However, if you are really determined to go, I will not contest your decision at all.” I took her in my arms and tenderly kissed her and I saw tears beginning to form in her eyes. Then I told her, “If you ever want to come back, all you have to do is call me or just come home to me and the Boys, Brandi. There will be no questions asked. I just want you to come back home to us, Sweetheart.”
She replied, “I have thought about this long and hard but, I still have to leave, though, Ken.” as the tears streamed down her face.
Then I told her, “Honey, when you leave you will also leave a big hole in my heart that will never heal until you return. Not only that, you are going to leave a big void in the lives of those two boys who worship the ground that you walk on. We all think like the Johnny Paycheck, C&W song says, ‘She can kiss the ground in winter time and make the flowers grow’.”
Once the divorce was granted she packed her bags, walked out the door and went to live in a major metropolitan city in Colorado not far from the college that our boys were attending. It really hit me hard to lose the love of my life and the Mother of our boys but, I really was left with no choice in the matter. There really was nothing that I could do other than watch her with tears in my eyes as she walked out the door left our house that day.
I continued with my job and since my boys were in college and were not at home. I spent even more time on the mountain trails. Most of my back packing trips were overnight trips. I would spend the night in a nice little cabin on the trail or at a campsite high up on the trail in my tent. I even spent my vacation on the mountain trails only going into the nearest little town for supplies as I needed them.
I could drive up fairly close to the cabin, stash the gear that I was not going to pack with me on the trail and then return to the cabin at night. I would eat supper and breakfast there in the morning and come back to the cabin at the end of the day and get some sleep. I sure loved the mountain trails and the splendid views I could see from them on my back packing trips. I know my boys really like them and I was sure that Brandi would have loved them, too, if she had ever come with me.
The cabin had a good cook/heating stove that really warmed up the cabin in the cool night air, of the high mountain altitude. I did have to cut and chop wood for the stove. But, that was not much of a problem as the forest rangers dropped off dead logs that I could saw up and split for fire wood to use in the cook stove. They much preferred that the cook/heating fires be in the stove rather than an open camp fire.
One night about a year after Brandi left I got a phone call from Connie and she said, “Ken, I have retired and I’m looking for things to do.” She went on to say, “I want to take a trip out to the mountains and visit with you for a couple of weeks. Do you still like to go hiking, Ken?”
Well, I eagerly responded to her, “Oh, Connie, yes indeed I do, all of the time. Do you want to go back packing with me?” I was really happy to have her come out to visit with me and go back packing with me.
“When I get there, can I go with you like we did when we were kids at home?”
“Not only yes but, hell yes, Connie, and I can’t wait for you to get here. I always like it better to have someone go out on the trail with me. You can see the wildlife; enjoy the trail and the beautiful views when we go back packing. I want you to enjoy that with me, too, just like we did when we were kids at home on our hikes in the woods and in the swamp near the house.”
Connie and I had not seen each other in several years and I was extremely excited about having her come out here to visit with me. Before our phone call ended I told her, “Bring lots of warm clothes, a really good pair of well-fitting mountain hiking boots and a really warm bedroll, too.”
Then I added, “Or, you can wait until you get here and I can help you make the best choice here locally to get you outfitted for us to get out on the trail together. Also, you might want to bring your camera as I know that you will want to take a whole lot of pictures to show your girls and your friends when you get back home after your trip out here.”
We agreed on what day she intended to arrive here and I took a couple of weeks of my vacation so that I could spend as much time as I could with her. Two weeks later Connie arrived at my home and we were so happy to see one another after all of that long time since we had last been together.
We put our arms around one another and I kissed her like I used to kiss my wife and she responded in the same way. She sure as hell wasn’t offended by my greeting. Or if she was, I damn sure couldn’t recognize it the way she hung on to me and pressed her soft warm body tightly to mine.
We were both so very hungry for one another the way we embraced and kissed. I began to think that she was going to make love with me right then and there right on the door steps of my home. I told her, “Damn, Connie, it is so good to see you again and you are still just as pretty as you have always been.”
And her boobs were still just as full and soft and they weren’t any smaller now, either. Hell, I wouldn’t have cared if she had made love with me right there on my doorstep. But, I think I would have had the decency to take her inside. After that greeting that little man between my legs would have loved it, too. I don’t know which one of us was hornier — me or Connie. I kind of thought maybe it was Connie.
I brought her and her gear into the house and she told me, “Now I know why you love this country so much, Ken. I had a really hard time keeping my eyes on the road because of the most beautiful vistas I have ever seen while I was driving out here. I damn near ran off the road more than once.”
I replied to her, “Those were some great vistas but, there are a whole lot more in store for you when you go back packing with me. That’s why I told you to make sure you brought your camera with you.” We stayed up very late talking and catching up on both of us and our families.
I finally told her, “We need to get some sleep if we are going to get out on the trail in the morning.” I showed her to the guest room but, I wished I had talked her into sleeping with me at least for the night like we did in college. But, I kind of figured that she wouldn’t really go for that, or at least not yet anyway. Maybe I could talk her into it in a couple of days.
In the morning I looked over her gear and told her, “You don’t have a back pack frame, Connie, but, that’s not a big problem. I have a couple of spares that my boys used to carry when they were home and they went back packing with me. Plus they already have the little bear alert bells attached to them.” I had already loaded my back pack with my bedroll and my tent and the other gear and, I helped her load her back pack, too.
I helped her put her back pack on to adjust the straps and see if she could carry all of the weight. She said it was good. I had also loaded a huge cooler with all of the extra food supplies that we would need for us for two or three nights stay in the cabin. Then I asked her, “Connie, did you bring something to sleep in overnight in the cabin?”