Headed Out

End of the Road
Mobitee, TX

The woods, are far lovely and deep,

but I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

In a few hours my journey starts anew, will have an imposing nine hour drive from the outskirts of Fort Worth to El Paso, TX. Have a completely open road ahead of me before I make it to Phoenix sometime tomorrow evening. More than pavement lies ahead of me, awaiting me is uncertainty, adventure, and the promise of a new job. In a way, I feel like a corporate mail order bride.

For twenty four years, I lived here and with my wife of twenty five years raised our family. Through six different job changes, I've always managed to resist change and kept my family from being uprooted. Throughout it all, I've managed to shelter my family from the winds of change stable and strong like the post oaks that have always surrounded and the hickory trees whose shade I've enjoyed.

Tobacco Shed
Windsor, CT

This road is not that foreign to me nor is it as unfamiliar as I portend. It seems that I was on this highway when I left to check out a university some thousand miles away from New England and on the shores of Lake Michigan. Eight years later, I hopped on the highway again and made a similar journey through the plains of this country and south to Texas. I've been an American pilgrim not any different than those who left the dust bowl during the great depression to find a better opportunities in places the likes of California.

Don't know what awaits me but I will have my camera companion with me and a computer to register a few notes and ideas from time to time. With a very heavy heart, I leave my soulmate today and my friends; those who have stood by me especially these past three years.

The phone rings and I pick up to hear my a friend of nearly a quarter of a century who wants to have coffee with me before I leave. I say yes with a lump in my throat and several tears in my eyes. Got some things to do still before I go so I better start this journey. Hate to do this but I've got to go. You see I too have "promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

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