We drove out along the highway to Mission, not really sure what we were expecting to find, nor what we'd do when we found it. The only recon my partner and I had done had been via satellite imagery, and that didn't give you the topography of the land at all. Nor the habits of the locals...
We drove off the highway and down a dusty lane, that apparently was a road but appeared more like a private driveway, after we passed a small number of close-in farm houses. There was a contractor in one of the yards, from some kind of renovation company, bent into his truck as we sped on by down the road. Did he live there or was he just working there? Or did he have no more right to be there than we did?
At the end of the road, we crossed by the first of two NO TRESPASSING signs and drove up a berm -- and stopped suddenly. There she was: a huge, rusted behemoth, sitting lifelessly but with as much grandeur as she must have had back in the 60's -- but in a new, forlorn, almost frightening way. "THE QUEEN OF SIDNEY", I said, and we rolled down the hill and into the junkyard.
The junkyard was full of old tractors and trailers and excavators and trucks... one of the trailers had a table outside with small items on it: toilet paper, a canteen, some dish soap. This could only mean one thing.... but who would live in an old school bus in some isolated junkyard? ...
We parked and got out, slowly -- all our movements, slow. We were listening. Cautious, we didn't know whether to expect the eery emptiness that comes with a forsaken space, or the barrel of a shotgun. We walked quietly and with ears searching for any noise. I walked past the bus with a gaze of such intensity that I think if anyone WAS in there, even if they were sleeping, they would wake right up to it and feel that intensity. But nothing moved...
We continued along past old engine blocks and made it to the other end of this tiny junkyard, and found an old barge which seemed to be mostly dry-docked, and like an access to the bow of the Queen. We walked up slowly, and then I stopped my partner. We listened.
"You hear those voices?" I asked in a dead whisper.
"Yeah" he nodded, gravely.
We walked up to the barge with total alertness. There was someone here. Someone up ahead. Was it a caretaker? Was it the owner? Some hillbilly with a shotgun? ....
"Shit.... Shit!" I whisper quickly, ducking down. "There's two guys just down on the other side of the barge" I say, and my partner and I back off, quickly and quietly, also trying to look like lost tourists just in case they spotted us. We make our way back to our vehicle, and discuss our options: we can either find another way in, go talk to them and see if they'll let us in (not bloody likely), or we can just leave.
We decide to find another way.
We notice on the side nearest us there seems to be a pathway made from an assortment of old catwalks and two by eights and floating foam blocks... BZZZT ....
My partner comes up with a solid consideration:
what if the two men on the other side of the barge weren't even supposed to be here? We decided that ... BZZZZT .... we would first go see what those guys were all about. Maybe I had even imagined them...
We walked back and up the barge, and I knew I wasn't imagining it; we heard voices, again. Then we saw them. This time I didn't get down. We looked. A tense moment passed.... but then we saw them again, down our limited line of sight at the far end of the barge. It was actually a few people, all on a boat moored just off the far side of the barge. They had fishing rods draped from the sides of the boat. A girl in a bikini stood up and walked out of our narrow sightline.
We breathed a collective sigh of relief. So, we walked around like we owned the place, looking at the Queen and pointing to what we think might be good access points. Maybe we could throw a rope and grappling hook up to the bow? ....In the end, we actually decided to go try our luck with the ...BZZZT... again ... but at least we knew the threat of detection was not as serious as we thought.
.... SOME TIME LATER ...
We made it through ...BZZZT... let's say with a little help from ninja skills, and that certain "looseness"...
Inside we found a time capsule of almost the entire 20th century -- there were old cars from as far back as the 40's and 50's; Playboys from the 80's (big bush included); old microwaves with wood veneer; mildewed books from 1912; old forsaken photo albums of men with bell-bottom pants and j-body cars; souvenir magnets from alaska; and teddy bears with menacing scowls for our disturbing their eternal, lonely slumber.
... But, enough talk. Check out the pictures for the rest of the story:
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https://imgur.com/a/o1evu#0---------------------------
Also, check out my partner's video for his pictures and footage (starts at around 7 mins) of exploring the inside:
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https://www.youtub...atch?v=8LhGUG5ixsM-------------------------------------------
Infiltration: Success.
Please don't reveal POEs on the forum; thanks! -Ganesha