10

At three o' clock today I decided that I wanted to leave the city and go some place new. I left at four and headed South toward Redwine, Georgia. When I got to Redwine I kept on going til I reached Dunaway Gardens, Georgia. I pulled over at a gas station and talked to this crazy grizzly old man in a camoflouge truck who kept saying "Nice scoot man, nice scoot." I asked him what would happen if I kept on trucking down Hwy 70 and he told me I'd run into Newnan and some pretty houses where people get married out on the front lawn. He asked me if I was heading somewhere for a wedding and I told him that it was something like that, we both nodded, and I continued south.

I took mostly snapshots of the historic part of the city and didn't mind anything at all, not even the heat. I was thinking about the ride up and how it was just me and how I was alone and how I could keep going if I wanted to and stay in a hotel for the night and continue traveling in the morning. I wandered around for blocks letting my mind relax away from Atlanta and away from some thoughts I needed leave from.

I was afraid to keep going though, I thought it best to just turn around and go home. I was frustrated at myself for wanting to go back because I knew there was no one waiting for me or nothing there that I was excited about coming home to...well, one thing - but not until Sunday. So why am I going home? I guess for comfort. I am proud that I did what I did today even though it sounds like next to nothing. It just meant something to me. As I ran around a church chasing the sun I heard no voices or cars, it was quiet. I was alone and I was okay.

Heading north on the return trip I had the sunset to my back and I watched it go down in the mirror as I drove home. I sang a Bert Jansch tune in my head and honked at every cow, horse, or mule I saw.

I'm home now...home. It's like nothing changed, like I was never gone. Time did not jump ahead five years because I was gone five hours. Nor did five hours change into five days. Time is irrelevant when you are figuring out your heart. I am okay with most things now and I am happy and I am going to end this hoping the pictures to come will do the trip better justice.