Liam is currently 11 years old. This next post is copied from Liam’s journal with his permission:
I had gone to Tennessee last summer and on that trip I got my first gun. It is a single shot, bolt action 22 rifle. Another whole year passed and it is almost summer 2011 again already. Dad and I went on another trip to Tennessee where I stayed at my grandparent’s cabin.
After a 5 hour flight, we rented a car and drove another 5 hours. That trip really made me think about wilderness. Here I swim and hunt and shoot. The ground is very rocky and dry. When you walk on it, it doesn’t move the slightest bit. The cabin is surrounded by mountains and hills. The river next to the field is running fast this time of year and it floods sometimes after a long rain.
Grandma cooks amazing food. She makes huge meals and they are amazing. Grandpa taught me to shoot last year when I was 10 years old. Me and grandma walk down to the river. The hill that the house is on has a garden where grandma plants different plants and eats some of them.
One of my favorite things is Betty. She is my grandma and grandpa’s dog. She is black and white and she loves it out here. She hunts, runs and plays around in the hills. In the woods, Me and Dad and Grandpa go hunting. The way I see it is that Tennessee is the most beautiful wilderness ever. The rivers, lakes and trees are the most amazing sites here.
On the 4th day me and dad, Daniel, were in a shooting contest. We needed some bug spray so we drove to a gas station we thought was open and yanked on the door. Ring, ring, ring the store alarm sounded. So we left and headed to the family dollar. After we came back grandma showed me a baby bird that had finally gotten out of its nest. I picked it up and placed it back into the nest. Before I finished lice had gotten all over my hands from the bird.
Grandpa also taught me to weld, drive his truck and more about my family history. Today we went to dinner and then to Walmart for more ammo. When we came back I began to play war with an airsoft gun until I saw a large, black snake which I tried, and succeeded, to catch. In return the snake bit me and grandma dabbed alcohol and soap on the bite. Afterwards I went back out to see old snake and it left up a hill, and now I am back inside.
I learned to play a new card game called spades and joined my grandma’s team last night. I was lucky. Hopefully I’m as lucky on grandpa’s team.
End of Liam's Journal Entry
Photos from the trip are here
