Detour! Unless you have a lunch date with Jesus, slow down!

I often go along one of the most beautiful passageways I've ever traveled. It's not the tree lined streets of Augusta's Olde Town or Summerville neighborhoods, nor the parkway which curves between North Carolina's hazy valleys and tall blue ridges nor Atlanta's Interstates which soar across the city where suddenly the Capitol dome appears, glowing in the pure gold from deep in the mountains. It's not even the ancient roads in the unhurried South of France. 

This one is a rural road which suits a comfortable 45-50 mile an hour pace. It passes by country churches and through alleės of tall straight Georgia pines. It's edges are marked by wildflowers in ditches, an occasional wild turkey and the scenic view of a pond with cows, donkeys, goats and horses grazing near a fence or snoozing in the shade. 

This week, several thousand new drivers will speed through as they try to make up the time caused by a "detour" around the Keg Creek Bridges. 

Most will not expect to find a farm vehicle moving slowly here or a curve not banked for high speed there. Logging trucks will swerve to miss drivers who are in an unfamiliar area and "miss" the 4-way stop.  During the 500 plus days of detour, there will be accidents and the ROAD will be blamed. Someone will suggest cutting down the trees. Someone else will want to cover the yellow daisies and fill the ditches. Another will ban the animals. Few will suggest a LOWER SPEED LIMIT, but for many reasons, it would be a good thing.

Not So Nice

I am so delighted when I come across a plant in the woods which William Bartram identified. As he came through our neck of the woods in 1773, he found a beautiful vine with shiny blue-black berries. The name of that “Greenbrier“has been given to much in the community, but, bless his heart, I’m thinking if William had to pull that prickly green thing from HIS flower beds, he would have named it something NOT SO NICE.

The Bartram Trails are well publicized across most states. We have a well kept secret one near our house. It’s marked, but let me know if you can’t find it.

New place to walk; new things to see

When I first started writing this little blog, I lived just 4 blocks from the Savannah River in a downtown neighborhood. A marble slab on the Riverwalk indicated the 200 mile Mark. Hmmm.... I thought. Maybe I should walk 2 miles each day for 100 days and write about that day. I didn't make 200 miles!

As things happen, I stopped posting but kept observing what made each day different than the day before.

So now I am no longer in a downtown neighborhood, but 30 miles further up River. It's perhaps 2 miles from the water as the crow flies -- in the middle of a rural community where donkeys keep the coyotes away, birds call out a "snake, snake" warning to those who listen and crawfish swim in the spring. I'm learning about the folks who probably walked this land -- Trail Blazer William Bartram, Methodist Circuit Rider Francis Asbury, Explorer Meriwhether Lewis, the Mother of Historian Laughton B. Evans and lots more!

This time I'll try to share for 100 days - no miles!

Some days you just can't keep your feet on the ground during a walk in the park. 

Day 10 -- The Thermometer - Believe or Not

The sun was shining and the temperature looked pretty good, so I bundled both Lucy and Belle, tucked them into the double stroller with a blanket over their knees.

We were off for a short walk while their mother was away.

The thermometer did not say anything about the wind! It was "passing through!"
The sun decided to play hide and seek with the clouds! I thought we should just go back home.
The girls were laughing as their tiny fingers got cold and their noses turned red and Lucy said, "Go that way."
We kept walking for another block and I spotted a brass marker in the sidewalk for today's photo.

Finally, I decided we had had enough. Just as we turned around, my daughter drove up, popped hats on heads and mittens on fingers. She got back in her car and we raced her home. The short walk was a really short walk!

Next time I check the thermometer, I believe I'll pop my head out to check the wind as well.


Note about the marker: The markers, which are rapidly disappearing, were placed by my husband's uncle's company which laid the sidewalks more than 60 years ago. We are so familiar with them, we have sometimes overlooked them, but are now often surprised to find them at all.

Only a half mile
200 Miles in 100 Days
AAB

Day 9 - Off To See the Art!

There is a small show of paintings from France in the Art Hall of Sacred Heart, so the plan was to drop books at the library and add a few more blocks to our walk to see the art.

Just past the library, Lucy and I waved at Ronald who was sitting on the porch of his special house in his bright red shoes. We checked out a couple of playgrounds for possible stops on another trip. We talked about the 'walk' and 'don't walk' signs which were different than ones we'd seen before.

We could see the spires of the old church several blocks away, so we hurried on. Sacred Heart, a deconsecrated Catholic church of immense architectural value, has become an important part of the cultural life of the community.








We looked at the building with its windows glowing in the afternoon light, watched a man playing the organ with his feet, and checked the pictures from the South of France.

We want to go again, so we think we'll put this on our plan another day.

Two miles and a little more
200 Miles in 100 Days
AAB

On the Inside Looking Out

The weather has been rainy and cold.

Having spent six weeks of January and February 2007 with bronchial/respiratory stuff, I'm not tempting the winds of winter, so we have looked for other ways to get a little exercise. Stair climbing and dancing to kindergarten songs (whew!) have been the main ones. Shopping takes a bit of energy, too.

But. . . no one likes the days when walking has to be done inside -- even when there is a bookstore's fun mural involved.


200 Miles in 100 Days
AAB

Day 8 Send in the Clowns

The plan for yesterday was a walk to the library for story time and a visit by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus clowns. It seemed a good plan: a mile there; a mile back. It WAS a good plan: it was fun and we got more books!

Leaving the library, we turned West instead of East and visited another clown who resides on the porch of the Ronald McDonald House just a few doors away.

It was a lovely cool day -- about 50 degrees F -- with a little sun. A little more than a mile and we would be home again...

BUT . . . we could hear a train and rushed to see it. There were horses and cows for the Futurity at the arena just three blocks over. There was a lovely dalmatian named Gentry in the parking lot whose owners let come out to play.

Who could just come home when all of that was calling? It was a long walk.

Three plus miles.
200 Miles in 100 Days
AAB