12- OLD-FASHIONED 'COON HUNTING (NO gun!).....

A) My first and only "OLD-FASHIONED 'COON HUNTING" Adventure!...no guns, am NOT that kind of 'hunter'...my choice!
B) On one of my many adventures out and about my native Virginia, photographing, exploring and researching" in nearly every nook and cranny, this "Indiana Jones-kinda guy", met some country folks in Albemarle County, Va. up next to the Blue Ridge Mts. They described how they had, often, ventured up in the moutains, 'coon hunting....and invited me to go with them one evening....did I quickly say, uh, "YES!"
C) Was in a November, and little did I realize and know that THIS adventure would remain in my memory bank until today. And now I know!
D) My new country folk "friends" had invited me for a real country meal, of porkchops, mashed potatoes, a casserole and strawberry shortcake. After a fine meal, they took some time to explain how the 'coon hunt would go, warning me that I was in for some walking that night.
E) Using a farm truck, one of the guys drove what seemed to me straight up the side of one mountain, through the trees, over rocks and down a ravine...really! They were after the "perfect" area for 'coon activity that night. A plump acorn tree in an oak grove was THE destination, and one of the guys knew exactly how to find them in the middle of what looked like a mountain wilderness, in the DARK!...and we did.
F) Did I mention their coon dogs? No! There was Bessie...Jake...Gertie...and Eisenhower. Discovered that each one had a different bark sound for any given activity. The mountain guys taught me, quickly, to pause and listen. They knew what dog was doing what, when and where. Fascinated the living heck out of me....in the DARK roaming all over, up and down and sideways on that mountain!
Was this townie guy going to give up? NO!
8) TREED! That's the term... Finally, WE heard "that sounds"...TREED! And all of us took off down the mountain towards the hounds. Gould have sworn that this was the same spot where we first started at the cars? Flashlights...there was the little furry critter, high up in a tree, with the four coonhounds yelping and jumping around the base of the tree.
"C'mon, hounds...time to call it a...a night! Let's go over to the truck...."
9) "Wait...that's it?" I muttered, trying to stand up from fatique....... "Just thought of something...what was in that casserole, earlier?"
"Uh....'taters, carrots, onions and...and 'coon."

11- The BARN, EARLY ONE MORNING, WAITING For The SCHOOL BUS.....

A) I was 7-years-young, waiting for the school bus in front of an old brick house with a barn in back. There were a few of us, kids, waiting. All of a sudden, adults came running from different directions and towards the old barn in back. In the early morning semi-darkness, I could see them all standing, just peering into the opened barn door. No one ventured inside.
This little boy, as always, was curious about anything and made my way to the barn. Again, the standing men said not a word but stared inside the barn. To this day, I can hear the sound of a rope slowly twisting from inside the barn..... I dared not squeeze through to take a...a look-see.
B) You can complete this true experience..........