The next morning Neville and I take off to the city of Nashville (again)! Well, more appropriately, a farm named Mystic Valley, about 20 minutes north of the city. The day was as hot and humid as ever and there are so many strange bugs in this state that I don’t even question them anymore. As I approached the property I called my host, Lance, and picked him up just down the road from the driveway so he could guide me in. This is my first time as a Workaway-er and his first time as a host, so we will learn together.
Following the long driveway in, there is a house and an RV along the way and we continue on to a field where his friend, Ray, helps maneuver the Drag Queen through the fence. It’s a tight squeeze and we weren’t without issues, but, as always, things got worked out. Lance and Ray have been friends for a few years and work together off the farm. They are friendly men who crack jokes off the bat and are easy to talk to. I am happy to be in a spot on my own where I am comfortable with my hosts and look forward to getting to know them better. I parked next to where Lance lives and he gave me the lay of the land, explaining to me his visions for what it will become. He made his own shelter on this part of the land; out here there is access to electricity, but no running water. His self-made outhouse, library, and outdoor kitchen are up for use.
The barn near where I am staying has a loft that provides a great view of the field. Horses down below, open space with saddles and bedding one staircase away. One night there was a storm in the distance, so Neville, Lance, and I climbed up into the loft with the aid of flashlights, sat at the edge, basked in the breeze, and watched the lightning go. We talked about life, our pasts, our families, and where we come from. We talked about the future and what it could hold and what we want to get out of it. We also talked about mice hanging themselves, but moved on and enjoyed being in the moment. The storms here are welcomed with open arms, by me at least, because the weather is actually enjoyable at that point. I love the storm clouds and skies that follow.
There is a creek that runs along the back edge of the field and a garden is in the works through a gate. Lance mentioned that he has read my blog and I made sure he knew about my problem with no legged creatures, being that we are smack dab in the middle of nature and all. He told me he has seen very few snakes since living out there.. whew. Everyday I went down to the creek with the pup to cool off and wash up, and Neville even got brave enough to stick his face in the water to get sticks. Frank (one of the Cleveland pups) would have been so proud! There is something quite refreshing about sweating half to death then getting into a cold secluded body of water. Lance mentioned a few times a particularly nice spot in the creek that was deeper, but it was farther away from the spot I had been going to and sounded like it would be harder to get Neville in and out.
One day, as I was on my way back from my creek spot with the dog, Lance told me he wanted to show me something. I have on my super cool water shoes, shorts, and a tank top and asked if I needed to change; Lance said no. He leads us through the field, wading through thigh-tall grass, some with thorns, to the back edge of the property. I’m thinking of the Lil Jon lyrics, “we'll hop in the bucket and haul ass, you a snake cause I seen you was creepin' in tall grass.” Lance is pointing out different things along the way and I am staring at my feet, attempting to avoid having my bare legs cut up. We come to a fallen tree and stand on the trunk of it; looking down past the fence is the deep part of the creek he was talking about. As he is telling me he is going to jump in for a minute, I saw a big green leaf fall from the tree. He turns around and is like, “Oh my god! Did you see that tree snake? That was so cool!” No. Nope. HELL TO THE NO. “Please lie to me… was that really a snake that fell OUT OF A TREE?” I asked as calmly as I could manage, which wasn’t calm whatsoever. Lance did not lie to me. He told me that, yes, it was a snake, but it’s gone now. Too late… I was already in full fledge panic mode, not wanting to ever touch grass again and trying to keep Neville standing on the tree with me. All I could do was stare at the tree directly overhead and wonder how many other demons were going to rain down on me? Lance tried to help by saying they probably would have dropped down by now and.. well, I don’t know what else he said. I needed an escape route. But first- his swim. He calmly goes down into the creek and seems to enjoy himself. Meanwhile, I am shaking in shorts and water shoes on a tree trunk and wanting to cry. I played it cool though, by rushing this adventure along, asking rhetorical questions, and cursing everything that made the slightest movement. After his dip I want to know exactly how we are getting out of this snake pit. He points to something I don’t see and says there is a path that way and more scenery he wants to show me. Ok, great. He leads us through even taller grass and my eyes are GLUED to the ground. The property is pretty, but I am in no mindset to enjoy the tranquility and colorful flowers. I ask him where this mythical path is and he points in the distance and tells me it’s not far. Not far to him, maybe, since he knows where he is going and isn’t terrified of what lives in this grass. At one point Lance glances back quickly at me and tries to kick something aside with his foot, but it’s too late, I already saw what it was. Not a snake, thankfully, but a big ass snake SKIN. Any sort of cool, calm, and collected that I wished I had vanished at that moment. I no longer gave a damn about keeping it together or picking and eating delicious fresh blackberries or looking at the scenery, I wanted OUT. This was disappointing to my host, I believe, because he wanted me to be enjoying this tour, but he dutifully lead me to the path that led the way out. I felt bad for my freak out (and missing out on the berries), but that vegetation, with no protection from thorns or serpents, was too much for me to handle. I tried.
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