Kind of Creepy

The Spotted Wonder is going to hell in a hand basket.  Just not getting enough work. It is a crisp but sunny fall day here in the Midwest, so I thought I'd put up a couple of CMO targets in our own woods, and then take a nice little trail ride and let Journey climb the big hills on the neighboring property.  Someone who shall remain unnamed...has been slipping Journey a handful of oats.  How do I know?  Jumping, spinning, snorting, half-rearing (and yeah, he sort of admits it).  Phebes is exactly the same way, she just gets nutty on oats.  But back to the point at hand here, she needed the stink ridden off of her in a big way.  LSEGH hasn't been to thrilled with my rides in the woods since I checked the sexual offenders list and found that only 1 mile away bordering the trail I ride there is a violent offender registered with the county sheriffs department.  I rarely see anyone out there, and usually when I do it is a property owner.  Today though was a different day, and it totally creeped me out.  Journey started getting "up" and had her ears pointed forward.  I heard voices but didn't think much of it, and assumed it was another rider, or one of the property owners doing trail maintenance.  Well...it certainly wasn't.  It was "that" guy, and two creepy looking cohorts with him all somewhat resembling the male species (though not in a good way).   By the time I figured out who I was dealing with all by myself in the woods I was right on them.   I acknowledged them, then blasted up the hill past the trio and we didn't break stride until the top of the hill.  It was unsettling.  In order to get home I was going to have to eventually reverse and go back that same route.  I thought just in case, I'd better call LSEGH and inform him of my situation just in case.  He advised me to go ahead and turn around and just head straight home, and signal him with the walkie-talkie as I reached the crests of the hills.  I didn't see them on my return trip, but Journey probably sensing my trepidation was pretty jumpy.   This goes to show that you can never be too careful in your ride planning, having an emergency contact, and just being aware of your surroundings.  In truth they probably were no threat to me, but these are not people I'd have wanted to test for moral character.  Better to just stay away from them.  Women, be careful out there, you just never know...~E.G.