idea where I was or what was going on. All I 295 00:23:26.039 --> 00:23:30.359 knew was that there seemed to be noise everywhere, and I needed everything to 296 00:23:30.440 --> 00:23:33.240 just be quiet for a few minutes so that I could think and come back 297 00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:37.839 to my senses. At least, when I opened my eyes, my daughter 298 00:23:37.960 --> 00:23:44.160 stopped smacking me. It felt better when she stopped, and everything else hurt, 299 00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:48.720 but at least my cheek wasn't stinging any longer. Dirt and leaves and 300 00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:55.039 small sticks and tiny rocks kept falling onto us. They were annoying when they 301 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:57.519 landed on my face, and I wanted to brush them away, but I 302 00:23:57.599 --> 00:24:02.960 knew better than to turn loose some brit She wasn't ready to let go of 303 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.599 me yet. And my eyesight had cleared and my head had stopped spinning around 304 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:11.480 and around, but I still couldn't see very much. It was so dang 305 00:24:11.640 --> 00:24:15.640 dark. The noise of the roaring was louder than ever before, and it 306 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:19.920 seemed to be falling down on us. Now twisted my head a little and 307 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:26.039 I looked straight up, and then I saw it. It was the most 308 00:24:26.119 --> 00:24:30.880 massive thing I had ever seen. Massive as in a collection of muscles and 309 00:24:32.039 --> 00:24:37.640 power, and all attached to a gigantic hair or fur covered frame, long 310 00:24:37.799 --> 00:24:42.759 arms that flexed and bulged, and that had enormous leathery looking hands at the 311 00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:48.839 ends, hands that kept clinching and unclenching, as if they were imagining how 312 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.559 it wanted to grab each of us. Its chest was covered with long, 313 00:24:52.640 --> 00:24:57.440 coarse looking hair, but when it turned in certain ways, I could see 314 00:24:57.480 --> 00:25:03.839 scars on its chest where the hair wouldn't grow. This was a creature that 315 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:08.240 was used to fighting and probably winning. Maybe because I was lying flat on 316 00:25:08.279 --> 00:25:11.400 my back, but the thing towered to what looked to me to be eight, 317 00:25:11.680 --> 00:25:18.480 maybe even ten feet high. No matter the measurement, it was enormous, 318 00:25:18.359 --> 00:25:22.640 a giant, bellowing, hair covered thing from a scary children's story, 319 00:25:23.119 --> 00:25:27.640 except this actually existed, and it was standing there looking down at me and 320 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:33.319 my daughter. It would raise one or the other of its legs and stump 321 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:37.680 a foot down against the ground when it roared and bellowed. The thighs on 322 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:42.599 whatever this thing was that loomed over our heads were huge and thick. They 323 00:25:42.599 --> 00:25:47.200 would quiver and ripple each time it thundered one of those great, long, 324 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:52.400 grotesque feet against the ground. It had a head as big as a cow's 325 00:25:52.400 --> 00:25:56.440 head, or so it seemed to me. It was brutish and ugly, 326 00:25:56.000 --> 00:26:02.160 and deep hate filled its eyes a too close to the bridge of its blunt, 327 00:26:02.200 --> 00:26:07.880 almost non existent nose. But the teeth they were what frightened me. 328 00:26:08.079 --> 00:26:14.559 They were yellow and thick and blunted and strong looking, and difficult to chip 329 00:26:14.680 --> 00:26:18.920 or break, was my guess. And the drool ran in streams out of 330 00:26:18.960 --> 00:26:25.000 that mouth as it stared down at us, and it roared. Maybe we 331 00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:27.759 were safe for the minute. There was a distance between us, and the 332 00:26:27.799 --> 00:26:32.680 creature didn't seem to want to close that distance, at least not for the 333 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:37.599 moment. We had fallen into one of those caves. I don't remember if 334 00:26:37.640 --> 00:26:40.920 this one had been on the map, or if we had happened to discover 335 00:26:41.000 --> 00:26:45.400 a new one. That didn't matter, it was here and we had fallen 336 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.079 into it. Now, I reached for the flashlight that was zipped into one 337 00:26:48.119 --> 00:26:52.680 of my pockets of my cargo pants. The pain nearly caused me to pass 338 00:26:52.759 --> 00:27:00.559 out again. Something was terribly wrong with my shoulder or my upper back to 339 00:27:00.680 --> 00:27:03.960 have fallen and landed more or less on my back on a rock surface. 340 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:08.440 And it's no wonder I saw stars before. I saw nothing for a while, 341 00:27:10.200 --> 00:27:12.160 and I managed to get my flash light out and on, and then 342 00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:18.279 I breathed deeply and slowly for a few breaths while the pain came down again. 343 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:22.599 And as long as I didn't move, wasn't so bad, But moving 344 00:27:22.920 --> 00:27:29.720 made it awful. The cave we had fallen into was not like the others 345 00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:33.160 we had visited earlier in the day, and this one was shaped more like 346 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:37.839 a well, a giant round hole in the earth that happened to have ledges 347 00:27:37.960 --> 00:27:42.960 here and there. And fortunately the one we had fallen into was large enough 348 00:27:44.000 --> 00:27:48.640 to hold both brit and me. I shined the light below us, and 349 00:27:48.000 --> 00:27:52.319 I could see the floor of the cave, but it was at least as 350 00:27:52.359 --> 00:27:56.160 far away from us as the top was from us. We were pretty well 351 00:27:56.200 --> 00:28:00.880 in the middle. What I couldn't see where anymore ledges below us, and 352 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.200 I could see no openings down below where an escape from the cave might be 353 00:28:06.279 --> 00:28:10.519 possible, and as far as I could tell, the only way out was 354 00:28:10.759 --> 00:28:14.559 up, and that thing up there, screaming its bloody head off, couldn't 355 00:28:14.599 --> 00:28:19.200 wait for us to try that. But all of that was nothing compared to 356 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:26.680 the problem I saw next. Brent had been quiet ever since she had roused 357 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.000 me back awake. I figured she was trying to shut herself off from all 358 00:28:30.039 --> 00:28:34.200 that was endangering us. But I saw that she was very pale, and 359 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:40.559 that she was unconscious. I started to jiggle her to wake her up from 360 00:28:40.640 --> 00:28:45.240 where she had fainted. I saw a couple of scuffs on her cheek and 361 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:48.759 hand, but nothing serious. And then I shined the light further down. 362 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:53.079 The bottom of her shorts leg was bloody, and so was the rest of 363 00:28:53.079 --> 00:28:59.599 her leg. Her leg was bent at an unnatural angle below the knee, 364 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:03.480 and further up, I felt the bone of her thigh where it had pierced 365 00:29:03.519 --> 00:29:07.960 through after it had broken. I had no idea how badly I had been 366 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:11.839 hurt, but I knew that at the very least, my daughter had broken 367 00:29:11.880 --> 00:29:15.799 her leg in two places, and one of those brakes was causing her to 368 00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:22.400 lose blood. Every move I made felt like getting hit in the back with 369 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:26.079 a pillow. Case full of door knobs, but it could have been ten 370 00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:30.319 times worse, and it still wasn't going to stop me from helping my daughter 371 00:29:30.400 --> 00:29:34.799 if I could. I ended up using my shirt as a bandage around her 372 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:42.039 leg and my shoelaces to keep it tied down tight. Thankfully, the scratched 373 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:47.920 and upper brake were close enough together so that the bandage I made covered both 374 00:29:48.000 --> 00:29:52.359 of them. Now fastened my belt around the lower brake to try to keep 375 00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:56.240 it as immobile as I could. I know very little about first aid, 376 00:29:56.319 --> 00:30:00.119 and even less when it comes to dealing with trauma, so I didn't know 377 00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.839 if I was doing right or not, but I did all that I could 378 00:30:03.839 --> 00:30:08.599 think to do. That was when I was trying the last of my shoelaces 379 00:30:08.680 --> 00:30:14.519 around her leg that she woke up. She didn't scream or asked what I 380 00:30:14.599 --> 00:30:18.359 was doing. She just cried. The more that thing up above us roared, 381 00:30:18.519 --> 00:30:22.599 the more she cried, and I didn't blame her. I shined my 382 00:30:22.680 --> 00:30:27.119 light on the creature's face. Now that did two things that I was not 383 00:30:27.279 --> 00:30:33.000 expecting. I saw that it was even uglier and more terrifying than I had 384 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:38.200 originally believed it to be, and it made the creature furious, and it 385 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:42.359 screamed louder, and it stomped harder, and finally it darted back from the 386 00:30:42.440 --> 00:30:47.920 opening, only to return with sticks and chunks of wood to throw down at 387 00:30:48.039 --> 00:30:52.519 us. I took several cuts and gashes to my hands and wrists, but 388 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:56.839 I managed to keep any of the debris from hitting brit All I could do 389 00:30:57.000 --> 00:31:00.279 was cover her body with my own as best as I could. When the 390 00:31:00.359 --> 00:31:04.319 thing threw a log, or at least a long section of one, at 391 00:31:04.440 --> 00:31:08.720 us, it threw it like it was a spear, even though it was 392 00:31:08.759 --> 00:31:14.200 as big around as my leg, and it went wayward on the way down 393 00:31:14.240 --> 00:31:18.519 and began bouncing off the cave wall, And when it finally landed, it 394 00:31:18.599 --> 00:31:22.640 was wedged or bouncing between the opposite wall of the cave and the ledge that 395 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:26.759 we were stranded on. In its effort to kill us, the thing up 396 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:32.599 above us had given us away to escape. The problem was that it was 397 00:31:32.599 --> 00:31:37.839 still up there waiting. We didn't have the time to wait on it to 398 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:44.079 grow bored and walk away. I had to do something. I told my 399 00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:47.599 daughter that she was to lie still and not make any noises, no matter 400 00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:51.839 what the size of her eyes told me that she was scared to death, 401 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:56.119 but she nodded an understanding of what I had told her. I needed to 402 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.039 get the log that the thing had thrown at us off the opposite wall and 403 00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:04.160 propped up on the ledge that we were on, so I could lean it 404 00:32:04.200 --> 00:32:07.839 against the top of the cave and use it as a ladder. It was 405 00:32:07.880 --> 00:32:10.000 going to be a hard climb, but the walls of the cave were going 406 00:32:10.039 --> 00:32:14.160 to be impossible, so I was going to take what I could get. 407 00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:19.200 What I was going to do at the top with that thing still up there 408 00:32:19.319 --> 00:32:23.119 was beyond me. But going while it was there was sure death. But 409 00:32:23.240 --> 00:32:30.039 I couldn't keep waiting while my daughter needed medical attention. At first, nothing 410 00:32:30.079 --> 00:32:34.359 happened when I pulled against the log, nothing except the pain that made a 411 00:32:34.400 --> 00:32:38.559 million white stars appear before my eyes. I pulled again, and I felt 412 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:43.720 the log twist free from the wall. I was pulling as hard as I 413 00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:47.799 could to get it to stand upright. I was sweating and wanting to scream 414 00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:52.039 because of the fire burning in my back from the pain, but I kept 415 00:32:52.039 --> 00:32:58.559 pulling and eventually saw it coming up and getting straighter. But I had not 416 00:32:58.640 --> 00:33:01.640 propped the bottom of the log against the wall as I should have, and 417 00:33:01.759 --> 00:33:06.759 it twisted and began to fall off the ledge that we were suspended on, 418 00:33:07.440 --> 00:33:10.720 and I screamed as it slid through my hands toward the bottom of the cave, 419 00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:15.400 and the creature screamed because it was still angry, and Britt screamed in 420 00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:20.599 spite of herself because she had never heard her father's scream from terror and pain 421 00:33:20.799 --> 00:33:25.640 before. The log kept sliding through my hands, and I kept trying to 422 00:33:25.680 --> 00:33:30.559 hold it tighter, and then it stopped so suddenly that I very nearly went 423 00:33:30.599 --> 00:33:36.559 over the edge. I was on my knees and holding on to the final 424 00:33:36.599 --> 00:33:39.079 two feet of the log. I couldn't let go to look, but I 425 00:33:39.119 --> 00:33:44.319 felt blood running through my knuckles from where the wood had burned, and scraped 426 00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:49.400 some of the flesh from my palms away as it slid. I held onto 427 00:33:49.400 --> 00:33:53.000 the log and allowed it to swing slowly back and forth like an immense pendulum. 428 00:33:53.359 --> 00:33:58.319 While I held to it, and I caught my breath. Dirt kept 429 00:33:58.400 --> 00:34:01.599 falling on us from where the reacher was stomping around on the edge, and 430 00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:07.320 then it kept roaring at us. Slowly, inch by valuable inch, I 431 00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:12.559 pulled the log up from the darkness below until I could rest it against the 432 00:34:12.639 --> 00:34:16.559 wall and slide it upward. It took everything I had, more pain than 433 00:34:16.599 --> 00:34:22.239 I knew I could endure, but finally the log was upright. In all 434 00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:25.760 hours, I would not be easy, but I would be able to use 435 00:34:25.760 --> 00:34:30.159 it to climb out of this pit and then rescue my daughter. As soon 436 00:34:30.199 --> 00:34:32.719 as I figured out what to do with the monster above that was waiting for 437 00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:39.639 us, we needed to make something happen. I don't think the creature had 438 00:34:39.679 --> 00:34:45.760 the brain power to understand what I was going to attempt. I think it 439 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:51.320 was just beside itself with rage and lashing out at anything it could. But 440 00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:54.599 as soon as I started to try shimmying up that log, it tried to 441 00:34:54.639 --> 00:34:59.840 reach down into the cave and started swatting at the log. It was too 442 00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:02.000 far away in too deep for the creature to touch it, but it kept 443 00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:07.480 flailing at the log. It swatted with every ounce of energy it had, 444 00:35:07.920 --> 00:35:14.079 and that energy, along with its blind rage and hatred, caused the creature 445 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:19.519 to swing too hard, and it tried to reach too far. It lost 446 00:35:19.559 --> 00:35:24.000 its balance and began to tumble off the crumbling edge of the cave entrance and 447 00:35:24.079 --> 00:35:30.119 It clawed and scrambled and howled, but it kept falling. It was reaching 448 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.960 out at us as it went past us, and it plunged to be trapped 449 00:35:34.000 --> 00:35:37.000 at the bottom of the cave, and it still tried its very best to 450 00:35:37.039 --> 00:35:42.679 take one or both of us with it as it went. The cave trembled 451 00:35:42.800 --> 00:35:47.039 from the outrage and the desperate roars coming from below us, and we never 452 00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:53.039 looked down at the creature. Once. Britt begged me to allow her to 453 00:35:53.039 --> 00:35:57.519 wrap her arms around my neck so that she could ride on my back as 454 00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:01.239 I climbed my way up the log and out of the Climbing out was going 455 00:36:01.280 --> 00:36:05.760 to be near impossible for me as it was, and I would not be 456 00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:09.199 able to do it carrying her weight as well. I would get to the 457 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:14.199 top, and with luck that we surely would do, I would get out, 458 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:17.039 and then I would pull the log out while she held onto it. 459 00:36:19.599 --> 00:36:22.559 I got her up as carefully as I could, and I made sure that 460 00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:27.239 she had firm grips on the log. I told her to allow the log 461 00:36:27.320 --> 00:36:30.039 to support her weight, and she didn't need to worry about doing that, 462 00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:34.760 and then I took her belt off of her and I draped it around my 463 00:36:34.960 --> 00:36:38.400 neck. I was glad that she could not see the tears in my eyes 464 00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:43.480 from the pain that I was in. I felt like several knives had been 465 00:36:43.480 --> 00:36:47.039 stabbed into my upper back. But I kept climbing and I didn't stop, 466 00:36:47.639 --> 00:36:52.000 and with each pull, I knew I was getting us that much closer to 467 00:36:52.119 --> 00:36:57.719 help and away from that thing that continued to roar below us. It was 468 00:36:57.800 --> 00:37:01.559 tedious and beyond painful, but at last I began to feel fresh air from 469 00:37:01.599 --> 00:37:07.480 the slight breeze blowing through the trees. I groaned a lot, and I 470 00:37:07.559 --> 00:37:09.519 cursed a little as I made the last of the climb, and then I 471 00:37:09.599 --> 00:37:14.960 rolled myself over the lip of the cave and I lay there in the leaves, 472 00:37:15.079 --> 00:37:20.639 trying to breathe. I told Brett that I was okay, or would 473 00:37:20.679 --> 00:37:22.239 be in just a minute, and that she would be out of there in 474 00:37:22.360 --> 00:37:27.639 no time. The belt was wrapped around my hand and I began to pull 475 00:37:27.760 --> 00:37:30.880 once I had gotten back onto my knees. It was a harder pull than 476 00:37:30.960 --> 00:37:36.039 I had anticipated, but the log was moving and that was all I cared 477 00:37:36.079 --> 00:37:40.239 about. And the air smelled foul from where the creature had raged and rand 478 00:37:40.320 --> 00:37:44.559 it, and so I breathed through my mouth and I pulled as hard as 479 00:37:44.599 --> 00:37:49.800 I could. I've been fortunate to see many beautiful things in my life, 480 00:37:49.840 --> 00:37:53.760 but my daughter's face as she neared the entrance to the cursed cave was almost 481 00:37:53.760 --> 00:37:59.599 the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. It hurt her to be jostled 482 00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:02.599 round, but she didn't complain. As I pulled her free from the dark 483 00:38:02.639 --> 00:38:08.800 hole that was nearly a grave as well as a cave. I still had 484 00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:13.639 the map I had been carrying in my pocket. That took me a bit 485 00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:16.519 to try to do some mental backtracking so I could at least have an idea 486 00:38:16.599 --> 00:38:22.159 where we were. We had been running with no direction in mind when we 487 00:38:22.360 --> 00:38:24.559 fell, so it was just a guess as to where we ended up. 488 00:38:25.320 --> 00:38:30.400 And like I had supposed earlier, the cave we had fallen into was not 489 00:38:30.599 --> 00:38:35.159 one that my guy knew about. I felt pretty good about where we needed 490 00:38:35.159 --> 00:38:40.119 to head toward, and everything else felt terrible, but I scooped it up 491 00:38:40.119 --> 00:38:45.639 in my arms and started walking. The roar from the bottom of that well 492 00:38:45.800 --> 00:38:49.840 shaped cave began to fade, and when I could no longer hear it, 493 00:38:49.840 --> 00:38:53.840 it was the best sound I could not hear. It took more than two 494 00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:59.880 hours and several stops for rest before we saw the flickers from the campfire jam 495 00:39:00.119 --> 00:39:04.960 had built hours earlier. When we called out to her, she came running 496 00:39:05.039 --> 00:39:09.440 with that famous rage of her own, but that went away immediately after she 497 00:39:09.480 --> 00:39:15.480 saw how damaged we were. I told her that I had Brett under control, 498 00:39:15.559 --> 00:39:17.719 but she should go and start making a place for our daughter to lay 499 00:39:17.760 --> 00:39:22.679 down in the back seat while we pack everything in a rush and made sure 500 00:39:22.719 --> 00:39:28.159 that the fire was out. I explained our daughter's condition to the extent that 501 00:39:28.280 --> 00:39:31.840 I knew it. Only after seeing me double over in pain and fall into 502 00:39:31.920 --> 00:39:37.000 a knee did she realize that our daughter was not the only one who had 503 00:39:37.039 --> 00:39:40.559 been injured, and that was when she wanted to know exactly what had happened 504 00:39:40.559 --> 00:39:45.000 to us out there. I promised her that I would tell her everything, 505 00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:49.280 but I wasn't going to go into it at all until I knew that Brett 506 00:39:49.320 --> 00:39:52.840 was safe and being taken care of. She offered to drive, but I 507 00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:57.480 knew she wanted to sit in the back seat with her arms from around Brett, 508 00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:00.639 so I told her that I would be fine. After I was sitting 509 00:40:00.679 --> 00:40:04.960 down. It was a bowl faced lie, but she believed me and we 510 00:40:05.000 --> 00:40:08.719 started the car. The road out was rougher than I remembered it being, 511 00:40:08.880 --> 00:40:13.679 or maybe I couldn't see to dodge the holes and ruts so well on the 512 00:40:13.800 --> 00:40:16.159 dark, but either way, it was hard on me getting out of there. 513 00:40:17.079 --> 00:40:21.280 I didn't say anything, but I was sweating a cold sweat from the 514 00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:24.360 pain and was keeping a white knuckle grip on a steering wheel, and my 515 00:40:24.480 --> 00:40:30.760 vision was blurred with fatigue and sweat. I knew everything would be better once 516 00:40:30.800 --> 00:40:34.679 we were on a maintained road. I just had to make it that far, 517 00:40:35.440 --> 00:40:40.960 and I didn't. I took the last turn too sharp and didn't straighten 518 00:40:42.039 --> 00:40:45.320 out in time to miss the ditch. The car kept going just like a 519 00:40:45.360 --> 00:40:50.199 trooper, but it ran into the highway mark or sign across the road and 520 00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:54.760 stopped. I had not seen or felt it do that the last big jolt 521 00:40:54.840 --> 00:41:01.280 had caused me to lose consciousness again. In the hospital, Jan told me 522 00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:06.639 that I had blacked out for about ten minutes before a couple of men stopped 523 00:41:06.639 --> 00:41:09.199 in their pickup truck to be of help. They had called a friend of 524 00:41:09.239 --> 00:41:13.960 theirs to come with his roll back. After they had called an ambulance. 525 00:41:14.440 --> 00:41:17.480 The ambulance took me and my wife and our daughter to the nearest hospital while 526 00:41:17.480 --> 00:41:22.679 the men loaded our wounded car on the roll back to take to a shop. 527 00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:27.199 Jan called a friend of hers the next day who stopped by our house 528 00:41:27.239 --> 00:41:30.639 and brought some clothing and other things. And when the friend arrived, I 529 00:41:30.800 --> 00:41:35.760 was in traction, my daughter was in a cast the length of her leg, 530 00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.079 and my wife was the angriest I had ever known her to be. 531 00:41:39.400 --> 00:41:44.960 She wasn't mad about the car, not really, and she wasn't mad at 532 00:41:45.000 --> 00:41:49.599 me for what had befallen me and our daughter. Well maybe she was angry 533 00:41:49.639 --> 00:41:53.760 at me some, but being angry as Jan's way of night showing when she's 534 00:41:53.920 --> 00:41:59.679 terrified about something. It had been the middle of the morning before we had 535 00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:02.679 some quiet time where I could tell her what had happened, and it made 536 00:42:02.679 --> 00:42:07.679 her so angry, also because I wouldn't tell her the truth. But she 537 00:42:07.800 --> 00:42:12.039 was a bit nicer after she came back to my room. She had been 538 00:42:12.079 --> 00:42:15.840 talking with Brett and heard that all I had said had not been made up. 539 00:42:19.559 --> 00:42:24.079 We're back home now after several days under constant physician care, and Brett 540 00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:29.400 has become quite the hot rod in her wheelchair that she'll have to use for 541 00:42:29.440 --> 00:42:35.280 another few weeks. I don't think the girls will allow me to plan anymore 542 00:42:35.400 --> 00:42:39.880 the monthly adventures, and sometimes I wonder if that creature is still roaring at 543 00:42:39.960 --> 00:42:45.000 the bottom of that cave. As bad as it was to us and as 544 00:42:45.039 --> 00:42:47.719 close as it came to killing my daughter and me, a part of me 545 00:42:47.840 --> 00:42:52.480 hopes that it somehow found a way out of that cave. I don't ever 546 00:42:52.559 --> 00:42:57.559 want to be within ten miles of that thing again, but I don't think 547 00:42:57.599 --> 00:43:01.480 I wanted to have died either. We're safe now, so I guess let 548 00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:06.039 bygones be bygones as far as I'm concerned.