I confess, I've always been bad at introductions.... :sigh:...

For this task I was joined by The Animus and my beloved(He is not a member yet-but I'm working on changing that). We didn't have to go far to reach our destination. In fact, the property is a few houses down from my own home. I live in the unincorporated part of my town. That essentially means we have no sidewalks, no street lights, and generally one to two acres of land per residence. Room to roam, I say. My street also borders a forest and nature preserve. I have no neighbors behind my house, just lots and lots of trees. The property we went to is on the same side of the street, but the actual residence is tucked back into the woods.


This property, for the most part, is abandoned, but a few years back that wasn't the case. Several years ago the land was owned by a family that took in abandoned and abused circus animals. Sounds pretty valiant, right? Think again. I found this article online-it sums up the whole situation better than I could.


Steven Galecki, 32, who formerly operated the Funky Monkey Animal
Park in Crete, Illinois, on August 29 pleaded guilty to conspiracy for
his alleged involvement in selling at least 19 tigers, seven leopards,
two African lions, a snow leopard, a puma, and an Asian swamp deer to
their deaths. Galecki admitted selling six of the animals to Robert
Martinez, M.D., of Palos Heights, Illinois, who allegedly then borrowed
a gun from William Kapp of Tinley Park, Illinois, to shoot the animals
in cages on Galecki's property. A friend, David Woldman of Lombard, was
also involved in killing at least two of the animals, the prosecution
charged.

Martinez allegedly paid Galecki $7,000; Galecki paid Kapp $2,000.

The carcasses were allegedly delivered to meat market owner Richard
Czimer. Czimer and Woldman have also been indicted in the case.


The lions would roar at sunrise and sunset. It's spectacular to hear when you live in the southern suburbs of Chicago. Anywho, enough reminiscing...


We approaced the driveway to the property and The Animus began his photography. We hopped the bar that crosses the driveway and made our way down the winding path. The property had been recently visited as the fresh tire tracks so obviously stated. We were all a little leery; the last thing we wanted was to be caught in the headlights of a pissed of property owner. Earlier that day, my brother commented on how he had seen homeless people on the property- so we were on the look out for angry hobos as well.


We reached the clearing at the end of the driveway where there stands a trailer in ruins. About three years ago I had visited the property with my beloved, and since then the elements have not been kind. Almost every window is broken; glass and debris litter the ground. The trailer appears to be collapsing within itself. The graffiti on the trailer was new to me as well, and furhtered my concern about being on the property. The Animus documented the area quite extensively while my beloved and I checked out the surroundings. Although not the most brilliant idea, we all decided to try to take a look inside the trailer and if at all possible get in. The front door was ajar, but jammed and we weren't willing to squeeze through the crack. My beloved soon discoverd a side entrance. He and The Animus were the first inside. They soon realized that the floor was just rotted as the rest of the place and they did not venture far from the entrance. When The Animus was done documenting, I eagerly suggested that I go inside so I can have my picture taken through the window near the doorway. I too did not go far from the entrance, frankly I was afraid to look behind me much less take anymore steps than required(the floor was indeed very squishy). The picture was taken, and all was said and done. As we left I felt proud to have shared another task with The Animus and to have completed my third task.

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I actually was up for a different task, and forgot if this one was retired or not. I kind of questioned how Moo's brother would be able to verify the existence of hobos, but my will to task ignored it.
The pictures will be able to explain the story better than I could. I just want to mention that, given the area, in the event we were accosted by tipped off cops or the current property owners or hobos, the only place to run would be where we came from (which, in the case of hobos, wouldn't be a problem). The surrounding forest was dense and flooded. If I had to explain myself to an authority, I think I know what I'd say.....
"See, I'm playing this game. It's called 'Journey To The End Of The Night', and see, we got lost, and we're looking for a checkpoint...."