Finally home

OK, I didn’t go straight home after all. I thought I was ready, but ….

I left Alexandria and headed south on I-95, the most direct route to IRB. Just south of Richmond, I came to a fork in the road. If I went straight, I would stay on 95, but if I veered off to the right, I would be on I-65 heading toward Atlanta. I veered. It was a hasty impulsive decision.

An hour down the road, I called Liz and asked if her cabin in Blue Ridge, Georgia was available for a few nights. It was. I drove my longest drive. Seven O’clock at night I arrived at a terrific modern rustic three story cabin in the woods. From the front porch rocking chair is a perfect view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Liz wasn’t there, (it would have been nicer if she was, but since I had the place to myself I decided to chill out, put my feet up, and stare at the moon. Ahhhhhhh……..)

It took a little doing to get there. After following directions down windy back roads I came to a place where my little rock laden Honda struggled to climb a steep uphill gravel road. But we made it. Now my recently washed car is covered in dust, looking pitiful. But then, sometimes when you want to get somewhere you’re going to get a little dust on the car.

The next morning, I did some front porch sitting and smiling at the mountains. Basically I did “nothing” all day long. I read a couple of magazines that had been with me the entire 9,000 miles that I never found time to read. I picked some blackberries. I love picking blackberries, so this wasn’t actually doing nothing. I went to bed at 8:00.

The next day I went into Blue Ridge for breakfast. There I met a nice lady who has sold her home in Fort Myers, Florida and Blue Ridge, GA, (She and her husband had planned on doing the seasonal living in two places arrangement, but). They were packing their bags to live in Reno, Nevada…..just because. They were having an adventure. Good for them.

I met a lady who bought and has been running a gallery in town since November. I don’t think it was as much fun as she thought it was going to be. It is pretty quiet in the winter, she says, but since they sell other artists works on commission, they have to keep the gallery open all year, six days a week, 10:00 to 6:00. She, coincidentially was from Fort Myers. Blue Ridge is a very friendly town. You would like it.

After three nights in Blue Ridge, I crept down the mountain at the first spark of dawn and coasted down south toward home!

And so now I am really backkkkkkkkkkk. I don’t really wish to be so. But it will be nice to see all my friends and soak in the Gulf of Mexico.

But being home means there is work to do. I am not sure impulsive decisions will are a smart thing to do on a day to day basis, so I have to think more, plan more. And I have to get rid of the mouse who took up residence in my house while I was gone. And bring the grass back to life. And go through the pile of mail. And, and, and.

The trip was easy. Now I have to get to the hard stuff.

I will be thinking about what I have learned and seen while on the road. People ask, "Is there a place you would want to move to, the best place you have been?" I will think about it and let you know. I have much to process. More to say.

I mean...... what now?