THOUGHTS ON THE CHEROHALA SKYWAY

I thought I'd take the Bug and cruise over the Cherohala Skyway today to clear my thoughts and make room for more stuff in the already over crowded chamber that resides within the confines of my skull. I pulled off the skyway onto a remote parking area that sits down over a hill. I can hear Harley Davidson chrome barges trundling past on the road above me. Occasionally a motorcycle with a radio blaring lumbers by; totally out of place on this road that meanders through Tennessee's finest and most beautiful mountains. Behind me is the Citico Creek Wilderness Trail. It appears little used as native grasses are abundant on the trail. Tourists blast right on by showing no regard for this wilderness walkway. OK by me. A one hundred yard walk down the trail will place one out of ear shot of the road and the present time and date. Yester-year can be revisited, if only in one's mind. And I have just the imagination to do it. Today, on this ride, I have thought about a lot of things. Shade comes to mind. She is such a dear dog. Finally, she can adjust to a forever home and be safe and loved. I can let go now. I can not imagine what I'll go through when my sweet companion Douglas reaches the end of his time in the sun. He and I are inseparable. I just don't know how I'll deal with it. Hopefully that day is many, many years away. At times I still think about why I am still here. I'm really not sure of that. Really!. I think climate has a lot to do with it but its more than that. I like Tennessee because its still pristine and clean. Native people are unhurried. They aren't pushy or in a rush. Sometimes in certain situations those are not good attributes. But they have gotten along down here all this time being that way; so what the heck. I am appalled, however, at the incredible amount of wild habitat that is being ruined on a monumental level. East Tennessee is fast becoming a dream world for construction companies. Hoards of people are migrating here from Florida, Louisiana and Georgia. The state of Texas doesn't weigh as much this year as it did four years ago due to its loss of residents to East Tennessee. Do I care? Yes, I absolutely do. When the views off the Cherahala Skyway show nothing but white houses and brown pre-fab log cabins dotting the mountain tops, and when traffic lights start to appear on roads in the Cherokee forest; I will move to the center of Okefenokee Swamp in South Georgia. You laugh?! I'm just the guy who would do it and not think twice about it.