If I am repaired, can we meet again for the first time, in all of the places I have feared to go, and then, again, in all of the places I will have forgotten, if I am repaired?




SC




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Here is the desk drawer in which all of my odds and ends are kept, tidbits that would otherwise never see the light of day.











Friday, November 30, 2012

The Big Trip, Part One



Sunday morning, the eleventh of November, I left the frost-nipped tranquility of my little Tennessee farm for sunny Southern California, land of my birth.

Plans for this prodigal return were set in motion way back in June, by my brother and I. It began as a semi-simple, super-secret Thanksgiving Day surprise, geared mostly toward my mother. But by the time the leaves had turned, our scheme encompassed Mom’s birthday as well, on the sixteenth, a celebration I haven’t been present at since ‘96. Eighteen days total. The most time I have ever voluntarily stepped away from home and work.

I rented a vehicle. Something foreign, comfy and dependable. Dixie rode shotgun. She navigated and poured coffee and stuff. I held the wheel. We drove I-40, the straighter and wider and smoother version of the legendary Route 66. You see a lot of the old highway, snaking along beside its titanic successor, a worn out frontage road. I can’t imagine ever getting any kicks on Route 66. It looks like a real bitch to drive.

4 comments:

  1. It's always good to go home, I hope your trip was a lovely one.
    I can imagine the smile on your mum's face :)
    ~Jo

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  2. Was it Culture shock now that you've been gone for a long time?

    Your image of the fence and the frosty field... stunning! would have been a good lure back. Glad you have a trusty navigator, cause that's a long drive!

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  3. Steven, Hey that is where you have been hiding...
    I am glad you went home especially to see your mom. My reason for saying this is because a friend of mine just buried his mother yesterday. He did not have a great relationship with her at all and didn't talk much to her, but for some reason he talk to her last Monday only for her to die a couple days later from a freak accident.
    Cherish what time you can with family.

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  4. Back in it's day, Route 66 was the shiznits!!

    I especially love the restored area of Route 66 there around Tucamcari, NM...

    Sometimes, one just gets pulled that way...

    I need to go back...

    ~shoes~

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