We departed early this morning snuggled up under a pervasive blanket of fog. I took the first leg and didn't see more then four white stripes at one time 'til after the first coffee stop. A few truckers and deer were the only things moving other then us ... I was worried about sudden deer induced deployment of the air bags. Several roadside carcasses attest to the fact that deer have no street sense.
The mighty Mississippi found us mid morning, under a cloudless baby blue sky and the leafless trees on either side of the road created a stately brownish grey screen ... shadow dancing with the yellow grass and this long piece of asphalt that leads towards home. The Southern portion of the country is truly beautiful. A roadside sign for the Natchez Trace prompted me to smile across time with those indigenous people and the earliest settlers. Paradise couldn't be much lovelier. It is really something to see from the ground.

My brother has called twice already. He wants to know what everyone wants for dinner on Saturday night. I tell him his niece has been longing for the kind of fajitas that only he can produce ... Frankly, I do my best to reproduce his recipe, but it passes only as a tease for the real deal. My brother is able to infuse some intangible element into his Bar-B-Que. More "sass", less sauce ... something like that. Sounds like he plans on cooking up the whole cow and part of a pig. My brother's idea of vegetables for this feast will be corn tortillas and hand chopped pico de gallo. I miss him. He is the warmest, most out going person I've ever met. He is a year younger then I am ... When we were little kids riding the school bus, the high school girls would compete with one another for whose lap he would be sitting on. He probably was winking at the nurses in the delivery room the day he was born. He finally settled down with a wonderful woman a few years ago. She came with a family he loves, including two little grandsons who call him Papa. My little brother is a granddad ... It's great to see them so happy.

I'm estimating another five hours in the car ... Coming up on a fuel stop now and everyone is thinking a real meal would be a nice break.