The Night We Met Spartacus
Fresh Off a Yacht Charter, Deep in the Woods: Camping, Courage, and Finding the Right Person
Some stories stick with you, not because they were dramatic or perfect, but because they were perfectly us.
This is one of those. It starts with a tent, a bottle of wine, and two people who decided early on that life should always feel like an adventure, even if you’re only a few feet from your car, pretending you’re the bravest souls in the woods.
I’d just come off a charter working on a yacht for a famous race car driver and his family. I can’t share his name, of course, but I’ll say this: charters were always my favorite.
The guests were typically rich, but not own-the-yacht rich, just charter-the-yacht rich, still connected enough to reality to know how much work goes into taking care of them.
They still had the appreciation and the manners to say please and thank you, and the tips? They could be as good as, or better than, my salary for that week.
Charters are no joke. They’re hard work, up before dawn to well into the night, every detail dialed in and perfect.
But you know what they say, “work hard, play hard.” And I was ready to play.
So Cade and I did what we do best, we took that well-earned break and traded fancy linens and white-glove service for mismatched blankets, a couple of folding camp chairs, and a tent we were determined to break in right.
We packed a bottle (or maybe two) of good-enough wine, not expensive, but the kind that tastes even better when you’re drinking it under a wide open sky.
I remember the park ranger, she was kind but firm, and probably thought we looked like bear bait.
“Watch yourselves,” she said. “There’ve been black bears in the area. Best not to wander around alone.”
Neither of us had ever seen a bear in the wild, so naturally we spent the whole evening jumping at every crack of a twig.
We weren’t exactly sleeping under the trees unprotected, we’re not that brave, let’s be honest, but inside that thin layer of nylon we felt just daring enough.
That’s the thing about us. We love the good things, a warm meal, a bottle of wine, a cozy place to land, but we want them with a side of adventure.
Neither of us could have survived a life with someone who didn’t want to get a little lost now and then, who didn’t crave a spark of the unexpected, even if it meant imagining bears lurking in the shadows.
And then, sometime after glass number three, came the rustling. Loud. Close.
We froze, wide-eyed. Called out. Clapped our hands. Made noises we thought might scare off a bear, or at least convince whatever it was that we were bigger and braver than our $15 camp chairs suggested.
The sound didn’t stop.
Fueled by courage (and wine), we grabbed a stick and a flashlight and crept into the brush, every step a heartbeat.
Was it a bear about to lunge? Or worse for me, a snake? (For the record, I’d choose a bear over a snake any day. I can’t even look at a photo of one without shuddering.)
Instead, there in the brush, nose to the dirt, was an armadillo.
Small, oblivious, and completely unbothered by two idiots who’d convinced themselves they were about to be mauled.
We laughed so hard we probably scared him half to death.
And because every good wild thing deserves a name, we christened him Spartacus, our tiny, armored, bug-hunting neighbor.
He disappeared as “quietly” as he came, but he’s still with us, the story we love to retell whenever we need to remind ourselves who we are.
When I look at the picture now, Cade and me, grinning, a bottle of wine in hand, that tent behind us like a castle we built ourselves, I’m just so grateful.
Grateful that I found someone who wants the same kind of life, adventure and comfort, wonder and warmth.
Someone who knows that the real luxury isn’t a big yacht or a perfect plan, but a life full of stories, small moments, and a little courage to peek into the dark when you hear something rustling.
And if you’re lucky, maybe you get an armadillo named Spartacus, too.
-R. Michael
It's absolutely ASTONISHING how the smallest animals can make a huge racket in the woods at night!
We were so brave that night. We weren't ready for a bear, but went anyway to find out.