The Invisible Trail Chapter 2 by Roy Klipping

 Chapter 2

It was 4 a.m. I didn't want to wake Dad and Mom, but for some reason I needed to say goodbye.  I tapped lightly on their bedroom door almost hoping they wouldn't hear me but immediately I heard my dad's voice saying, “What do you want?” I kind of half ways chuckled to myself thinking what do you think I want?  Instead, I slowly opened the door and peeked in and waved saying I was going on that camping trip I told them about. Dad nudged mom and told her I was leaving. As I closed the door I whispered, “Love you and see you soon”. I grabbed my things that I hadn't loaded from the night before and headed out the door.  I barely made it to my truck when I heard the screen door open. As I turned, I see Mom standing there with a little brown bag and she whispered, “I made you a few sandwiches for your trip and a few treats too.” I walked over to get it and then gave Mom a kind hug and a kiss on her cheek, then told her thank you and that I loved her. She smiled and told me she loved me too and that when I find what I’m looking for I will know.  As I climbed in my truck and started to drive off, I couldn't help but to think of her words.  My entire life my Mom had always told me to never look away from what scares you and always believe in what you feel inside.  I'm not going to lie; I felt a lump in my throat as a tear fell quietly down my cheek.  

As I drove away, I looked through the rear-view mirror as the yard light slowly disappeared behind me. I don’t know but at that moment I felt the path I take forward is the place I'm supposed to be.  My eyes closed only for a second, but it felt like an eternity as thoughts rushed through my mind.  I shook my head and started to focus on the road ahead. The sky was starting to lighten up and from the looks of it the day was going to be clear, so I was happy about that. I sure didn't want my first day out to be with bad weather. A couple hours passed, and the sun was just coming into view as I looked down at my fuel gage and realized that one thing, I forgot to do was to fill up yesterday. I guess in my excitement to get everything loaded I missed that one. Anyway I checked the map and found there was a small town about 25 miles ahead so I would stop there and get fuel and maybe some breakfast and then make the last stretch hopefully getting to the trail around 10 am then I heard a …….