Cat Creek Fever
04/18/24
Day 290, Last of the Eastern frontier, 1999 miles to date.
This past week I took a couple of days off trail and traveled to The Fox to hear the comedic writer David Sedaris deliver his brand of hilarity. (btw, if you’ve never heard his telling of the brief stint he spent employed as a Christmas elf at Macy’s, in an essay called -The Santa Land Diaries-, you’ve missed one of those laughs that leaves you wanting the after “workout” cigarette). It turns out this well known writer and I are kindred spirits, in that we share a passion; Walking. I learned from a radio interview with Sedaris, when in his own environs, he’s oft armed with a trash picker and a sack. I was gratified I wasn’t alone in this peculiar appearing activity. At the after-show signing, I was hoping for an inscription on that topic in the book jacket, but the line of autograph seekers stretched all the way south to McDonough (which may explain that perpetual traffic jam). Maybe I’ll try to get that inscription the old fashioned way.
Anyone who may’ve read my posting a few weeks back , “Help Me Obi Wan Kenobe”, it seems having planted that message inside a confederate droid (a dear friend I’ll call Ty-2/D-Rone) was an effective tactic. Finally in Skywalker hands, the dispatch was conveyed to a retired Jedi with authority to spirit me onto Alderon (AKA, Moody AFB). Plans are cookin’. I’ll update in a future communique.
Speaking of the future, I’ve become increasingly aware that all journeys come to an end…eventually. If it doesn’t, you’re a Deity; Or in need of a 12 step program. (Its all bout walking…seewomsayin). I just faintly can read the words “See Rock City” on a barn roof situated at the end of my WalkAroundLowndes path, up ahead. Barring a pitfall (or pothole fall), I should arrive at that barn by the end of May. I will miss the trail. One such “pothole” I fell into since adding State Highways to my trek, I didn’t see coming. The fact is, most state HiWays and many county Collector roads aren’t meant for walking. Yes, I intuited that, but didn’t know why. And now I do: They don’t have shoulders. Automotive traffic, technically speaking, is supposed to yield to pedestrian (and non motorized) traffic. But, drivers disagree and playing chicken with two tons at 60 mph, to teach ROW etiquette would be a lesson I could deliver only one time, to one driver. So in the spirit of survival, I yield to the oncoming by stepping off pavement and walking on a very steep roadbed grade and this is the “pothole” that’s levied a hidden road tax. Walking the uneven slope causes the gluteumas to complain maximally. Thats how this part got its name. (Aren’t linguistics fun). The message travels up the Sciatic highway and delivers the news. And the news is, that when I return to level walking, my limp gland starts acting up, forcing me into a gait like Chester’s, on Gun Smoke. (Clearly Chester suffered the same plight from avoiding horse drawn wagons). I suspect the problem has plagued mankind since the Romans began building roads. So this, we’ll call it, the Chester Effect (not to be confused with the “Blubber Math”, or “Pie-Hole Matrix” from earlier posts) could result in a delayed ETA for me, just as it has for mankind for eons.
The title of this post refers to one more pleasant encounter I experienced with another of my Lowndes brethren. A few days prior, I encountered an antique edifice on Cat Creek Road. It’s one of the finest primitive architectural examples from a couple of clicks back on the century dial, thats still standing. As you’re aware, I’ve seen every far flung Collector road (and many Local roads) in the county, at 3 mph and have some grasp of what’s out there for comparison. (I included this house on my picture map if interested). There’s a couple of tomb stones out in front of it which rendered my curiosity uncontrollable. So, I went & fetched the wife. Why, you ask? While there, the owner of the old home place rolled up. Uh Oh. Hat in hand, I apologized for the trespass and blamed it all on my sweet bride, and he agreed not to call the constable (The ploy still works). It turns out the owner is a favored son of Lowndes County who knew my clan warmly and well for most of his 90+ years. It was Mr. Earnest McDonald who ran a landscaping business here for decades and whose roots go down 6 generations deep into our ancestral soil. Elder McDonald agreed to tell about the farm: He related how the homestead property was granted to his great (x3) grandfather for his revolutionary war service. His son, great grandfather (x2), built the house in ~1875. Some period features include hand hewn logs with waddle & dob chinking, mortise and tenon joinery, an open center dog trot, and enormous cypress stump piers upon which the joists rest. I noted in my picture post that if the structure was not on the historic registry, it damn well aught to be. I sincerely hope it doesn’t fall to neglect and ultimately the wrecking ball like Valdosta’s Liberty Theater and the antebellum mansions of” “millionaires row” on Patterson Street.
And so, when G. Maximus Cesar decrees it time to head back out on the road again, I’ll set to conquering the North-West territory, before traipsing down I-75 from Cook county to US 84. After that, the Mystic Portal awaits.
Lets go for a walk.
Quote of the week: Geoff Nicholson – The Lost Art of Walking.
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao -tzu, Chinese Taoist sage.
“With most journeys, and especially the metaphoric sort, it’s extremely difficult to decide where and when that first step occurs. We’re already in motion before we know where we’re going, before we realize we’re on a journey at all”.