Story Coach #3: The Road Leads Back to Georgia

Story Coach Lesson 3:  In Transit

The Road Leads Back To Georgia

Snow swirled around me, huge flakes sticking to my inadequate cap and gloves as I pumped gas into the Blazer.  We were taking our son and daughter-in-law home, back to Georgia. He had just graduated University of Michigan and they were moving back to where it was warm.  I stamped my feet to get the blood moving; here in Ypsilanti at 6:30 AM, it was bitterly cold and it was May 3!

“Just think,” I had said to Dan a mere month ago, “a month from now you all will be packing to move back to Georgia!”

“A month from now, I will be back in Georgia,” he replied emphatically.

He wasn’t kidding!  May 1 - he graduated, May 2 - we packed the truck, in the snow, and now May 3 -  we were headed south.  Olivia’s cousin Helen, my husband, older son and I had come a few days earlier to help them pack up, attend the graduation and help with the move.

Olivia, 5 months pregnant with their first baby, and Helen, a college student in South Carolina, had started out earlier to give them plenty of travel time without rushing. The car was packed full with first necessities – clothes, coolers of food, and Julia, the lovable four year old part lab, part wayfaring stranger.

            Dan waited patiently by the large over-the-cab U-Haul that he would drive the 700 miles ahead.  Reese, my husband, and David, our older son, were inside stocking up on coffee and snacks for the trip.  Finally we were ready. Dan and David led the way in the U-Haul; Reese and I followed in our Blazer, also packed to the roof with, among other things two ferrets, and a tiny white mouse that I laid claim to and named Ypsilanti, Ypsi for short.  We were on our way! Head ‘em up, move ‘em out!

Reese and I had made the trip each fall and spring since Dan and Olivia had been there.  Each time I was amazed anew at the vast expanse of sky that formed a blue bowl over farmland that stretched for miles to the horizon. I was used to farmland with a backdrop of mountains that always seemed nearer than they were. Sky in my neck of the woods was ‘up’ – not all around!

Our trip was a straight shot, from Georgia through the mountains of Tennessee, up through Kentucky where horses grazed behind white fences and where we left the mountains behind. Into Ohio with its flat farms that stretched limitless to the far horizon and finally into Michigan. The trips were long, taking around 10 - 11 hours with our stops along the way, but always, thankfully, uneventful. Little did we know this trip would be anything but!

When Dan was three years old, he announced that he was going to Georgia Tech and be an architect. He never wavered from his decision and at 18, he entered the “North Avenue Trade School” as the students fondly call it. Four years later, he had married his high school sweet heart and they were heading north to the University of Michigan to get his Masters degree.

Dan and Olivia had been in Michigan two years. As appealing as the little town was, as pleasant as the spring and fall months, summer was almost non-existent and winters were bitterly cold with feet – not inches – of snow.  Southern born and bred, neither of them came to embrace Michigan as home. I was delighted to learn he had a job with an architect firm in Atlanta; they were coming home!

Reese, David and I took time off from our respective jobs and drove up to help them pack up their two years of accumulated worldly goods. They lived in a two story 19^th century house with large, airy rooms, and they had managed to fill it with treasured belongings.  We were fortunate to have Helen and David!  Both are very organized and together they sorted through, tossed out, categorized, arranged and generally coordinated the packing. The rest of us followed directions; boxes multiplied near the front door. 

Dan graduated with honors. The day dawned bright and sunny, a beautiful spring day!  The University of Michigan, School of Architecture, had its own impressive graduation ceremony; the  rest of the afternoon we wandered about the campus, awed at the buildings at this ages-old institution of higher learning.

                 The next day, we loaded the truck. It snowed.  The morning was another spring-like day, but as the day wore on it cooled off and we were looking for sweaters and jackets. I was giving the kitchen cabinets one last check when I heard David holler. I went to the door and looked out.

“What is it,?” I called to him.

 “It’s snowing! Look! It’s snowing!” he exclaimed.

Barely perceptible, tiny snowflakes were softly falling. It was snowing!  While I watched, the flakes  got bigger and fell faster until it was a regular snowfall.  It was May 2 and it was snowing!

            Olivia had rented a large over-the-cab truck from U-Haul to haul their worldly goods back to the land of warmth and sun.  It was massive, the tires looked good, the gas gauge showed full and it was packed.  We left Ypsilanti behind and headed south.

The snow had stopped but we were still in Michigan when the walkie-talkie sputtered and David’s voiced boomed into the Blazer.

“We seem to be having a problem here,” he announced.

“What’s wrong?” my husband inquired.

“Engine overheated and it’s blowing steam everywhere,” was the undesired response.

“Pull off on a side road and we’ll call U-Haul,” Reese told him.

We were in Milam; we had traveled 12 miles!

As we caught up to them and pulled up alongside, Reese sighed, “Yeah, it’s the water hose.” He called U-Haul, and after much discussion including, “No, we can’t unload it!” he reported that they were sending someone out to replace the errant water hose. They neglected to mention that that “someone” was coming from Detroit.

Two hours and a second phone call later (when they thought to mention Detroit) brought a too cheerful character with the new water hose, which he quickly and efficiently attached. Thirty minutes later, we were on our way – again.

            We made it to Dayton, Ohio before we heard from the U-Haul again. This time, son Dan reported, “We’re out of gas.” He had stopped on the entrance to an overpass.

“What?” my husband exclaimed! “I thought you had a full tank of gas!”

“That’s what the gauge showed,” Dan answered, “It’s still showing almost full, but we are not going anywhere!”

We soon discovered that construction detoured us several miles to the nearest gas station. We could see it – we just couldn’t get to it!  We purchased the gas (and a gas can) and headed back to the bridge where the U-Haul waited.  A little over three hours since we left Ypsilanti and we had traveled less than 130 miles!

                 On to Cincinnati, home of the dancing pig!  At last we were zipping along, again admiring the far-reaching farmlands, the expanse of blue sky.  Entering Cincinnati, traffic slowed, then stopped. Surely traffic could not be this heavy, Reese and I mused. News came from David and Dan, ahead of us…a wreck involving several cars had both lanes blocked. We were surrounded by 18 wheelers; for the next hour we entertained ourselves by reading their logos and advertisements and making up new names and slogans for them.

I could have written that song by Weird Al Yankovic,  “Traffic Jam” -

“Now we're all goin' nowhere fast - Well, I guess that's perfectly clear
I left home five hours ago, And I can still see my house from here.”

Finally the line ahead started moving and we inched along with our fellow travelers, through Cincinnati, over the Ohio River and into Kentucky!  We almost cheered!

      It was always a pleasure traveling through Kentucky. It is such a pretty state with horses grazing in green fields, the mountains, gentle undulations of soft greens and blues.  Closer to hand, alongside the road, bare cliffs rose straight up, large boulders hanging precariously to the side. Sometimes they turn loose, causing an avalanche of rocks. In the mountains past Lexington, that is exactly what we ran into!

The road ahead was closed; we could see emergency workers swarming over the area like so many ants, working to clear the roadway. It was clear that it would not be open for many hours. We followed the long snaking line of cars down a dirt road to our next detour.  Darkness was settling around us on the mountaintop, the moon providing the only light. Another adventure!

     This detour took us several miles from our expected route, and added another hour or so to our already extended trip. All was not lost; headlights picked up deer and raccoons in the brush alongside the road.  A canopy of stars shone brightly in the black night. It was incredibly beautiful!

            And so we wound down and around and into Tennessee. Almost home!  We had been on the road 16 hours. We were fatigued, weary and drained but excited to be so close to home. We did not know that one more unexpected incident lay ahead.

            Just south of Knoxville, we rounded a curve and saw the most unwelcome sight: “Bridge out – Detour.”  Oh no!  Another diversion – another ‘short-cut to go the long way ‘round.’ Wasn’t there a song titled “Detour”? If I had known the words, I would have started singing.

             Once again, we followed the few cars ahead, and found ourselves on a back, two lane country road. At least we were in Tennessee and getting closer to our destination!  The farther we drove, the more familiar the surroundings and finally there ahead was the beautiful ‘Welcome to Georgia’ sign!

                    Georgia was home to all of us; we were all born in and had lived in Georgia all our lives. Georgia is a beautiful state, with mountains and beaches, it is home of Coca-Cola, “Gone With the Wind” and Ray Charles. The winters are mild, the summers hot – even spring and fall have their own season. “Georgia On My Mind” is more than a song to us; it is an anthem. It was no wonder that Dan and Olivia wanted to move back to Georgia!

I feel that, for some, a place becomes a part of you, and no matter where you are, your heart, your home is always there. Like the song says,

“Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly
Still in peaceful dreams I see - The road leads back to you.”

And so, Dan and Olivia wanted to come home. Home to the South, to Georgia - where the pace is slow, the people friendly, the tea sweet.  I understand. It is in their blood; it is in mine.

     For us, no trip has ever had more calamity, more mishaps, more detours. I marveled that despite each new difficulty we encountered, it was met with good grace and a spirit of adventure. Even after fatigue set in, no one complained, no one lost his temper. Was it because, no matter the obstacle, our road was leading us back to Georgia? “Still in peaceful dreams I see - The road leads back to you.”  I do believe so.

           

It was 2:00 AM, 19 ½ hours since we left Ypsilanti, when we pulled into the gated community in Atlanta where Dan and Olivia’s new home was located. We had made it!

Inside we found Olivia sitting on an air mattress that friends had brought over. Despite the late hour, they were wide awake, catching up on happenings of the last two years. We had stories of our own to tell and over Cokes and cold pizza, we entertained them with tales of our long  journey and each state’s adventure.

Sitting there on the floor, surrounded by my family and friends, I unconsciously hummed the tune “Georgia” and thought of the words - “Georgia, Georgia - A song of you

Comes as sweet and clear As moonlight through the pines.”  My heart filled with joy and contentment  to be right here, my children back where they belonged, where we all belonged. The long journey was over; the road really had led us back to Georgia!

Note: This is a true story, told just as it happened in 2005.

"Georgia on My Mind", the official Georgia state song,  was written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell, 1930.

“Traffic Jam”  was written and recorded by Weird Al Yankovic.