Dinner in the Field and other stories
I find you can discover your strengths at any age. For example, I find I’m a better writer than I am an editor. I have a full-length draft of a memoir that I’ve devoted countless hours to, and it’s finally finished. I’m anxious to move on to new material. But finishing the book is not the same as completing the project. Doing it right, I’m told, entails a less than...
Road Trip 2016 # 12
Savannah Georgia is old. It was founded in 1733 about 20 miles up the Savannah River from the Atlantic Ocean. It was and is an important port. When the plantations of the South were growing cotton and indigo and tobacco for trade with Europe much of it was shipped out of Savannah. And when ships from England and elsewhere returned they brought goods back to the colonies through Savannah. It...
Road Trip 2016 #11
I unwrapped the Moon Pie on SC Route 321 en route to Fairfax and it was dry. I should have known better and bought banana, Moon Pie’s original flavor. Salted Caramel is probably considered exotic in rural South Carolina. God knows how long that Salted Caramel Moon Pie was on the shelf. Maybe even he doesn’t know. Fairfax had a traffic light. Gifford was next, then Laury, before going through...
Road Trip # 10
The world looked big as I stood by the Buick in the Waffle House parking lot. The day was bright and warm. Wednesday I traveled a lot of miles and made up lots of time. It was Thursday. As I stood there I knew many of the people in America were working. My trip would end tomorrow in Tampa, which was not far away, and as a result, I had...
Road Trip 2016 # 9
When I woke in Richland South Carolina the sun was shining brightly from a blue horizon through the window above a loud and still blowing heat/AC unit. As I went to shut it off I looked through the window and there before me, on the opposite side of the road, was a sight I’d missed during my late night arrival. There it was in welcoming black letters on yellow squares...
Road Trip 2016 # 8
I was back on Interstate 77 rolling south nicely. I probably shouldn’t have put Boz Scaggs in the Buick’s CD player. He has a voice like a muted trombone. It’s mesmerizing, distracting even. I don’t know as much about these musicians and their music as you might think. I look them up in Wikipedia so I can fill us both in. Here’s the Boz Scaggs story. His Dad was a...
Road Trip 2016 # 7
I was in a little notch, a bump in the border between the two Virginias that can’t be ten miles across and ten miles high containing but two little towns, Rich Creek and Glen Lyn. Below them, out of the notch in Virginia proper are the towns of Narrows, Petersburg, and Pembroke. There are no doubt explanations for anomalies like this in border making and map drawing but I sense...
Road Trip 2016 # 6
Unlike my wife who shuts hotel blinds and curtains tightly to ward off the morning light, I leave the window uncovered when I’m alone and let the light wake me up early. When I woke up in Weston it had stopped snowing. The sky was bright but still cloudy. I packed up my few things and went down to the lobby. Breakfast was on. It’s amazing how good those relatively...
Road Trip 2016 # 5
When I pushed through the door of Amy’s Candlelight Fine Dining and Sports Bar and stepped into the parking lot it was snowing harder than ever. I got out my scraper and brushed snow from my windows, headlights, tail lights, and off the roof. I didn’t think it could snow any harder, but it was. I pulled back onto Route 2 and headed south once again. Only this time slower....
Road Trip 2016 #4
Note to Readers: My blog is time delayed. I’m writing about events that took place last week. I’m glad you feel like you’re with me in the car, identifying with my plight, but I’m sitting in a nice condo in Sarasota with the patio door open. The locals think it’s chilly because it’s in the 60s. Go figure. I won’t start home till the roads are clear. Thanks for the...
Road Trip 2016 # 3
I woke up in a Columbus Ohio Hampton Inn and looked down at my Buick in the parking lot. It was covered with snow. When I went outside to throw my backpack in the car I realized it was still snowing. Fine powdery stuff. The air felt wet. It was 29 degrees and foggy and the parking lot was slick. With the fog and the snowy ground blending together it...