Frustrated with working on my computers, I decided to go down to North Ross Park to unwind for a bit.

I noticed something odd when I drove into the parking lot. Earlier in the day I had seen two cars parked beside each other (the parking is parallel, he was in the driving area). Though the parking is parallel and he was in the driving area, I didn't think anything of it earlier because there were men in both cars and I figured they were just talking for a bit and the blocking car wasn't intending to be there long enough to actually park. The only reason I remembered the silver minivan as well as I did is because it had out-of-state plates that I hadn't seen before. I wanted to take a closer look, but figured that would be bad form.

But several hours later when I got there, both cars were in the same position. The red pick-up that was properly parked was without a passenger this time. The silver out-of-state van did have someone in there. As I walked on I saw him open the door of his car, step out, then immediately step back inside.

I've mentioned the two rock piles down there before. It offers a nice bit of seclusion from the world. It's not visible from the rest of the park nor the street. When I've seen a condom wrapper on the ground, I'm not surprised.

Today as I was walking to the little secluded spot I heard a phone ring. It was the same ring as my phone so I reached down. As I did, I heard a man answer his cell phone. Sounded nearby, but I couldn't fire out where exactly. Then I turned the corner where the rock piles are and saw two men. The first was a chubby man probably in his forties. He bald up top with a pony tail and a moustache. As he walked passed me, hee looked at me as though I had just pissed on his daughter's wedding dress. He went to his car, the red pick-up the out-of-state car was parked beside, and drove off.

The second man was the one on the phone. He was older and heavier than the first man. He was wearing a brown jacket with some paint stains on it. He didn't acknowledge me as he talked. He followed the first man until the first man drove off.

Not sure what I had just witnessed, I decided that I didn't want to be where the cars were parked nor in between the rock piles. So I just stood by the 20-foot cliff and looked out. When I saw the second man walking towards me, I felt uncomfortable being near a falling point. I dismissed it as paranoia until the man was close enough to me that I couldn't go anywhere anyhow without passing him. I wasn't real interested in doing that.

I ignored him as he stood there for about five minutes. Finally he said, "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

We talked about the weather for a few minutes. I mentioned being from Texas and we talked about Texas and Idaho. When a park ranger came by to lock the bathrooms, we talked about Pocatello's parks. The conversation lasted probably ten minutes until I just wanted to get out of there.

"Well, back to work for me. It was good talking to you," I lied.

"So you aren't interested in anything else?"

"Nope," I replied, walking to my car. At some point the silver minivan disappeared. Mine was the only car out there. I got in, drove home, and wrote this post.