To Richmond, Virginia.
The views and landscape will start to change tomorrow as I head down to South Carolina, but for now the views are filled with a still familiar east coast autumn, the highways lined with red, golden, and yellow leaved trees, and the residential streets and yards filled with fallen leaves. It’s very pretty also, and really very lovely, but nevertheless commonplace to me as I’ve lived in New England for the last forty-plus years. Even so, I’ve been paying attention lately to just how lovely Amherst, the surrounding towns, and Western Massachusetts are, comparable in rural and rustic beauty to anywhere.
But in the next couple of days, starting tomorrow I think, as I move further south toward more tropical climes, I’ll start to see different landscapes, and some different architecture that reflects the American south. But we’ll see. It’s not that I haven’t traveled down this way before — I have. It’s just that I never paid the right kind of attention to my surroundings then, or did but have just plain forgotten (quite possible).
All this to say, today there’s not too much to say about the four-hour drive from Harrisburg to Richmond, other than it was pleasant, and the weather surprisingly warm; not really warm exactly, but warm enough for early November. Then again, I am heading south, in this case to visit Josh, who lives in Richmond and I saw last February I think, when I was here. Driving here today, I saw some familiar names as I passed through Maryland, and neared Baltimore, Bev’s home turf, where almost all of her family still lives, and then circled DC on 495, aslo passing familiar names, like Silver Springs where I once lived, near to Takoma Park, home at that time to Bev, Suzanne, and Cynthia.
I arrived at Josh’s home in suburban Richmond around 3 pm. It was good to see him, and spend some time in-person. It’s rare to see Josh, although we saw one another at the beginning of this year, when I came to visit after the Sevier-Stetson holiday party (maybe it’s more like the Stetson-Sevier party, actually). It was also very nice to meet Tiger, Josh’s 8-month old kitten, who is calm, friendly, and likes to play fetch (yes, a cat that plays fetch!).
Tomorrow I head down to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina where I’ll spend the night, before heading along the coast to pass through Charleston and then a little inland to Savannah, Georgia before snaking back to the Atlantic coastline in Florida, heading south all the way to the Keys..