This must be the place: Ode to Anna Marie, ode to the kids of Smith Street (and beyond)

Stepping outside the small log cabin, I took a moment to collect my thoughts. Vast farm fields and ancient dirt in the rural countryside outside of Goldsboro, the cool air of an impending fall was felt with a sense of relief in a place where heat and humidity reign supreme. 

The beauty of simple, unadorned travel

The old man, hell he was probably my age, flagged me down after I passed his home and garden.

“Buen Camino,” he called, waving me back.

This must be the place: ‘The questions of a thousand dreams, what you do and what you see’

It’s never easy to go home. And I think it only seems to get harder, perhaps more abstract and blurry, as one gets older — further and farther between from the starting line, literally and figuratively. Case-in-point, I recently returned home to my native North Country. 

This must be the place: ‘A sunbeam’s shining through his hair, fear not to have a care’

It’s 9:54 a.m. Tuesday. I’m sitting at the old wooden kitchen table at my parents’ farmhouse in rural Upstate New York, within close range of the Canadian border, just a few farm fields away from the mighty, ancient Lake Champlain. 

Fishing Heaven

Something we have done quite a bit of this year is gone fishing.

This must be the place: ‘I don’t know, don’t really care, let there be songs to fill the air’

It’s 11 a.m. Monday. Currently sitting in the rec room of my aunt’s high-end apartment complex on the outskirts of Charlotte.

This must be the place: Sweating out my worries, just another day

Covered in sweat, I was about three miles into a Friday afternoon run around Lake Johnson on the outskirts of Raleigh.

This must be the place: ‘Scarecrow and a yellow moon and pretty soon a carnival on the edge of town’

Mailbox 278 (pictured) along Route 581 in the unincorporated community of Nahunta, North Carolina. In the rural depths of Wayne County on the outskirts of the small city of Goldsboro. 

This must be the place: ‘No, I’d rather go and journey where the diamond crescent’s glowing’

Parking the truck at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and the Nolichucky River on the outskirts of the small town of Erwin, Tennessee, early Monday afternoon, a hot sun kissed my forehead emerging from the vehicle all while lacing up the ole trail running shoes.

This must be the place: ‘I’m wondering where you are tonight and I’m wondering if you are all right’

Hello from Room 209 at the Super 8 on the outskirts of Rawlins, Wyoming. Late morning and taking my time to get my bags packed and tossed into the back of the rental car.

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