2021 Western Oddysey: ...and back again! 1/3

"Roads go ever ever on under cloud and under star, Yet feet that wandering have gone turn at last to home afar."

- J.R.R. Tolkien

//UNDER CONSTRUCTION//

We had visions of rising early this last day of a grand adventure and taking leisurely stops through Mississippi and Alabama as we made our way the final 351 miles of xxxx miles driven through ten states getting there and eight states coming home. It was a fine, if cold morning. But the bed was warm and "free" --- Comfort Inn rewarded our loyal use of their facilities in 10 other locations by a complimentary eleventh night. So we didn't leave the hotel till a little after eleven this morning. 

I haven't much experience with horses, but once in my teen years I took a trail ride at a tourist trap in the Georgia or North Carolina mountains. I remember that the old nag that I rode plodded slowly along with the other horses on first half of the one or two mile loop trail. But once the trail turned toward the horse's stable I had to hang on for dear life. Today as the remaining miles dwindled, we were less and less interested in further adventures. We wanted home and hearth. 

So we stopped for food andr restroom breaks. We stopped for coffee and fuel. And we drove. Pedal to the metal.

How delicious to cruise again through our lush Eastern Woodlands. Even if the maples, oaks, hickories, sweetgums, and dogwoods are only skeletons of their spring, summer, and fall splendor, leaf-fall has revealed stark beauty in their winter boles and branches and uncovered the landforms that underlie tem. And the ever green of Longleaf and Loblolly, Magnolia and Redcedar, take the opportunity to upstage leafless cohorts. We are in home country.

We did stop at the Alabama Welcome Center on Interstate Highway 59. Sheila stayed in the car -- it was cold -- but I needed a restroom break

Our long drive across the country gave me the opportunity to hear Jim Dale read the first three books (and 13 chapters of the fourth) in the Harry Potter series of novels by J.K. Rowling. I and my wife and daughters have so enjoyed reading Rowling's books and watching the movies that they inspired. Sheila bought the audio version of the books several years ago and has raved about Jim Dale's narration; her assessment is correct. Jim Dale's reading of Rowling's words is close to perfection of the art. He gives convincing and riveting voice to hundreds of characters. The time passed more quickly and I was less sleepy and definitely less bored during long miles on his account. Here's a link to an interview with Jim Dale. He expresses awfully well my own approach to storytelling, acting, and narration.

When we got to Birmingham we began to notice snow plastered onto one side of each tree limb, some roofs, and here and there on lawns and hillsides. By the time we were a few miles north of Birmingham the hills had significant snow and some of the trees looked Christmas card worthy. But except for the occasional shower of snow thrown from a car's roof or trunklid, the roads were perfectly clear.

When we pulled to the main intersection on in Leesburg I was in familiar territory. How many times in the last fifty years have I turned toward Collinsville from the opposite direction? And there's Weiss Lake with water collected from throughout the upper Coosa watershed, including my backyard. And there's the turnoff to Little River Canyon and we're back (in reverse you might say) on our beginning path of six weeks ago. Then milepost zero and our home state -- though the REAL "zero milepost" of this trip would be the Magnolia tree at our house another dozen miles east.