Just ran into a wonderful article which I'd shared a year ago on FB...Here's the whole thing. I'm grabbing the photos for this blog, and certainly recommend reading it.
Many of my ancestors moved about through the centuries...like most of us. And when there weren't yet roads, there were tracks...which later were worked on to be wide enough for wagons...and thus settlers could go to "frontiers." The quotes on that word is due to the fact that all of that land was occupied already by Native Americans, so it was just a frontier for the European settlers.
From whom I'm descended
"Ramblin’ Man: From Wagon Trail to Interstate
"Getting from here to there in North Carolina has always depended on safe roads — for man and beast."
.
And...
On Asheville's Urban Trail are statues of pigs (here) and turkeys (in background)...both of which were part of the drovers trade from Tennessee to at least Greenville SC, possibly as far as Charlotte.
And a Post Script....on Friday I tucked my little car into the side of a slightly bigger car, because a much bigger black car had blocked my view of the one I hit. Since my front bumper was riding on the tire, it was towed away. Thus I am now without transportation, and have been calling around to find out how and if I can get the little 2004 Toyota fixed. Apparently it's also up to the insurance adjuster...who probably won't come right away.
Incidentally the other driver was also ok. She was Hispanic and speaking on a phone with an earbud constantly even when police and EMT's were there. I felt really bad to have interrupted her life by running into her.
You have no idea how helpless I feel about car things...so I called who I usually had do my mechanical work...who referred me to a body place that doesn't have any openings till Dec...and I'd have to have it towed to them to just get an estimate...and on and on. Talking to mechanics, body shops, and my friends of male persuasion, well just one, who hasn't ever had an accident...I'm left sitting here feeling pretty darn helpless.
The air conditioning probably caused the fluid you see under the car.
Fortunately I have access to free transportation around my little town on Mountain Mobility, a small van which goes by my apartments 3 times a morning and 3 times an afternoon.
And I have friends willing to help me out...either to get where I need to go, or to bring me things. The one thing they can't fix is my brain, which goes over and over the moment of impact and all the things said and done right afterwards. I have called my Dr. office, but they are closed till Mon. and they only want to help with pain in my right arm, which was bruised as I was shifting gears. Sleep aids may be necessary tonight!
Today's quote:
No one else sees the world the way you do, so no one else can tell the stories that you have to tell.
-Charles de Lint, writer (b. 22 Dec 1951)