| Asheville, NC |
Spent time in four states today; the last of which was the most consequential as I partook in about 100 miles of one the best scenic drives in this Land of the Free.
But before we get to that, let’s not bury the headline.
Whether you’re well traveled, barely traveled, or somewhere in between, there’s a truism you should be able to attest to – and that’s that we’ve managed to make an awful lot of our highways look really darn similar.
Now, I’m not talking about the highways themselves (duh), but rather, the stunning lack of variety alongside.
Chain restaurants and stores.
(There’s a chance that I’m about to veer into ‘Old man yells at cloud’ territory here, so be forewarned)
Drive down any well traveled highway in America and you’re signing up for a sea of sameness. KFC, McDonald’s, Arby’s. Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, and Target. Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!
Sure, there’s some regionalization in there; for example, Chick-Fil-A is apparently huge down here (That’s for you Shannon). But for the most part, it is what it is. And what it is, it’s not.
I know it’s what the people want and I understand that the days of mom and pop stores are long, long gone but all in all it’s still kind of sad. We’ve homogenized our ‘culinary’ and shopping experiences to the point that the only variation seems to be burger or chicken and if you’re going to Chick-Fil-A even that choice has already been made for you. Sigh.
Now if you’re still with me, let’s talk finally talk about the header.
I drove through West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina today and noticed a few Baptist churches. And then I noticed a few more. And then a few more. And I stopped counting at 65. For real.
So, I am in the Bible Belt and it makes sense that there’d be a lot of churches in such a belt. But I drove through towns that were barely a town at all. Towns in which the majority of houses were seemingly kept upright by termites holding hands and seemingly all of them had at least one Baptist church. And the majority had more.
And are churches really all that different than chain stores? I mean, the product is…
On second thought, end scene.
Let’s talk about something far less divisive. The Blue Ridge Parkway!
I’ve driven the parkway twice. Each time in April; well before nature has been able to fully shake off the winter. Before the trees have leaves and a good two months before the ever-present Rhododendrons have (presumably) exploded into a blinding firework-like display of pinks and reds and purples.
And yet, I’m still amazed.
I’m amazed that in this land of 325+ million people, I can climb a ridge, lay down on a rock and look out for what must be 100 miles or more and see almost nothing.
Nothing that is, but mountain after mountain after apparent endless mountain. Literally as far as the eye can see.
I hiked the Rough Ridge trail and at the top were some enormous flat boulders, so I climbed up one rather precarious looking one, laid down in the sun and closed my eyes.
But for the faint sound of a car on the parkway below, or another set of hikers on the trail, it was silent. And peaceful.
I probably laid there for 15-20 minutes in total, occasionally opening my eyes to gaze off in the distance at nature’s masterpiece before me, before a couple of kids eventually made their way up to my perch.
The boy and girl were young; maybe 17, if that, and seemed like they were together, but only newly so. Kind of that awkward stage when you’re young and have somehow convinced a member of the opposite sex that you might be worth spending some time with – and now find yourself accidentally in a romantic place – and you’re not sure what to do with it.
I volunteered to take their picture and asked them to do the same for me – and then I decided to leave them alone. Maybe they figured it out.
Who knows, maybe that will be the start of something special for them, even if they don’t realize it today. Maybe they wind up telling tales years from now about their adventures on the parkway. Time will tell.
I had about 100 miles to go to get to Asheville, and took my time getting there. The parkway has plenty of scenic vistas along the way in which you can stop, take a break and gaze off into the distance.
In between slaloming up and down the peaks and valleys, I took advantage of a few of those, took some pics, ate lunch and burned the daylight.
I was in a contemplative mood and had plenty of time to do that, so for the majority of the drive I shut off the radio, opened the sunroof and let go.
Or let go as much as you reasonably can that is. Let go too much and you’ll let go forever when you go hurtling off the road and into oblivion.
The parkway is after all a bit of a roller-coaster and those afraid of heights or those with weak stomachs may have a bit of a tough time zooming up and down at 40 miles or so and hour.
But oh is it so worth it.
Tomorrow it’s Asheville, lunch with my long-lost friend George and then on to the Smokies.
Note: I’m going to get some picture galleries up soon. Waiting for a rainy day for that.
The Long Road 