I went for a drive today. I took my mom's car from my folks' home to the next city over, where they have a Macy's. I needed some new jeans. I also needed an excuse to go for a drive.
My mom doesn't have a CD player in the car, and the radio doesn't pull in very many stations on the mountain roads, so I mostly sang to myself: a little Oak Ridge Boys, a little Peter, Paul & Mary, a little Cyndi Lauper, a little Jesus Christ Superstar. My inner radio is very eclectic. I sang songs that I could remember all the words to, and Gordon Lightfoot's "Carefree Highway" seemed especially appropriate: Carefree highway, let me slip away...slip away on you...
I had some things to think about, you see, and I find driving the old back roads of Western Pennsylvania to be wonderful for thinking. I learned to drive in high school, and the feeling of freedom I got from taking my old Plymouth Arrow out on the little one-lanes has stayed with me. I don't especially like any driving but mountain lane driving. I love the rise and fall of the curves, and snaking around the mountain ridges. I love seeing the houses where people have staked their life's claim, and the occasional pop up of a tremendous view of the Allegheny mountains. That's my kind of driving.
I didn't solve any of my problems on my drive, but I did think about them, and, I suspect, got a little closer to the solutions I need. Carefree highway -- it let me slip away today.
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