Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Country Roads




February seems to bring out the best in all the country folk around here....why?...because our sweethearts called "Country Roads" turn into witches. Country Roads beckon in the spring and summer, their sweet curves calling out to you to travel up and down the winding hills, into the forests and around the lakes, over the rivers into picturesque dreams of running wild in the wind. Come Fall, they even become more enticing due to the beautiful colors displayed along the ditches and the daisies nodding farewell as the October moon smiles down on the unsuspecting rouge that decides to stay the winter. The first snowfall is quiet and soft, with no promise of what the future holds, ....then it happens...the fickle COUNTRY ROADS turn into witches riding broomsticks of ICE...slick curves lined with naked trees and ditches filled with three feet of salty snow hiding the treachery that lies below. Each year my husband falls prey to the hidden dangers lurking behind every solitary curve...in fact the tow truck number has a special dial on the cell phone just for such incidents. I cannot understand how he can maneuver a 90,000 lb. rig thru ice, sleet, rain, snow, with nary a problem, yet not be able to stay out of the Country Roads seducing ditches with the van, or for that matter the pick up truck.
The answer lay in earlier on a cold December morning when on his way to work at 2AM, he was followed by brite lights for a few miles...thinking that this was just another soul with weird hours, he continued on. Suddenly the road lit up with piercing red lights, and a siren howled mournfully in the dark night, bringing him to a screeching, sliding halt. The young uniformed county cop ambled over and asks him if he has been drinking...then proceeds to tell him that he had been traveling to the left of the yellow line...on this lonely, snow covered COUNTRY ROAD deep in the heart of nowhere. That yellow line will not be visible till Spring when the three inches of ice melts and the flooding starts.....meanwhile the COUNTRY ROAD is laughing softly to herself, having brought another victim to his knees. The result of that lesson is that he travels on his side of the road, maybe just a bit too close to the icy shoulder, while the COUNTRY ROAD waits in silence for one tire to kiss the ditch and slither in to her cold embrace. Well he didn't get a ticket, just a warning, and now the COUNTRY ROAD has merged with Mother Nature and left the ice on our long drive way, just waiting for him to slide down the hill, past the the curves into the magic of the swamp, which is probably the beginning of another new story on the hill.
Hope your roads are treating you better till next time..........

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