While stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina in 1971, an Army buddy, Mark Bergquist, and I used to spend weekends with impromptu adventures. One weekend we hopped a freight. It wasn't as easy as it sounds. We waited for the train at a railroad crossing in Fayetteville. Finally when one came, the barrier came down to stop the traffic, and Mark and I ran out in front of everybody to hop the freight. But the train was going just slightly too fast for us to have the nerve to grab on. After all the freight cars went by, there the two of us stood, looking like fools. I didn't look to see the people laughing.
But we waited, we waited for the next train, and ran out in front of everybody again. This train was a bit slower, and I managed to grab onto the ladder at the end of an empty coal car. I scrambled up the ladder and dropped down inside the car, and was surprised and thrilled to see Mark had done the same thing at the front of the same car! We ran and shook hands in celebration.
But after only about a mile, the train pulled into a railroad yard and Mark and I had to do all sorts of acrobatics to escape with our lives.
We ran into the woods after getting out of the yard, and after trudging through the woods we came upon a barge in the river, untied a metal dinghy off the back end, and journeyed in it down the river, all night. We had no way to steer or control the boat, so let the current take us along, and it was fun, not having a clue where we were, other than North Carolina. Along the way an owl hooted and we tried to mimic it. For the rest of our time at Fort Bragg this owl hoot was our secret call to each other.
In the morning we grabbed an overhead tree and climbed down it to the bank. We began walking.
After awhile Mark stopped, eyes wide, and said, “Look where we are.” All around us were thousands of marijuana plants, towering over our heads! Moments later, we were looking down the barrel of the young farmer’s gun. As he directed us to his house, another young man joined him, also with a gun. Mark and I were fully aware that we might have come to the end of our adventuring.
The two men had us go into their house. They had talked with us during the walk back, and continued to talk with us in the house. By now they were smiling. They put their guns away. We had a very cordial visit, and eventually Mark and I left to try to find our way back to Fort Bragg. I won't confess why they let us go, with smiles and waves.
The two of us had many other adventures, but above was only one of them, on one weekend. By the way, we later learned that there's a dam further down that river. If we hadn't happened to get off the dinghy when we did, we would have lost our lives before trespassing in a marijuana farm.
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