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Things That Make Me Giggle.

So your friendly neighborhood Geek took a nice weekend off. Got away from the computer, scaled his basement stairs and walked (gasp) outside! Turns out that it’s spring and the sun is out. I packed a small bag, got in the car with the lovely Jenn (yes, I have me a lovely lady…wipe that shocked look off your faces… Geeks get sweet loving too… Tools). Anyway, wanting to add an element of chance to our trip we decided to randomly choose our path. It was cute when she suggested that we just blank out the “5” and “6” on a D6 and roll. “Baby, I um… I got me a four-sided die, please”. With that I handed her a tube of 9 polyhedral dice, her first set. Sigh, that’s such a special moment in a person’s life. She rolled the pyramid shaped die and we headed south…

Gave my girl a set of RPG dice, my first giggle of the weekend!

A few hours in we find ourselves in the more rural sections of central Oregon. It was at this moment that we took some interesting turns and would up on a small country road. The road was obviously maintained by the local government. Few yards more and there is a sign that reads “No middle line road ahead”. Okay, no sweat. Few more yards, “End paved road”. Interesting. We press on more. My attention is piqued, where were we heading? I looked around and see that civilization has come and gone. The few homes we do see are powered by gas generators and have handwritten signs that read, “Keep Out”. A minute later the road splits into three creepy looking dirt roads. Each one of them poorly maintained. Each one labeled “Do not enter”. It’s 3 in afternoon but the blazing midday sun barely pierces the tree cover above us. Jenn is getting a little nervous. I begin to giggle more.

“You know”, I say, “this is how a lot of my stories start”.
She isn’t amused: “You write horror”.
I grin again: “I know”.

She turns around as fast as possible. In my head all I can hear is the Friday the 13th music followed by some dueling banjos. All I want to do is look around. Stories are flying around inside my head. This is great! But, I’m not allowed to speak of it till we are back on the government maintained paved, stripped road. Remember friends, if your partner is a horror fan, do not take them into a dark forest; it just makes us giggle…

The next day we travel to a small town just a bit west of Portland. I would tell you fine folks what the name is, but frankly, I found a GREAT filming location and I want it before you all get your grubby hands on it! Mine, mine, mine! Not that it would be too hard to figure out, but still. Jenn takes me to a place that time forgot. All that remains of the abandoned mill is its concrete shell. My mind is reeling at the possibilities. I wander the grounds more and come to realize that we haven’t walked on dirt in a good long while. Moss and grass is growing on the concrete that covers hundreds of square yards. I explore more and come to realize that most of what we are walking on is hollow. The stories that could be told here! My back pain be damned, I run all over the place. Camera in hand I take picture after picture. My hands are scratched from climbing concrete ziggurats. I don’t care! I am in location heaven! The giggling returns.

I will return to this place someday. With a couple of cameras, and a couple of victims… I mean, “talent”…

My giggling will know no bounds…