Going along the way

Busy day today. Early Physical Therapy session.

Change of plans for my approach to walking stairs in the stadium for graduating granddaughter. My collapsible walking stick won't fit in carry on luggage. And I'm sure not going to walk with it through two airports. My hiking there will be slow and steady with a carry on suitcase on wheels.

So I will depend upon one of my sons to be at hand, to literally lean on.

Lean on me... that's the song from way back then...you've got a friend...

I just read an interesting poem about traveling.

Wanderer, your footsteps are the road,
and nothing more;
Wanderer, there is no road.
The road is made by walking...

By walking one makes the road,
and upon glancing behind
one sees the path that will
never be trod again...

Wanderer, there is no road -
only wakes upon the sea..."

Antonio Machado

My own approach was that this adventure would be like a safari - maybe with wild animals and terrain that is perhaps lovely...I'll keep an eye out for any beauty. And standing in line is designed to be tree meditation. On two feet of course!

So after I figure out what vegetables/fruits will definitely go bad, and make a bag of the ones that my friend might eat...I'll toss one bag in the trash can outside, and give her the other when she picks me up to go to the airport at noon.

I'll try to eat the last banana, and the baked potato that's left over from a lunch earlier in the week. 

And I must remember to unplug the computer and TV surge protectors. I came home from a trip one year to find my lap top fried, even though it had been on a surge protector...but lightening struck somewhere nearby. 

Would you believe I don't have enough in my suitcase so it will probably rattle around? That's because 4 changes of clothes don't really take up much room...and I've used this suitcase for a week's worth of winter wear. It's an easy over head type with handle and wheels. And of course a bag with cross body strap will hold everything else. I will look beseeching and hope a gentleman nearby will put it up in the overhead bin.

So my son called last night and suggested I bring an old lap top that I'm not using because his daughter who's a Jr. in high school just fried hers. The old laptop that I have only works when plugged in, and has a cord which doesn't work...so we may need to find an Apple store with this kind of cord (a little magnet connects the wire to it, and that's the place where the cord has died.) But it will add 3 pounds to the carry on suitcase. But maybe fill up some space!

I'm on my way...

Autochrome colour photo by French photographer Lèon Gimple taken at the 1909 Grand Exhibition in Paris.

Today's quote:

Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) wrote, "Truth is for tailors and shoemakers. ... I, on the contrary, have always held that the Lord has a penchant for masquerades." 

PS.

I am not sure I can make comments since I'll only have a iPad to read blogs with...so I can read yours, but I haven't been able to get blogger to believe I am the google person I am.

Traveling notes

It's no trouble to go visit the family for holidays.
Right.

The highways have something to say about that. Like how a few million cars can squeeze onto two lanes going one direction, and supposedly get up to a speed of 75 miles per hour.  It's been a laugh. Though many of us weren't laughing.

I was on the I-95 parking lot in South Carolina some of Monday afternoon.  In case you hadn't heard, there were rain storms all over this area.  As I went the long way through South Carolina, once I was advised by Serri (really, is it Sirrie?) to get off I-26 and try Hwy 301, and 21, and later 17.

The most fun was going through South Carolina's Dismal Swamp.  I even crossed a pretty small bridge over "Big Swamp." It was not as impressive as the 50 miles of wet lands on each side of the road, with pines squeezed together.  And one of those roads was even called "Low Country Highway."

I actually noticed a different feeling, an intimacy that happened, between being in a chain of cars that couldn't change anything as we snaked (pardon the verb) our way along almost straight roads through wetlands for miles. It was much more personal than the speedy swerves that happen on the interstates. I could read the bumper sticker of the car in front of me, who was from Asheville, NC, and was a "Crone Power" woman. When I finally passed her later on the interstate, I was sad that she wasn't anyone I knew (since I know a lot of women of power in Black Mountain and Asheville (which is 15 miles away.)

Then the TV in the motel room cut out...no cable service.  Drat. What else shall I do? Well, there's still the library books I'm reading on line. As well as movies on Netflix.  So before I'm bored, I shall have some entertainment. And get to sleep early for an early start to beat some of the traffic in the morning.

Second day (Tues.) was the opposite of Monday. Serri took me through north Florida after I zipped through Georgia...and I was in Tampa in plenty of time for a nap before my son got home from work. My grandson (who lives with him) was home earlier, and I chatted with him while he wrapped packages.

That night the 3 of us went to St. Petersburg and indulged in a fabulous feast put together by my son's wife, Barbara.

We opened some presents while waiting for dessert...a good pause for digestion!