Page 107 - USA ROAD TRIP SUMMER of 2000

We left before dawn and headed for I-75. There was not too much

fog so we made good time until 30 miles north of Atlanta. From
there until below Valdosta, it poured: buckets and slashing sheets

of rain. Driving through Atlanta is hair raising enough but that was

intolerable.

As we passed over the Florida border, the trip meter turned to
9000 miles.

Lois was able to finish our last book, Richard Davids’ The Man

Who Moved a Mountain. It’s a thin book telling of the life of a

man raised in the Blue Ridge who is called to the cloth. The tales
of his own upbringing in the “hollers” and of those local folks he

ministers to were heartwarming, at times hilarious, and richly
told. We were particularly taken with the story as we had just

passed through that area and had seen the cabin of the midwife
who had delivered him and one of the many stone churches that

he inspired the congregations to build with their own hands. The
midwife, who lived to be over 100, delivered more than 1000

babies. She had 24 of her own but not one lived to see his/her
first birthday.

The deluge began again as we swung onto I-10 for the last portion
of our journey. It had been raining at this very place when we had

passed it as we began our odyssey. We considered it a sign that
nature was closing the circle on our trip. It was the end of our

summer’s journey of adventure. The ending of the book was
moving.

The skies wept.

Not alone.

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