Appalachian Dreams
April 22nd, 10:30—In seven days from this moment I'll be sipping coffee in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains, and enjoying a much deserved break from the Chaos of the North. In 14 days from this moment we will be putting the finishing touches on my dear Sister's wedding, and organic family-made efforts one year in the making. We're binding two branches of a family tree together as one.
The expansion of the Great Lakes Metropolitan region is happening at an alarming rate. Entire villages that comprised of nothing more than a few family farms during my childhood, now are same location of some several hundred homes, all stacked on top each other and priced at about three-quarters of a million dollars. It's a far cry from the environment we have grown up, but with progress that favors of more people per square inch, the family farms and tight-knit communities need to get kicked to the curb. It's easier for this younger generation to stay 'tight-knit' by their electric-powered devices by way of whatever social media platform is popular at the time. They don't need to actually see these people with their eyes or hear them with their ears, or touch them with their hands. No need for sustained eye contact, no handshakes, none of it. But I'm falling away from my point. The point is I'm very delighted to escape to a place in our fine country that very much represents those values that are not important Up North anymore.
The drive to our destination is just under 12 1/2 hours. Who drives that far!? Anyone from the Midwest, without a second guess. It's in our nature. We plan to leave in the middle of the night as to beat Chicago rushhour traffic before the wealth of Chicago's citizens are awake and on the road. The most uneventful leg of the trip is hitting Indiana, because the route I typically take, requires me to essentially go through the state on a forty five degree angle, maximizing my time spent on flat farmland landscapes that stretch for hours. This approach to travel is rewarded, because depending on the timing, as the sun starts to rise and the world starts to wake up, you start to increase your altitude into the mountainous regions of the South. Everything from this area of the country screams with life and history. It embodies a culture that I often say does not exist Up North anymore. We like to "put things on display" for others to admire up north, whereas down south it seems much more like people are just being their authentic selves and that being on display to an outsider Midwest denizen like myself is in itself admirable.
I can't wait for this adventure to begin.
Related: Coldplay - Such a Rush
DISCLAIMER: There may be grammatical and or spelling erors in this post. Most editing processes have been tossed out the window in the face of AI, to prove our humanity.