Honobia - Chapter 1

The slow drizzle of rain seems so comforting today: it reminds me of south Louisiana. All I need now is for a train to go by about a block or two from here, to smell mom's burning incense and I'd swear I was back home (I already have her favorite Pearl Jam music playing on my computer). Today is Saturday: cleaning day. Mom, I promise I tried to get my chores done first this morning before getting on the computer. Kitchen is clean, laundry sorted and washing, but vacuuming doesn't call to me like the computer does. :-) And finally writing this story down for Cody just seemed like the right thing to do. Haha.

You know how sometimes you start thinking about one thing, then realize a few minutes later you're on another topic altogether and you aren't sure how your brain made those leaps? Such is my reminiscing today. The rain had me thinking about being about 10 years old in Addis and now I'm remembering parts of a crazy road trip with one of my best friends, Cody. Maybe the weather is the connecting factor in my memory leaps from 1987 to 2006.

True story. While most of our Spring Break road trip was sunny and mild, a few days spent in the southeastern part of Oklahoma, deep in the heart of Kiamichi country, the weather was markedly chilly, rainy, foggy: somber. Perhaps someday I'll write about the trip up to the point of Friday, but today Friday is where we start. Friday found me and Cody at Robber's Cave State Park in Wilburton, Oklahoma. The day was overcast with foreboding clouds gathering, which was distressing to me because two more friends, Clay and Jared, were going to drive to Wilburton to meet us to camp out and then head to Shreveport Saturday morning. I just knew Jared would NOT like camping in the rain. Spoiler alert: he didn't! :-)

So, Friday Cody and I climbed all over the rocks and caves in the state park. There's also a huge face of rock called Devil's Slide that I braved. As it grew dark and the about the time Clay and Jared arrived it began to rain. Great. Just in time to get the six-man tent up and then do nothing. I could almost see the irritation level rise in Jared's neck and face like a thermometer. During the night we were each cocooned inside our individual sleeping bags, awake, with sleep being an elusive nymph, trying to stay warm, and I was crammed against the wall of the tent, trying to not touch the tent and break the surface tension (to no avail--I was wet).

In the morning, after we all got showers, we took Clay and Jared to climb the rocks. We then loaded up our stuff and drove southeast to Talahina. We wanted to get some lunch and then head to Honobia (pronounced ho - nub - EE). Cody found out that Honobia'd had a Bigfoot festival the previous fall, and we just knew we had to go visit this town. Now, I'm not saying I believe Bigfoot exists, but come on! Bigfoot festival? We HAD to go check out this place!

Honobia is nestled in the fringes of the Kiamichi mountains about 25 miles from the Oklahoma-Arkansas border, as the crow flies. Clay and Jared followed me and Cody up the winding road to Honobia. The drive up in the cold, grey drizzle felt like we were in a scary movie on the Sci Fi channel. I really felt that at any moment Bigfoot could jump out of the trees lining the mountain road. And I actually wondered if he had as we passed a Bigfoot Crossing road sign. Seriously?

Finally a break in the trees revealed a small ghost-town. Well, we thought it was a ghost town, but in reality it was just a small town. A Saturday. No one around. Not even at the small general store. Yes, general store. Behind the general store were a few houses and mobile homes. We were afraid someone might come shoot us thinking we were trying to break into the store, so we were trying to quickly determine our next move: do we write this up as one-point Honobia, zero-road trip fun? Do we explore the dirt roads that were quickly becoming mud? All we saw were mud roads. We thought we'd passed a paved road just past the bend in the road. We decided to try that one, then get the heck outta Dodge, er, Honobia. I was getting creeped out.

We got in our vehicles and went back to the paved road that wound around for about a mile. Trees and a creek were to the left of us and a house or two to the right. We then came to a clearing: a large field with what looked like an old white-washed, wooden schoolhouse plopped in the center. There were cars here. Life! As we got closer, we saw the sign that read "Honobia Community Center" and of course, another Bigfoot Crossing street sign. Ah. At last.

We pulled up near the other cars and trucks. Cody and I got out to assess the situation. Jared and Clay refused to get out of their truck. haha. The schoolhouse was a lot longer that it appeared from the road. From the side where we were, we could tell the original building had been expanded. I wondered if it was from expansion of the town itself or from the needs of the festival.

Cody and I walked up to one of the handful of open doors, as we heard the sounds of saws and smelled freshly cut wood. It appeared they were laying new floor in the community center. Here we were in a small town, two strangers walking into the community center full of what appeared to be every one of the town's residents and no one looked up. They all kept at their work. It felt like we were in the Twilight Zone. Cody finally broke our cloak of invisibility when he asked a woman what was going on. She slowly turned her attention to us, un-phased by our presence and replied, "We're doing some improvements to get ready for the festival." Sweet. Confirmation that we were, indeed, where we hoped we'd be. But after her response, she returned to ignoring us, going about her business. Only then did a little boy about 8 or 9 years old walk up to us and tell us to come with him. "Let me show you something."

Cody and I just looked at each other, almost speaking to each other telepathically. Would we get shot by some parents wondering why we were talking to their son? Why is this kid walking to the edge of the clearing toward the trees, beckoning us? We glanced at Jared and Clay. I headed to Jared's truck as Cody walked toward the boy.