118....

miles before breakfast on Friday morning. Not my best ever... as I remember a time when I got on the road before daylight in Valdosta and drove to Decatur (and probably took a nap as soon as I turned the ignition off!), possibly driving to Chattanooga later that day. But I got up at 4:00 to take a shower and get on the road early on Friday, headed north.  Had planned to spend the morning in Decatur, have lunch then go on to TN, but that was my plan, and not what the other people involved had on their schedules. Some had errands to do, some were going strawberry picking, some were traveling, so mostly nothing came to fruition.

Which meant I had much more time on my hands than expected: what to do?  I knew if I got to Chattanooga too early, I would have lots of time to kill, so decided to take the scenic route north of Atlanta. It was actually pretty educational, as well as pretty. I got off the interstate a bit north of the city, and drove through the country side, around the north central part of the state, making a loop from Cartersville through Canton and back to Adairsville.

Lots of things blooming along the rural by-ways in north Georgia. Many in places that were obviously professionally manicured by landscapers. In those expensive gated communities, where people pay thousands of dollars in mortgages and commute to work, never actually enjoying that gigantic house they are paying for, due to having to spend eighty hours a week driving/working to support their spending habits.

And a great profusion of wildflowers gloriously showing off along the right of way, amongst the lush greens of undeveloped miles of woods and pastures. Little agriculture based communities, with small white wooden churches, neat red brick homes. Some that were obviously long lived in by generations of farmers, and much loved over the years by homemakers who had devoted their lives to caring for hearth and home. Spending their lives raising families, 'putting by' from the garden, and observing the changes of the seasons from the viewpoint of raising crops, coping with the vagaries of the weather.

Queen Anne's lace was prolific along the right-of-way, having re-seeded over the years, beautifully blooming with big white disc-shaped lacey blooms. Oak leaf hydrangea in places where it has reverted to natural growth, in huge clumps growing along the tree line, where county work crews on tractors do not mow. Big draping branches of mimosa blooms overhanging the road from elevated clay banks above the highway, with arching limbs of bright pink 'powder puff' flowers above the roadways.  Hundreds of blooms of native daylily plants, with bright orange blooms on slender stalks faithfully popping up year after year, having naturalized along the those rural highways.

It was such a peaceful drive, through farm land, seeing neatly tended yards and gardens, along winding roads. I opened the windows, found a radio station that was playing oldies and thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. Until it started raining, when I got back to I-75, closed the windows, plowed through high-speed traffic, dodging semi-trailers, on to TN.