"Picking up the Pace"

To the handful of people still reading this, and bringing it up to remind me, thank you. You are driving me to keep this going.
A bit of recent news, I went camping about a week ago, that was pretty awesome. We left Tempe Sunday night and got up to Payson a few hours later. My friend that drove his car up got a flat tire a few miles out of Payson. We went and got it patched up with a cheap wal-mart kit. After we refilled it we discovered a bubble in his sidewall which meant his tire was useless.. We had to stay in a hotel overnight and get a new tire in the morning. After that we drove up to the camp site and it was relaxing for a good while. I took the girls out on a small scout hike just to check out our surroundings. Taught them how to use a bow too, that was a lot of fun. On the way back though, I spot some unusually white rocks in a grassy patch.

I go check it out to see a fresh killed elk skull and some assorted bones. We set up camp 200 yards from a damn mountain lion hunting spot! hahaha. I showed the girls the skull and we went back to camp. We were all fine and relaxed until the sun went down. After most of them fell asleep I heard something bigger than us shuffling leaves and breaking branches no more than 50 yards from the camp; I had a damn panic attack. That was the first one since I was a little kid, I hate that feeling of having absolutely no control.. After that finally ended, I racked my pistol and kept it under my pillow the rest of the night. I think the reason I freaked out is that I was the only one there that has actually seen a mountain lion in action, I've seen what they're capable of. I guess ignorance really is bliss..
One of the girls was freaking out too; that girl I met at the wedding haha. I held her the rest of the night and that's when I was actually comfortable enough to sleep. But every time she heard something she shook and woke me up haha. It felt good knowing that I could calm her down. That lasted until just before sun rise.

Keep your eyes on the horizon.
-T