6 - Attacked by a Snake!
- Sep 12, 2016
- 3 min read
Hey everyone, sorry for the delayed post!
In lieu of Sunday being the anniversary of 9/11, I thought it best to delay this weeks Story Time Sunday because I didn't exactly want to post about an "attack" on the same day. But here it is!
A couple of summers ago, my family and I went on a tour of the Smokey Mountains in the United States. We were camping in our tent trailer, as we often do, but boy, let me tell you - this was my own personal hell.
Our first major destination was the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. They were absolutely beautiful to see, and what was even better was that there was a campground right there too so that we could explore at leisure. What wasn't so nice was all of the signs posted everywhere warning people about the snakes in the area. Deadly snakes. And I hate snakes. I'm terrified of them, really.
Luckily, I didn't encounter any myself or I would have been begging my parents to pack up that second and drive us home. I was already tucked away in my sleeping bag on our second night there, and my sister was just coming back from the bathroom when the couple in the site next to us started yelling at my sister from the top of their picnic table. My Dad went over to talk to them, wondering why they were yelling at her.
Well. As it turns out, as these two had been setting up their tent, a Copperhead snake slithered underfoot and towards the spot where my sister was walking. FYI - a Copperhead is one of those deadly snakes I was talking about.
So now I'm absolutely terrified for the rest of our trip. I'm constantly checking my feet (thankfully we spent a lot of time in our van), and trying to stay as far off the ground as I possibly can. It's really too bad that humans can't fly, because that's exactly what I wished I could do.
A couple nights later, we pull into a small campground in the woods. It's pitch black when we get there, and we still have to set up the trailer and cook dinner. Let's just say I wasn't much help that night. Once we cleaned up from dinner, and it was time to get ready for bed. At least the bathroom was just up the path from ours, so I wasn't quite as afraid to walk up. Or so I thought.
As my Mom and I were nearing the bathroom, I saw something on the path up ahead moving. Another Copperhead, it's head moving back and forth. If I could have crawled into my Mom at that point - I would have. I practically jumped onto her shoulders. I was so afraid of that snake that I all but insisted that we use the same bathroom stall. All the way back to the trailer, I cling to her, and crawl into bed as quick as humanly possible.
My Dad, brother and sister head up to the bathroom next. They even bring their cameras with them after hearing about the snake we saw - hoping that it might still be there. Can you imagine my embarrassment when they came back and told me it was dead? It turns out that someone had smashed its head in with a rock, and that when we passed by it, it was writhing in pain.
Of course, that did nothing to soothe my fears. Thankfully, that was our last run-in with any deadly wildlife for that trip, although the whole experience has made camping a lot less fun for me than it used to be!
Would I do the trip again? Sure, but only if we're staying in hotels.
Until next time!
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