With impending foul weather bearing down on us, it was time to depart our fowl feast, bid Arthur farewell, mount up and head out… Generally eastward, but a stop first in Jackson, MS, to check out a motel that might serve our purposes on future chicken runs… Ummm, perhaps I should say ‘rides’, since ‘runs’ can have an unsavory connotation when discussing dining events… Anyway…
We naturally chose backroads, and a purposefully circuitous route, since the most direct route would be relatively short, and it appeared we would have at least a little time to spare before the rain and cold found us again…
After Jackson, and a satisfactory evening at that motel, we made our way generally eastward, with a biased angle southward! I was thinking we might avoid the worst of what would lay ahead down in southeastern Georgia, so that was the most recent game plan… subject to change, of course…
A cool but not cold day, overcast and dreary, but you wouldn’t know that by my mood! Nope, I was quite happy to be out doing what we do, traffic was light, I had sufficient clothing on, and all was well with the cosmos… I later found myself in need to a potty break, so right on que, a convenience store/gas station appeared, and… I pulled right in, dismounted and scanned the setting… First thing I noticed was an…
Inviting bench... probably not a nap opportunity, though...
I went inside, but no hot chocolate, and the coffee pot was empty and turned off… The owner cheerfully offered to make some, however, and he proceeded to do just that, while I addressed the primary reason for this stop. Another family had wandered in during this time, and a ‘group chat’ had followed, with yours truly being drawn in… We then worked our way outside, and I just…
Had to give that bench a try!
The family turned out to be most friendly, and talkative! We had a delightful time carrying on about this and that… The dad then took my picture, and I took one of him…
My photography assistant... Rick Seviere.
They departed after a while, and the store owner came out to chat for a spell. I was enjoying that bench and the conversations so much, much time passed, as it often does, but who cares? No schedule or itinerary, so no sweat! Business was slow then, to the point I was the only patron at the moment… and he was interested in my travels… and in ALI.
“Welcome to Road Kill, Mississippi,” he had said to me at one point! I don’t’ know if that’s really the name of that wide spot in the road or not, but it sounded so cool, I didn’t bother to verify… it just sounded too good, and that’s the way I wanted to remember it… He was an interesting guy, it turned out, middle aged by the look of him, but he has been around quite a bit… quite a bit indeed!
Born in Louisiana, his family had moved to this area while he was still a kid. He’d spent much of his adult life working in the ‘oil patch’, mostly offshore, like so many folks down in this neck of the woods. He’d also been overseas, including the far east, Africa, and South America. He’d eventually returned to ‘Road Kill’, though, bought that store, and settled down… Among the many interesting things he said during our chat was that Americans who complain don’t have a clue as to how life can be… and is for most folks throughout the world!
Time to wander on, so with Road Kill in ALI’s mirrors, we meandered on down the two-lane road to… somewhere… No destination in mind, just wherever we could find a decent motel, a hot meal… and perhaps a character or two to discuss meaningful stuff with… See, I don’t ask for much! By the way, ALI was really strutting her stuff and in fine form! Hard to imagine how old she is and how many miles are on her clock, yet she still purrs like a kitten and scoots right on down the road!!!
An uneventful night in Greenville, AL, then it was back at it over into Georgia, and some roads previously ridden, but not recently… then, a swing over into South Carolina. One more night out in Eufaula, AL, even a long cut to add a few more miles to the ‘clock’ then time to hunker down at home… doggone weather just will not allow for my kind of ride… If I was going to have to hunker down for several days, it might as well be in that danged ol’ recliner of mine…
I got home on a Sunday evening… At 5:30am the following morning, my phone rang! Let me back up just a bit… During my most recent journey, I had a call from a surgeon that my cousin/brother was being taken into the operating room for surgery! He’s been suffering from chronic digestive system issues for a couple of decades, but a lasting remedy had so far eluded his medical providers… Well, they discovered that he now had three holes in his colon, so they were going to remove it! I was the first person on the call list who had answered when notification of family was being made.
He had complained to his girl friend the evening before, and he had decided he needed for her to take him to the hospital… again… That’s when the decision to operate had been made. I began to make plans to head up there… I changed those plans when I learned his brother and sister-in-law were on their way there, and I didn’t want to get in the way… Truth be told, I didn’t really want to be cooped up with that duo for any length of time. I later chatted with Nick via phone, and he completely understood!
He was eventually transferred to a rehab facility, and it appeared he was on the slow, long road to recovery. Then, I arrived home, and received that fateful early morning call! The rehab center had gotten to me on their contact list, again as the first to actually answer… Nick was ‘unresponsive’! They’d performed CPR and called 911… He didn’t make it… He’d had a massive heart attack during the night and died in his sleep. Now I did have to go to Morehead City…
I did, things didn’t work out, as I feared they wouldn’t, so I departed a day or two sooner than I’d wanted. Nick’s brother has things under control, so my presence is not needed… and that suits me just fine… I’m back at home preparing for my own big event in a few days!
Yep, my surgery date has been moved up to the 21st of February, so I’ll be sporting a brand-new catheter in my wee-wee with a urine bag strapped to my leg in just a few more days!!! Dang, I’m really not looking forward to the inconvenience and irritations that lie just ahead, but, as I’ve been so vividly reminded very recently, there are much worse things that can happen…
DDT
