Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: ROAD (05/19/22)
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TITLE: The Way of Life | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jennifer Percell
05/26/22 -
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This was the only highway that could possibly lead to Pemaquid Point. We had been driving up the coast all day, three previous turns led nowhere, tension was building. Maps of Maine look like diagrams of veins and arteries from an anatomy book. Countless curvy lines ran along the coast on paper but none of them seemed to lead to the cabin we had rented. The dense fog allowed only ten feet of visibility and I knew moose and deer would live in these woods.
“Dad, it's really dark out here, are you sure this is safe?”
“Sure, honey, the map doesn't lie.”
“Hmmm, that's what we thought the last three turns.”
Total silence in the car seemed to deepen the inky dark outside our windows. My husband Keith thought his rendition of, 'it's a dark and stormy night' in eerie voice would lighten the mood. He was wrong.
All that we had to follow was a faint white line down the middle of the blacktop. I was ready to mention that we had already gone over 29 miles and the sign had said it was 30 to the ocean, when
Keith gasped and slammed on the brakes. We had found the ocean.
The road didn't end, so much as the water just began. Had he noticed the shimmery reflection on the waves two feet later our hood would be under water. Maybe the tide was high, maybe a barricade had been flooded, whatever the reason, there was no indication to warn of the sudden entrance to a watery grave. Slowly Keith backed up and began a three-point turn. Both children gasped, I cried out and Keith braked hard again. The huge and terrifying house caught in our headlights came straight from late night horror films. The shutters hung loose, and I am sure the doors creaked, and bats flew through the tower rooms.
It's possible that our visit to Steven King's house earlier in the day added some drama to the experience, but we all agreed that we had never taken a worse wrong turn. None of us would admit to jittery nerves but we all seemed to find an excuse to need the light a few more minutes when we finally found that cabin.
Fast forward fifteen years and Keith and I are exploring the Loire Valley in France. We had made reservations again, a little B and B in a remote village this time. GPS on my phone was supposed to solve any directional missteps but the French pronunciations of the Google Maps voice bore no resemblance to the names on street signs. I am sure tractors in any agricultural area use similar paths to get to their fields. The right turn we were directed to take definitely ended on a field road. As the grass in the middle of the narrow path began to brush the bottom of the car Keith feared damage to the paint job and backed out. The road we should have been on ran parallel to that cow path and we soon found our destination. Looking from our host's garden we could make out the faint trail we had first followed.
I have loved traveling with Keith even when we've been waylaid, off the beaten trail and just plain lost all over two continents. We still wander and lose our way now and then, but as we travel hand in hand one route becomes clearer every day.
Forty-four years ago, Keith sang to me as I walked down a red carpeted aisle. He sang John Denver's song, 'Follow Me'. Following him from one adventure to another has been an incredible ride.
Oh, how I wish we could host one of those old-fashioned travelogues. Before google and the world wide web, people used to invite friends to watch their home filmstrips of trips to Europe or the Holy Lands. They would serve treats from the countries they had visited and share all they had learned about traveling.
Keith and I would share how important it is to know your ultimate destination. Why you should pick a travel companion who is equally determined to complete the entire route, and how to help each other whenever the trip makes you weary. We would serve the Bread of Life and we would share the inexpressible joy of being of the same mind, living life in Truth and traveling all the Way.
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