On The Road

Early this morning, while still a bit dark,  I left my friend Mark’s home traveling some very narrow West Virginia Mountain roads.  For the first few miles the road was empty of cars or trucks, but there was traffic of another kind.  I must have seen at least 30 deer in the road, along side the road, jumping across the road, or just gawking at me for being on the road and intruding into their space.  

I love traveling through the eastern mountains at any time of the day or year, but particularly in the early morning and in autumn.  To see the wisps of the mist (fog) in the crevices of the multi-colored hills is a real treat.  It almost makes one think that the clouds in the sky of yesterday have descended overnight to nestle, rest and sleep among the hills.  This sight always reminds me of my college years in West Virginia.  The gift of connection with relatives and friends is not the only gift given to the wanderer—for on the road, the wanderer is also given the gift of remembrance.

After a very long day on the road, I arrived in Paducah, Kentucky, to visit my friend Bill for a day or so.  Bill has a nice little space behind his studio reserved just for Odysseus and me—though he did say that the same space is also where he sets the garbage cans for pick up every Friday morning.  

Tired, though I was from the long drive of the day, I enjoyed a wonderful pasta dinner prepared by Bill—and of course, it only took a moment and a sip of wine for the two of us to pick up our conversation from where we left it the last time we were together.  I am grateful for the gift of friends while on the road, and while it is day.