Back in Familiar Territory

It feels good to be back in more permanent lodging with the ability to ramble around more familiar territory. The routes are all basically the same, and I've largely confined myself to about a ten mile square box for the most part. In fact, most of my rambling probably happens less than two or three miles from home. That's why you all get to see completely contemporary photos that are almost impossible to distinguish from the ones of the same scene taken a week or so ago like this one.

College Creek from today

I'm sure that placed side by side, the last College Creek photo taken from this same bridge would exhibit enough differences to be able to distinguish them from each other, but when I saw this photo I was immediately struck by the similarity to the last one.  To let you compare for yourself, here is the one from about ten or twelve days ago.

College Creek two weeks ago

There you have it. I'm back in familiar territory and covering familiar ground. I do like the fact that the photo from today exhibits a bit more warmth, and that is in keeping with the weather today compared to the last one. It's pretty amazing how the colors are so different when the temperature changes with the light of the sun.

I also managed to capture the almost required view of the sun near the horizon.

Severn River Sunrise

As the sun poked its face over the horizon behind the east bank of the Severn River, I finally encountered the flock of Canada geese that I've been waiting to see this winter. I have not seen the geese in the numbers that I did last year, and I attribute this apparent anomaly to the relatively warm fall and early winter weather. This is the largest gathering that I've seen to date, and I'm left to wonder if they are not the harbinger of some much cooler weather riding the great arctic zephyr out of the north.  We shall see.

Lest  you feel sorry for me in all my sameness, I did see another sort of flock out on the water today that was a bit of a change of pace.

Stand-up Paddleboarders on Spa Creek

This hardy flock of stand-up paddleboarders were clipping along the surface of Spa Creek earlier today. They were really leaning into their paddles and gave every indication that they were pursuing not just good exercise but a race of some sort. Like the geese, this is the largest single flock of this particular species of homo sapiens that I've seen in one location. Perhaps they too were getting in their last strokes before the blowing mist at the front of some 20 degree air drives them from the scene.

It's good to be back.

Airport Boogaloo

Today found me sitting in an airport waiting to catch the freedom bird from where I was to where I was going.

Mobile Regional Airport

It was a pretty lonely tarmac when I left, and it was raining at my final destination. For reasons that I don't understand this struck me as a little sad, and I fell into a it of a melancholy state of mind. I did get a chance to walk and to read.  

The walking is pretty routine at this stage, but reading has become an increasingly rare luxury.  I got about halfway through The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (warning...plot spoilers). It's a book about a long walk that touches on a number of themes that have a personal familiarity that are a little unnerving. It's been a great read so far, and I'm grateful to have been introduced to it. I'm also grateful that at least I know someone else can imagine some of the things that I believe I've experienced out there on the trail.

If you're thinking about walking distances, I recommend this book because it captures what I've come to believe may be some of the more universal aspects of walking for a semi-spiritual reason. On the other hand you could just strap on some shoes and see what materializes. It's probably better to read a little and do a little because neither one of those activities will be entirely whole without the other.

Running on Empty

Rory Conlan likes to advise folks that they would be well served if they run on the top half of their tank of gas and the bottom half of their bladder. This is sound advice, and for some reason this week, I've been mostly heeding the second half of that wisdom and must have been largely ignoring the first of it.

I'm tired. No picture this evening, and my pedestrian contribution today has been less than stunning. Both my writing and walking have been sufficient to provide the barest of maintenance to the daily practice. Sometimes good enough just has to be good enough.

I'll be back up in the air again tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to whatever comes.

P.S. - Pretty sure I wasn't one of the three winners of yesterday's lottery jackpot.

Gratitude Wednesday

I am grateful for my mobility. My feet take me to interesting places, and because of that motive force I learn interesting things. Today, I was walking past the United States Sports Academy listening to a streaming podcast of a woman describing how her recovery from a terrible car vs. jogger accident was greatly enabled by her neighbors in a nursing home filled with older people who walked her through a long and arduous recovery using their advantages of wisdom and time. Being ambulatory is a great blessing.

Bicyclist Sculpture at the United States Sports Academy in Daphne, AL

I am grateful that my sense of wonder and my ability to dream of adventure has not been stamped out by the more mundane aspects of life. I talked to a guy today whose fiance told me that he was truly interested in space travel and being an engineer with NASA. I approached him about applying for the Astronaut Candidate Program, and based on his reaction I'm pretty sure he is not going to apply. I don't really understand why someone would react that way. There really is no downside to throwing your hat in the ring. I intend to do so because I know that I'll always regret not trying when the opportunity presented itself. On the off chance of being selected, I have a hard time believing that getting on top of a rocket and heading off the planet would not be just about the most exciting proposition possible...a real adventure.

I'm grateful for the people around me. Over the last three years or so, I've become increasingly aware of just how special the people that pop into and out of my life really add value to the days that make up the time I spend on earth. Each person has a unique and interesting story to tell. They are more dear than money or material things, and usually they have a way of helping me escape from the prison of my own personality.

Today was another great day, and I look forward to what tomorrow has planned (if anything) for me.

Interstate Travel

Early this morning, I watched the sun rise over the great state of Alabama as they awakened to the first full day of being the College Football National Champions.

Spanish Fort, AL Sunrise

After work today, I made a quick trip to the great state of Florida for the opportunity to participate in tomorrow's $1.5B (annuity value) Powerball multi-state lottery drawing. It was about a 38 mile trip one way, and the odds of winning are vanishingly small but for that kind of upside I'm willing to invest a little time and money.

Pavement Logo at the Florida Welcome Center on I-10E just over the Alabama-Florida State Line

It was a good little jaunt, and I even took a quick moment to swing through the Florida Welcome Center that was sporting a Blue Angel Jet static display, a life size dolphin statue, and this (trademarked) sidewalk logo.

I ended the meeting watching the 2016 State of the Union address given by President Barack Obama. He is exceptionally talented at delivering soaring rhetoric, and his presentation was a stirring look toward the future. I wish he had gone a little further in his call to big action on a number of fronts. I believe that the nation is primed and ready to tackle a major project. My choice would be a return to the Moon and on to Mars, but there are a number of efforts that are begging for national (and even international) investment.

Roll Tide

As I write this, I'm watching the 2015-2016 College Football National Championship game unfold on television. Given my location, it goes without saying that I'm pulling for the Alabama Crimson Tide finishes out the last five minutes of the game with their lead intact. Currently, they're leading 38-27.

In addition to the fact that I'm watching television, an unusual event over the last several months, I also went out to dinner with the folks from work. I had a good cajun meal at Boudreaux's Cajun Grill in Daphne, AL, and the company was a refreshing change from my usual monastic walking existence.

Both of these events have been a welcome change to what has become my habitual routine.

Sunrise over Spanish Fort, AL

After all, life can't be all about sunsets, sunrises, and water views. With a little bit of work and sequencing, I actually managed to get in my daily practice as well as an hour of television and a social dinner.

Another great day in the books, some of my more recent routines have been challenged, and I'm well placed to enjoy whatever tomorrow might reveal.

The Benefits of Air Travel

I found myself on the road again for work. More accurately, I took to the air and in a surprisingly short period of time covered over 1800 miles on my way to lower latitudes. Although a bit on the pricey side, airports are one of those places where you are easily able to access anything that your heart might desire.  They really have become highly functional as well as artistic facilities. Those features are all on the public facing side of an incredibly complex and effective logistics enterprise that moves thousands of people and thousands of tons of cargo across the country (and the world) quickly and efficiently everyday.

Sunrise at Charlotte International Airport

Part way to my final destination, I found myself back in the land of what one of my friends calls the "Panther Plane" for obvious reasons.

Vertical Stabilizer of the "Panther Plane"

I also stumbled across this blast from what I assumed was the long forgotten past of a different sort of air travel.

Piedmont Airlines Offices

I always assumed that Piedmont Airlines was one of those regional carriers that had vanished into the mists of time.  There were some major changes after they merged with US Air in 1989, and here is some of Piedmont's earlier history. It turns out that they are still operating under the American Airlines group, and their headquarters is still in Salisbury, MD.  Charlotte International Airport is one of their principle hubs.  I do like their logo.

Arriving in my final destination for the day, I slowed down my pace quite a bit, and I put in just over eleven miles on the ground. As sometimes happens, I really wasn't too very thrilled about the prospect of that kind of distance after a day of travel, but when I got to about the halfway point, my outlook had shifted, and I was glad to be out on the trial.

Statue of the goddess Daphne in front
of the Daphne, AL City Hall

This statue is one of my favorite vistas along the thirty two mile long Eastern Shore Trail that runs from Spanish Fort, AL to south of Fairhope, AL. It is especially striking at sunset, and I caught it at just the right hour this evening. That was a fortunate piece of good luck and entirely spontaneous. It's a lesson for me that good things will happen if I'm willing to put in the work.

US Fish and Wildlife Service Regional Office in Daphne, AL

This was my turnaround point this evening about 5.7 miles into the walk. Overall, it was a productive and fulfilling day in the air and out on the trail.