Having frequently walked to school on the streets of Fort Smith, Arkansas, from grade school to high school, I've never been a big fan of school buses in an urban environment. Seems to me we spend too much on school buses and not enough on schooling. That aside, in this case, some good ol' boys made good use of a former "yellowhound," as we used to call school buses back in the day. To the uninitiated, this is a deer camp in L.A. (Lower Arkansas).

Sunday, June 10, 2012

On the way back from my oldest granddaughter's high school graduation in Bossier City, Louisiana, back in May of 2009, I entered L.A. (Lower Arkansas) about as low as you can go, that is by crossing the Louisiana-Arkansas state line. I soon found a "pavement ends" sign, which signaled the start of a gravel road, my preferred surface for motoring about. What I found on the road, which will remain unnamed to protect the innocent, reminded me of Dave Barry's quote, "I'm not making this up."

This is the backyard of the deer camp. The freezer may work off a generator when the camp is inhabited, or it may be used for dry storage if it is non-functional for its original purpose. The BBQ grill is hidden in the back from casual shoppers who might spot it from the road. The vent no doubt comes from a wood stove, which lends a smoky bouquet to the concentrated body odors, halitosis, whiffs of frying bacon, and smells of whatever someone stepped on, all of which make up the atmospheric environment of a confined space.

If you are curious about the big log in front of the bus, it backs up the campfire. There is an unwritten rule that every deer camp must have a fire on the premises, preferably downwind from the shelter according to be prevailing wind. This facilitates the second rule of deer camps, which is to sit around the fire and tell lies. The miscellaneous junk you see at the log was no doubt deposited on the last day of deer season and will be the first fuel when the fire is reignited in the coming fall.

Earlier, I saw a hard hat hanging from small tree. At the time, I did not know it was a harbinger of things to come.

Unless you hail from L.A., you might have listened to me describe all of this to you sans photos, raised an eyebrow, and accused me of practicing the second rule, sans fire.

N O T E S:  
Nikon D300, tripod mounted, ISO 200, Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 EX DC HSM, both bus shots. Top picture 1/200@f7.1, second bus picture, 1/100@f4.8. Hard hat picture, same camera hand held, AF-S VR Nikkor 18-200 f3.5-5.6, ISO 400, 1/160@f6.3. Post processed with Photoshop CS5 Extended.

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