The World According To George

Road Trip

I’ve always enjoyed driving around on the roads ‘Between the Lakes.’ Back in the good old days, it was ‘Between the Rivers.’ You had the mighty Cumberland River and Stones River. There were not as many roads then and most of them were gravel, at best.

I was not the only one on the roads. My high school friends (let’s just call them Wilber and Bob) and I couldn’t stand sitting around the house watching the three channels on TV. (Except one time I saw the Beatles live on The Ed Sullivan Show on NBC, back in 1964. They were this new Rock & Roll musical group from England. Most young people liked it, most older people thought it was awful and didn’t like their long hair. After that, I was the first student at Mt. Juliet High School with a Beatle hair cut and Beatle boots. I looked ready for hitting the road.)

I had a 1954 Chevy, Wilber had a 1957 Ford and Bob had a 1956 Chevy (black & gold/MJHS). Between the three of us, we would take to the hills and hollers of our community. I didn’t have the most powerful muscle car, but I knew how to drive it. Sometimes, we would be a little competitive and, next thing you know, we were sliding around those old roads sideways, throwing gravel in the ditch. What a time!

Most of the roads are paved now. They still wind around the hills, hollers, and streams through some of the most beautiful scenery you might imagine and this time of year we are blessed with the magic of fall when the trees change to awesome gold, orange and red.
The problem with most people today is that they are in a big hurry. Gotta get to work, school, the grocery store or wherever else they have to go. If you are taking the time to read this article, I challenge you to take some time and go out into this wonderful countryside we live in with your spouse, kids, grandkids, or just friends. Slow down a bit so that you don’t miss everything and you might see some of the scenery within minutes of where you live. Don’t take the highway or the short cut…take the long way on roads that you may not have ever traveled on.
I think that if you do this once, you might find time to do it again. Relax, spend some time with the family. Turn off the cell phones and video games. What you might find will be a great experience. There’s a lot of wildlife out there like deer, groundhogs, turkeys and even a fox or two. Today, I saw cows, possums, and chickens in the road. See how many different things you can see. You might be surprised.
It’s cooling off. Time for a road trip. Pack a lunch, then go to a park for a picnic. Life is short, so relax and enjoy it. Make hay while the sun shines.