Surely resilience is one of our most prized traits. We put up with the daily grind which includes banging on the alarm clock, rushing out the door, fighting through the commute, fake through the office niceties (especially the plastic boss), slug through ridiculous shareholder expectations, exhale on the trip home, put on a happy face for the family and finally–finally get to be real when the dog greets us at the door. Multiply that by forty years and we call that a successful adult/working life. Phooey.
I’m all for change. Shift it around, mix it up, take a chance, make your own break, fall down and try something new. For the second time in five months in the city we did just that–and a more complete routine breaker we could not have found. I knew we were in for a great trip when we turned off the highway onto a twisty road and were faced with actual pending darkness (vs. the constant glow of city lights), corn as tall as I’ve ever seen it and almost no traffic. Again, a near absence of people.
Driving past (missing) one of the final turns we nearly completed our transformation from city dwellers back to happy-to-be country folk. Darkness, nothing but stars. Utilizing the marginally useful GPS signal we finished our course correction, pulled into the drive and headed down the long, winding country lane that abruptly ended at a tree-line next to a nearly darkened small home.
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| Maybe The Best Welcome Sign Ever |
Commence a few days of off-the grid living. No TV, no wi-fi, only marginally decent cellular coverage. Days filled with reading, sleeping, grilling, chasing roaming chickens (ok, just Sam did that), a little touristing and more sleeping. We may not have realized it at that time; only after falling asleep to the sound of nothing but the din of cicadas and whatever else battling for airplay, but we would quickly transform from harried urbanites to complete rural creatures.
Not wanting to miss out; fairly early the first morning we headed into town to see and be seen. Turns out we were a little more rural than we still realized. Driving across the Rappahannock on a massive bridge we were amazed at the endless marshes and other waterways marking the area. We tried to get into a couple wildlife areas but were turned away by No Pets signs and were happy to make our way back to the local seafood shop to stock up on days worth of local fare. All things crab ruled the day and after a quick stop at the local historical museum we reached our definitive conclusion we weren’t missing much by spending the rest of our time hunkered down on the farm. So we did.
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| Samantha Helping With S’mores! |
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| Puhleeeezzz Let Me Back Outside!! |
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| As Good as a Four Star Joint! |
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| Simple-Yet Stunning-View From the Front Door |
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| Note: Absence of…Cars, People, Concrete, etc…… |
Samantha made buddies with the farmhand’s 100+ ‘ three-year-old adopted English Lab—she was much quicker, he much stronger so they made a great match chasing toys around a two acre fenced in field/yard. Took the poor gal 2-3 days to fully recover after getting back to the city. Our host even claimed her pup ran over to the guest house a couple days after we left waiting/looking for Sam to come out and play. I’m inclined to believe it.
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| Life of a Farm Pond Frog |
Winding around the pond for the final time on the way down the lane to the paved road it was difficult to hold back the lump and the emotions. We had transformed fully into off-the-grid, barefoot, dirt-loving hicks. It had felt so right. Yup, it was only a few days. Yes, it was one of the least productive stretch in recent memory. Surely a couple pounds were gained. None of that mattered; what mattered were the thoughts we left in our hosts’ guestbook which included one that pledged a return to take another dose.
AniMal