The Road

A week ago I found myself turning west off of Louisiana 26 between Elton and Oberlin.  My job required that I be somewhere that day promptly for an appointment.  As I headed out of town, I knew right off that my GPS was leading me down the wrong road, but I wanted to make absolutely sure so I double-checked the address and then followed the road to its end.  After making a quick telephone call, it was confirmed that I was temporarily lost.  But all was not lost.  I found myself on a beautiful country road.  There was not another soul around.

The sun was blazing all around me and then I came to a point in the road where the trees made a canopy over the road.  The wooded area was thick with brush and timber.  The sun filtered through the trees and the muted sunlight made things look magical.  I stopped the vehicle and rolled down the windows.  A crow was cawing in the distance.  The air smelled cool and fresh.

Peace.  Just a mile to the east is a road that teems with passenger vehicles, grain trucks, tanker trucks, agricultural equipment and an endless stream of people in a rush to get somewhere.  Here I was lost, but that wasn't such a bad thing when you find a little piece of heaven on a back country road.

How long has it been since you turned down a back road that you've never been before?  How long has it been since you slowed down your pace?  Got a good night's rest?  Spent time thinking about and prioritizing things that really matter?

I read something written (Author Unknown) that attempts to capture the gist of this post better than I ever could:

There is more to life

than measuring its speed.

Let me look upward into

the branches of the towering oak

and know that it grew great and strong

because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me

to send my roots deep into the

soil of life's enduring values.

The Road Less Traveled

I've posted about this before.  It's something we do on Saturday afternoon.  We are very simple people and like simple things.  Our little Saturday afternoon excursion is so doggone enjoyable.  Here's what we do.  Long about 5 pm, we jump in the pickup truck, roll down the windows and being riding on country roads.  We don't have any set route or travel plans.  Like Jerry Jeff Walker sings, we just kind of let the truck "wander around."

We do have several rules.  First we listen to old time country or bluegrass music.  We both sing to the top of our lungs, especially to Montgomery Gentry's "Lucky Man" and "Amarillo Sky."  We drive very slow and try not to go over 25 or 30 miles per hour.  Oh from time to time someone will come behind us, but we pull over to the side and let them pass.  We are setting the pace here.

We try our darnedest to not drive on blacktop roads, if at all possible.  We put gravel in our travel.

We observe the sights and sounds around us that busy schedules might cause us to easily overlook.  Last trip we saw a coyote.  This trip we saw a rabbit.  I was telling Tricia about shooting the .22 rifle off the gully bridge at snakes and turtles.  We didn't have the rifle this trip, but we stopped nonetheless and saw an alligator lazily swimming in the muddy water.

Other than killing time, we have no agenda, no timetable, no deadline or due date.  Our destination, however, is Peto's.  Peto's is a gas station that sells, among other things, sausage, specialty meats, boudin, duck quesadillas, fried fish, cracklins and boudin balls.  The boudin balls are either spicy plain or stuffed with jalapenos and cheese.  We grab a couple of boudin balls for the road and eat them in the cab of the pickup.  Boudin balls are a special treat!  Now, it is not healthy - it's boudin (minus the casing) rolled into a ball, battered and deep fried.  Talk about good!

We never take the same road home.  We drive slowly by as the sun descends and see parties and crawfish boils going on at people's homes, kids riding four wheelers in the woods.  The pace of our truck as well as life in the country is slow and easy.  I mention to Tricia that you wouldn't imagine that busy I-10 is only a mile from where we are as the crow flies.  Hank Jr.'s "Family Tradition" comes on the radio and we sing along as we see an old truck in all its rusted glory parked on the side of a homeplace.

We take a turn on Dama Landry Road that we like.  The trees grow to meet one another, making a tunnel that we pass through.  One could easily be fooled into thinking we've stepped back in time.  The road dips down and we pass over flowing water.  

All in all we've made what is normally a ten minute trip last an hour and a half.  As we get ready to turn back into our driveway, the sun is dipping beneath the horizon as God paints the sky a dazzling array of colors.

As we pull into the driveway, my wife says, "What a great afternoon.  This is my favorite thing to do."  I must say I agree.  If you have a country road nearby, I highly recommend going out and letting your truck wander around on it.  There are adventures to be enjoyed by simple folk on the road less traveled.

Makes Me Wanna Take the Backroad

Makes me wanna take the back road...

My job takes me west on I-10 for about a 40 minute commute each day.  Almost entirely all Interstate travel with the cruise control set at 74 mph.  It is uneventful, almost automatic.  So routine, I think the car could drive itself.  Except they recently launched a multi-year construction project that has sent my easy commute into somewhat of a tailspin.

That 40 minute commute turned into an hour and 15 minute commute on the very best day and a 2 hour and 45 minute commute on the worst!  I tried many different routes, but it seems other people had figured out those 'supposed' short cuts and traffic was backed up there too.  So the other day, I had nothing to lose and I decided to take some back roads to get home.  Rather than idling in bumper to bumper traffic, I determined I would drive way out of the way to get home.

I headed north for 18 miles and then 37 miles east and then 21 miles south and then 25 miles east.  That is 101 miles, whereas my normal commute is 49 miles.  On the positive side, I got off the beaten path and saw some country at a slower rate of speed.  I took time to observe things around me.  On a stretch of back road between Kinder and Welsh, I was awestruck by the beauty of a shady canopy of oak trees that enveloped the country road.  The trees had fresh green leaves on them.  I had to stop the car and get out and take a photo.  That's something I'd never ever do on I-10!

It reminded me of a country song I like by Rodney Atkins whose chorus goes like this:

And it makes me wanna take a back road

Makes me wanna take the long way home

Put a little gravel in my travel

Unwind, unravel all night long

Truth be told, I'd like to take the back road, the long way home and put some gravel in my travel on a more routine basis, but there is a lot of planting in the garden that needs to be done.  I've learned that those seeds don't plant themselves!