There's No Place Like Home Toto Part I
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Agatha, like most dogs, enjoys a road trip, but as we are driving southbound on Interstate 77 headed to Charleston SC in search of a bit of genuine sunshine, I begin to wonder if perhaps she wouldn’t rather have skipped this particular trip and stayed in the comfort of her own home.
We start out innocently enough as we wind our way through picturesque farmland and contented cows grazing peacefully along the road. The miles pass and the slow climb through the heights begins. As we begin to thread our way through the Appalachian mountains, my better half decides that we needed to “make better time” and I watch with increasing alarm as we begin racing down through the steeply curved roads of the first high elevations. Ever the backseat driver, I keep a fevered eye on the speedometer as we make the steep climb up the aptly named Big Walker Mountain.
(I was overjoyed at the summit to read a small sign proclaiming we were at 3405 feet elevation).
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This picture was not taken from an airplane.
(Anyone else see The Long Long Trailer?)
John in typical fearless husband fashion rockets blissfully over the top of the first mountain and we begin our descent.
As we hurtle down the steeply curved interstate I try to enjoy the view that’s unfortunately liberally sprinkled with alarming warnings of dangers on the road ahead.
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My glazed eyes see the speedometer hovering near 80 mph, my darling husband is singing happily along with an old favorite “Ghost Riders In The Sky”. He reaches the line “their horns were all on fire and their hot breath I could feel” while I peruse YouTube videos of recent spectacular automobile mountain crashes in the vicinity.
(To say I’m not having a relaxing journey would be a vast understatement).
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We race down Big Walker Mountain, an aptly named behemoth that is peppered with these charming scenes, the need of which I try not to entertain at any great length.
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Agatha overhears several rather heated exchanges about speedometer readings.
John tells me to put the iPad away.
As they say, all’s well that ends well, and we eventually make it through the heights none the worse for wear to reach our halfway point and to what we were hoping was a good night’s rest. Pulling off the exit and peering through the fog and dimly lit signs pointing to our hotel destination, I had an uneasy feeling our adventure was just about to begin…
That my dear readers is for the next blog post and indeed is just the beginning of this three-part doggie tale!
Agatha of Agatha's Apothecary