Have you ever had an experience that was truly a gut buster, but when explaining it to others you realize that “you just had to be there” to appreciate it? Well we had one of those just last night in a small town called Atlanta Texas, population 5400. Gary and I were heading toward historic Jefferson, TX and we realized that we were not going to make the 11:00pm gate curfew at the state park where we had planned to stay. So, about 30 miles shy of the campground, we opted to stay in a Walmart parking which incidentally, was the choice of 10 other truckers and miscellaneous RVers.
It was about 11:30pm and Gary and I were enjoying a candle lit cocktail while enjoying the view of Sam Walton’s parking lot when all of a sudden Gary cried out: “Oh my gosh! There is a calf running around the parking lot”. When I turned around, sure enough, there was a little black baby cow darting between the cars. Being from mostly urban neighborhoods, this was certainly a sight to see. But after a quick jaunt around, we assumed the little guy found his way home.
About thirty minutes later, my eye was drawn away once again to see about four police cars pulling up and parking on the main drag. Were we in a bad neighborhood? Was there a big drug bust? A reckless driver? All of a sudden, from around the side of one of the tractor trailers emerged our baby cow followed by a mob of townspeople and law enforcement lumbering far behind. This crazy collection of people were no match for this little grass eater. Had there been a funny man in a clown suit, I would have sworn we were at the rodeo. We had to go outside to get a better view. This was definitely a sight to see at midnight in a Walmart parking lot.
As we stepped out of the comforts of our rolling home we were greeted by two of the locals, a dwarf and a plump stocky man, both of whom had to look up to look me in the eyes. One of the men broke out a hunk of chew and slipped his curved finger deep into the fold between his teeth and cheek. He proceeded to talk in what I think was English, but all Gary and I could say in response was, “uh huh” as we could gather only a word or two from the entire conversation. I think one was talking about “wrestling up the calf with his rope”, that he needless to say, did not have with him. I was somewhat relieved to hear that as these guys made the men in Deliverance look like cosmopolitan metrosexuals. The calf was spotted later across the street at the Wendy’s drive through! I kid you not. Perhaps the little lost sole was looking for his mother.
Needless to say, Gary and I had a great laugh and knew that, no matter how hard we tried to explain it…you had to really be there. And I wish you were!
