A Night on the Katy Trail

     I live a mile from the Katy trail, a hiking and cycling trail that spans 240 miles across the state of Missouri. Many days of my life have been spent riding my bike along this trail enjoying the outdoors. In most cases my rides are soothing, almost Zen like, expelling the daily worries that clutter my mind.

     One day a few summers ago, my buddy John and I decided it would be fun to ride the whole trail, camping along the way. We imagined it to be a great experience with some mild adventure. Our ride started off in familiar territory but quickly reached a part of the trail that was new to us. The trail runs along the bottomland near the river for many miles so there are many interesting sites to see because of the floods much of the landscape looks desolate and eerie.

     We had planned to camp so as night approached we started looking for a good campsite, when we noticed this rundown abandoned house. The windows were broken out, the stairs gone and the entrance door was leaning on a pile of wood at the back of the house. This is when our adventurous side kicked in and we decided to investigate. We cautiously approached the house and peered in the window, looking at each other to see which one of us would take the first precarious step. With a little shove I climbed in first, then John, both shining our flashlights around before proceeding forward. We walked carefully always keeping in mind our exit strategy. The creaking floorboards and whistling wind made howling sounds that seemed to call our names in a haunting way, which made our hair stand on end but still we continued exploring. As we surveyed the first floor, our nervousness dissipated enough that we decided to camp in this abandoned house for the night.

     Once settled, I decided it was time to investigate the second floor with John following a few minutes later.  Our anxiety heightened as we searched upstairs due not only to the eerie feeling of the house but the dangerous rotten floorboards. We were again on high alert as this was new uncharted territory in this adventure, rummaging through some old furniture and cautiously opening boxes. We discovered nothing but our rattled nerves when we heard unexpected noises. There seemed to no significant discoveries upstairs that enticed us to stay so we went back to the main floor to get ready for bed. It was then I discovered the note lying on my backpack. It read "You have a nicely shaped head, what size hat do you wear?"  Again the hair on my neck stood up like porcupine quills and a chill ran down my spine.  I said to John "I got a note, someone must be watching us." I ask, "Did you get a note?" John said, " No, what does it say? But as soon as he finished his sentence an uncontrollable smile appeared on his face, which turned into chuckle then a full on belly laugh.  I've been duped, the butt of a practical joke, a very successful one at that. "John you jerk; when did you do this?" With a big grin John said "Before I went upstairs."

     The nervous tension was gone, our laughter had lightened the mood. We still heard the howling wind whispering our names but this no longer bothered us. There were other odd little noises that we heard throughout the night but neither of us attempted to investigate them. With our minds and bodies exhausted we fell in to a deep sleep.

     We woke early the next day, grabbed our packs and headed out to where we left our bikes.  We were prepared for a long day, but discovered each of us had been left a gift, lying on our bikes, a skull cap, along with a personal note addressed to us.

     My note read, "Jim, We hope your cap fits nicely" John's note read "John, Wish you could have stayed longer, Come back soon”. John turned at me with a accusing look in his eyes, I immediately said "I didn't do this". We quickly left the abandoned house without another word spoken wondering what just happened but also taking with us interesting memories and an unbelievable story. What was in store for us on our second night?