Last weekend, we went on our first overlanding adventure in Virginia. We met two other couples at a HipCamp Friday night and headed out early Saturday for the off-road trails. We ended up driving about 100 miles off-road over the weekend! We had so much fun!
The second night we camped at Flagpole Knob. It had been raining all day and we set up camp in the rain. Marty has a way to set up the tent to keep the body of the tent dry. He sets up the fly and then gets under to set up the tent. I did assist him, of course.
Marty and I brought a tent because we had not scouted the roads to see if our off road camper would be able to make it through. It would have made it to Flagpole Knob, but definitely wouldn’t have made it on Sunday! It was a very technical drive on Sunday. The lift kit definitely came in handy.
Saturday afternoon, we all played Uno No Mercy with the other couples while we waited for the rain to die down. Once the rain stopped, it was VERY foggy. So foggy that we couldn’t see our Jeep from from a few feet away.
We started a fire and as we were standing there, two vehicles drove up the hill. All we could see were the headlights. Then we heard clanging and banging.
They had both sets of headlights pointing toward the side of the road. They were clearly burying something (pun intended). We considered going down to investigate, but they were burying something. They probably couldn’t even see us on the hill, because we couldn’t see them. So we just waited and threw out theories about what they could be burying. Drugs. A treasure map. A body.
After they left, we walked down the road and found a small spot that had been dug up. Nothing moving, just a spot that was disturbed. Possibly drugs or something very small. It was dark and foggy, our headlamps couldn’t illuminate very well with the fog, so we headed back to our campsite.
The next morning we walked down with a shovel. We unearthed a small box. Inside the box was a bearded dragon. We couldn’t make this up if we tried.
Who buries a dead bearded dragon late at night along a road like this? One needs an off road vehicle to get there. Truth is stranger than fiction, isn’t it?
We re-buried the bearded dragon and were glad it was just someone’s dead pet. Were they camping with the lizard and it died? Did it die at home and they drove all the way out to bury it? I wish I knew the back story!
But the truth is, if we had walked down to talk to them, the story wouldn’t be as funny. We will never know the backstory and we will definitely never forget this trip!
A friend took a photo of Marty’s and my tent with the headlights in the background. It’s the perfect photo — it describes the mood as they were digging perfectly. Spooky, creepy….. So I had to share it here.
I have to go to Arizona for work in a few weeks, so I am cutting my PTO short. Our AT hike will now be 50-60 miles instead of 100. We will still end in Damascus. Stay tuned for more details about that adventure. We are also wanting to plan a kayaking camping trip in the everglades in February. I bought my long boat for the Everglades trip 3 years ago. It’s about time to plan that adventure!
My Little Red Bike 