Week 2

I meant to write blogs all this week but I was in places without Internet connection and frankly I was enjoying catching up with old friends!  I am now in North Carolina visiting my niece, and soon will be heading toward home.

What a week it has been! I have visited friends from college, from the time Michael worked for an oil company, and a friend I haven't seen in 12 years from when I was trying to write my second novel! Everyone has opened their homes to me and I feel so grateful to have reconnected in person with them.

From Houston I traveled to Austin, Texas right through the heart of Bluebonnet country and it was bluebonnet season. What a sight be behold. My friend and I took a day to go out to the Lyndon Johnson Ranch NP where we saw more flowers, cattle and even bison as well as the late president's ranch.  I truly am a national park GEEK! Every park and monument is so well done so people can learn and experience many different aspects of our country.

From Austin I went to Natchitoches, Louisiana! (It's pronounced Nak-a-tish). My friend has a wonderful home outside the town where she lives with two dogs and a pig named Willow. It is a peaceful place and we spent time just catching up and discussing the world. She's had a hard year but has found a church family and is coming back into her own.  I felt so welcomed and cherished there. I also got to revisit Cane River Creole NP where I still might set another mystery!

Then it was on to North Carolina by way of national parks, monuments and parkways! In Louisiana I found Poverty Point (named after a plantation) that is another World Heritage Site and NP monument. Like Cahokia in Illinois, these are remains of a prehistoric settlement on the Mississippi, this time on the West Bank. It has ridges that can be seen from the air and mounds where some of the settlement was built.

I had a little trouble as I drove into Mississippi. I have a lot of memories of the years Michael and I lived in this state, and the last time I drove through was with my mom, so I found myself missing them both as I drove where we had been before.  But it was a beautiful, sunny day so I made the most of it by traveling on the Natchez Trace Parkway (NP) from Jackson to Tupelo.  This parkway goes along the same route as the road (called a trace) from 200 years ago from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, Tennessee.  Along the route is information about the road, the people and the trading that was facilitated by the route.  Very interesting and peaceful.

After spending the night in Huntsville, Alabama (I got to drive on some great country roads both in Mississippi and Alabama) I headed to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park.  What a place! Waterfalls and rivers, mountain views and wildflowers.  I came on this trip at the perfect time of the year to see wildflowers in blossom and to enjoy spring where you can still see the views before the tree leaves fill in.   about inspiration.  As I drove through the park I felt the water call to me, the flowers whisper, and the leaves draw me further into the mountain.  It was a joyous experience.

Then it was on to see my niece.  She lives on the top of a mountain not far from the park. My GPS, however, thought I needed more time on curvy, scary mountain roads, so it took me some back way up the mountain that my niece has never even heard of! Switchbacks at 10 mph with no guard rails and curves so tight I didn't think I could stay on the road.  Finally made it, but I was a wreck and it takes a lot to shake me about driving.  But it was worth it - my niece lives on a lovely ranch and it is great to spend time with her at her home.

The end of my journey is coming quickly, but I cannot express how wonderful this trip has been. It was what I needed when I needed it! My advice from this experience is to truly listen to your gut and heart and give yourself what you need, whether or not it scares you or doesn't seem as if it can work out.  Most things are possible!