On the Road to the Beach…

…Revelry and Reverence on Highway 218

A friend of mine recently drove me down to Sunset Beach.  Most of our ride was on country roads, and we enjoyed it immensely. As a matter of fact, we saw so many sites of interest that  we decided to document them as much as possible.  And, as we did, we spent most of the time laughing – almost in tears.

Here’s a summary of our sight-seeing adventure:

• We passed dozens and dozens of barns – some new, some others worn down over many, many years. In fact, barns were everywhere, and seemed to be in a variety of colors. One gray barn sported an old-fashioned Coca-Cola image, and another had a worn-out Gulf sign.
• When I was young, and our parents would drive to the country for an outing, we used to play a game called Cows and Horses.  If you’re not familiar with it, here’s how it works:  Every time you see horses or cattle, you try to count them all as fast as you can – but, there’s a hitch. If you drive by a cemetery, you lose all your ‘points’ – and then you have to start over.  We continued this exercise back and forth. (At one point we lost so much livestock we decided to count a ceramic deer in someone’s backyard!)
• Seriously, the drive was wonderful.  We saw lovely countryside, tall pine trees, bales of hay, interesting dilapidated barns, and grazing cattle.
• There also were a number of local churches on the road, and one had bells ringing in joy. In fact, we drove by a church and realized they had just finished a funeral. The most tender moment came when we saw that the deceased had been a veteran. We slowed down to watch, and we had tears in our eyes when they presented his family with a folded flag,  in honor of his service a long, long time ago.

So, next time you want an adventure, leave the city and aim for the country. You never know what you’ll see, and how it might provide fun AND relaxation!

P.S.  We also enjoyed the beach!

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