June 23, 2024

I had left the United Kingdom on the 4^th of April 2024, because my visitor visa expired, and a student visa is £5,000. I slept in my car a couple of times and stayed in different hotels across France other nights. One hotel I stayed at in Lourdes, called Armes Hotel which had a very strange floor format. The man who checked me in, had trouble deciding on which room to put me in. It was interesting to see him take literal minutes; as I stood there watching him touch one key, then another and decide maybe not. He asked if I wanted a good view or a quiet room. I said I don’t care; any room was fine. He would touch another key and go, “Umm…” and did this for some time. He touched 6 different keys and mainly switched back and forth between two keys. I asked if there was a problem and he looked back at me and laughed nervously.

Finally, he decided on one and had the help show me to my room. The elevator was unusually small and was a bit awkward for myself along with Ace and the help, and my bags!  I was shown to my room because down the hallway, the last room number was 428 but my room was 429. The man pushed on what looked like the wall, because it had no doorhandle. When we walked through, we came into a back hallway past spiral stairs and then another wall that the help opened, revealing a small hallway with three doors. I got into my room and there were bars on the window, which faced a back alley. Remember, I am on the 5^th floor, UK and Europe believe the first floor begins with zero. Normally at the hotel, I never see bars on the window and there are none on the windows facing the main street. This made me nervous. I thought for sure I would be sold into slavery or even worse, chopped up for organs or meat on the black market.

I have a device that emits a very loud sound that can be disorienting when the pin is pulled from it. I had this by my side as I slept. I took further measures and put the desk and chair propped up against the door at night to at least give me time to know what was happening. The first night was quiet, but the next day…I started to hear a man screaming. He was speaking French, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying. But he would bang on things and at first, I thought he was having trouble working on something. I thought this man gets very frustrated easily, bitter or burnt out. He needs to figure out his anger management. I prayed for him, then I left and went about Lourdes, stopping at a nearby café. The woman who owned this café was very friendly and she recommended Lac Lourdes, Lac is Lake in English. I checked out the Lake to see if it was ideal for living in my tent. It was a local favorite place to swim and there was an expensive restaurant there with public restrooms. But they locked the restrooms when the restaurant closed. So I would have to be in the bushes.

As I sat in the car park, when the police showed up and noticed my back license plate was missing. Thankfully I was sitting in my car, or they might have just left me a ticket and leave. I showed them my registration for the vehicle and let them know that I had tried going to several different mechanics to get a new one. Problem was that I was in France and France only has plaques made with French emblems. I had registration documents from the United Kingdom. There was no place that I could go to get mine replaced with the proper tags. It would be like me trying to replace my American license plates. I asked the lady cop if it was legal to put my tent up here at this lake. She said yes, but I couldn’t have it up all day. I would have to set it up at sunset and take it down at sunrise.

This is a tough living for a disabled individual. I got back to my hotel for the night and the man was screaming and banging on things again. I started to realize as time went into the night, all night long… That this man bangs on something three times. Bang, bang, bang! Also, I had suddenly developed a case of nose bleeds the day I checked in and then again that day. I can mention that I did not have another one after I left nor did I have one before arriving at this hotel. These signs are important because this can indicate the presence of a demon. This man was very agitated, he did not rest, all night he was screaming, I imagine cursing. Every now then he would quiet down as I prayed, but when he stopped, I stopped praying and started to fall asleep. Then eventually he would start up again, always banging in threes. Paranormally significant, because it is said that the devil mocks the Holy Trinity. When it scratches someone, there are three marks and when it knocks, it knocks three times. I think now, I should have recorded this man so I could have someone interpret what he was yelling. I wish I had done this, because I have no idea what he was yelling in French. But that man was tormented.

When my stay was up, I took Ace and we traveled into the countryside on the highest part of the hill. Where nothing but cattle and wild pigs lived. I was scared of the wild pigs, and it didn’t help that Ace was not wanting to get out of the car. I prayed and praised the Lord and asked for protection, believing that God can surely control the swine.  I started to put my tent up and realized it is a little too big. These things never fold back up into the small, compressed position it once was like in the store. So now this tent is too much on top of all the things I had in my car. God help me. Maybe I can stay in this place for awhile and try to save money. I picked the countryside for the privacy, to squat in a bush without traumatizing a kid accidentally coming upon me peeing. Plus, I wanted to leave my tent up without needing to take it down everyday. The goal was to stay low and try not to spend any more money for the rest of the month.

The view was gorgeous, with several different hilltops behind me and the city of Lourdes in front. Some hills had snow on them, and others seemed to be places for wild goats to thrive on. Bulls were down below, and the sound of a cowbell jingled almost all day. The road coming up to this secluded spot went from smoothly paved to gravely, and uneven. I had wondered if my sedan, Toyota Camry would make it over the rough, unkempt roads. Off to the left was a cobblestone home that had been long abandoned without any renovations. Past the home were markings of someone driving on the grass. But the spot I picked was surrounded by hedges, blocking the view of my vehicle and tent. The grass was nice and flat with partial shading, but not directly under the trees in case a branch broke. Making a perfect hiding space. Further up the uneven road was what looked like another abandoned building that resembled a very large barn. The road came to a gate before going to this barn, but everything was very quiet in that direction. Except for the natural wildlife, buzzing of the bees, and nearby farm animals from below. 

At night, singing from the Sanctuary can be heard echoing up to the top. I could also hear the occasional loudest muffler pop and vrrrooom. I felt increasingly uneasy as it got darker and the fact that Ace had sat in the car for the last 2 hours while I set things up. He looked scared, which made me wonder what he was smelling and hearing that I could not smell and hear? I sent another prayer for safety and felt that God is going to allow me to live or take me to heaven soon. Either way, win/win. As I determined this, I heard the wild screech of a pig in the distance, just beyond the gate by the large barn. In the two hours it took me to set the tent up, this was the first-time hearing screeching. If it was a farm pig, then surely, I would have heard them snorting and making noises way before this. I waited and listened to make sure nothing was coming our way. I was ready to jump in the car if something did.

Slowly, I went about getting things in the tent, then more quickly. I set up the bed first, then bedding, clothes, hygiene products. I decided to leave the food in the car, so not to attract any bugs or wildlife into the tent. I was acutely aware of the thin plastic that shielded Ace and I from the outside world, tusks and all. As I quickly approached finishing my tasks, I heard a noise in the dark that resembled a fairly large animal running in the tall grass right towards me. I jumped in the car and slammed the door shut so quickly, I nearly sat on a tub of dog treats. I waited silently and looked around frantically to see what it was that I heard. I did not see anything… I looked back at Ace, and he looked at me as if to say, “I’m not going out there!” (I didn’t have a picture of his face, but it was something like the one below.) Slowly I opened the car door and looked about and listened for any sudden movements. I suspected at this time that maybe it was a field mouse. 

I had to put Ace’s leash on him to coax him gently out of the car and then I walked him, keeping close enough to the car, but far enough for him to do his business. After he was done, I took his two beds, blanket, and pillows out of the backseat and brought him into the tent to go to sleep for the night. I was half tempted to allow him to sleep in the car for his safety, but I knew that he would be missing me during the night. Dogs always want to be by their partner in crime, through thick and thin. He feels the need to protect me as I felt the need to keep him safe. The two of us together made a better team than splitting up and handling a situation separately. But most importantly, I knew that God had every ability to send His angels to scare the wild pigs away. I think of the story of Daniel in the Lions Dens. The God that shuts the mouths of Lions, is the God that I have a relationship with. I am His and He is mine.

I heard the screeching of pigs one more time as I laid in the tent with Ace. It really sounded as if they were being scared away. I did imagine that God’s angels cleared the area, with their awesome armor and enormous swords. They stood guard or even surrounded my encampment like the fiery chariots that Elisha’s servant saw when the enemy was approaching them. The amazing detail of the thousands of angels in fire chariots, ready to slaughter the unsuspecting fast approaching enemy. After that, there was silence, and I did not hear from the wild boars again. I only heard the pitter-patter of a spider walking on the plastic tent, above my head. I am thankful for the zipper that closed off the critters of the night. Even though Ace and my body heat were held within our sleeping chamber of the tent, I could feel the cold creeping in and nipping at my feet, as 11 PM moved onto to 3 AM, and then the bladder called me. Every night at the same time! I cannot stand this as I try so hard to ignore it. Knowing if I lift these covers that I had put over my face, cold would rudely slap me. Not to mention, unzipping my tent to the open natural air…Well, you can only ignore the call of the bladder before it starts to threaten you with thoughts of your bladder bursting, kidney infection, or even wetting your bed. The bravest part on my own behalf was facing the cold. I was reassured by my friend, the Holy Spirit, not to fear what He has control on all the rest.

I stayed on the mountain top for 3 days before the farmer found me and asked me to leave. I packed up my things and headed to the lake. I had been taking Ace there everyday to cool off in the water, anyways. He smiled as he acted like an alligator stalking the ducks from a distance. And every time, he choked on the water, then did the alligator again. Dog owners came and sometimes played with Ace. When lunch or dinner time came, we ate whatever I had in the car. Tuna was my go-to protein, while Ace had his usual plate of hard food mixed with soft food. He always looked at me as if this was not enough and sniffed whatever I had in my hands. I showed him the orange that I had peeled, Not interested! But he did want the empty can of tuna with oil left inside. He cleaned it properly before I disposed of it in the recycling.

Slowly the weather turned from beautiful sunny 70’s to 55 F (21 C – 12 C), cloudy with rain. Still, we stayed and night after night I slept in my car. I visited the town looking for healing water. I went to the Sanctuary, and there was a huge inner courtyard with a statue of the cross. After proving that my dog was allowed to go in through the gates because of his ID. We walked up the many stairs to the top where the Cathedral was. I was confused as to where exactly I could access the healing water. Everyone I talked to only spoke French and my translator hesitated as I tried to make it translate English to French. For technology making things easier, it really doesn’t. So many complications are created with man-made things. Anyhoo!

I went back to the lake to rest in my car because I was just exhausted. Not sleeping well in my car, only eating two small meals a day, detoxing from medication, which made me nauseas. This was not a fun vacation. I passed by a woman and man with two beautiful collies, heading towards the restaurant. I passed by slowly as Ace stuck his head out the window and whined softly. I parked the car and brought him over on the leash, even though the collies were free from there’s. I asked if Ace could play with them. Success! The woman spoke English. I joined them for tea, I got the cappuccino. And she started to ask me lots of questions. I told her Ace and my story and assured her that we were fine, I had shelter in my car. Little did I know that danger was coming my way, and she would save my life.

Which I will post next Sunday! Don’t miss out on real life, Husky in a tie, Ace & My Adventures!