I have been called strange and irregular by both my family members and close friends.
When I was growing up in Newtown as a child, I would often play by myself in a secluded place with little pieces of straw and matches that I would imagine to be soldiers in an ongoing drama of war.
Even at school (from first through the twelfth grade), I would often be distracted from what the teachers were saying because I would be daydreaming and doodling figures on my papers.
Almost all of my classmates would immediately recognize my paper from everyone else’s (by the doodling) when we were given the responsibility to check one another’s test papers.
That having been stated, it will help you to understand why I get joy out of traveling the country roads of the county. I have made it a routine to ride on the country roads, perhaps five days a week.
This practice is two-fold and therapeutic. First, I am able to meditate on the Lord and things that are positive and wholesome. Being alone, I am able to clear my mind from toxic thoughts and emotions like depression, anxiety, discouragement, and etc. The other reason why I love to travel on the country roads of the county is because these routine excursions help to stimulate my imagination and memory, thus enabling me to temporarily revisit places and times of my upbringing.
As I travel on these paved, rural roads traversing the country, I have become quite familiar with the terrain and communities that they take me through, as well as the bridges and tributaries of the Pee Dee River.
One of the sights that fascinates me and captures my attention are the old stately houses, some of which are well-kept and occupied. Then there are others that are dilapidated and in ruins where the ghosts of yesterday, as well as the trees and other uncultivated vegetation occupy and reign supreme. While traveling on the paved, rural roads of the county, I often come upon fields where I labored as a boy picking cotton and cropping tobacco. I well recall that while I am passing by these fields the times when my mother would scold me for counting the birds in the sky and the cars passing by instead of picking cotton. She would shout, “Michael, I am going to have your daddy beat your butt when you get home if you don’t stop counting the birds and the cars!” It would work for a while, but I would almost always get back to my bird watching and counting the cars.
Another reason I enjoy traveling the roads of the county is because many of these roads take me by houses, churches, and other buildings that I helped my father, brothers, and members of his construction crew to lay bricks and blocks on. Oh, how seeing these sights take my mind back to the days of hard work and sweat, especially in the heat and humidity of the summer. Most of these roads also help to satisfy the fascination I have with nature. I enjoy the sight of seeing the few remaining, undisturbed natural habitats and ecosystems in the county. These natural treasures are in danger of vanishing due to excessive logging and other abuses imposed upon them by human negligence and greed.
Perhaps at the top of the reason why I love traveling on the rural country roads of the county (during this time of the year) is because it is harvest time for the corn crop. I have watched the corn crop grow from the time it was planted a few months ago until this present time. I have been amazed as it has grown and ripened on the stalk and is presently being harvested by the giant combines that I see in the fields. There was a time when tobacco was king and the money crop in our area. However, it has been replaced by grain crops like corn, soybeans, wheat-rye, and a few others. Being an opponent of tobacco products like cigarettes, snuff, and chewing tobacco that can cause lung cancer, emphysema, and heart disease, I love to see grain crops growing in the fields where tobacco use to grow while I am traveling on the country roads of the county.
I have made it a routine to travel on the rural roads of Dillon County at least five times a week. I know that I have traveled over the vast majority of the rural roads of our county and have enjoyed every minute and mile of my journey. I love doing it so much that I cannot imagine myself stopping it at anytime in the foreseeable future.