04-06-11 “Cuz, I’ve got a golden ticket…

04-06-11
“Cuz, I’ve got a golden ticket…”
121.6 miles
I found a penny in the middle of the forest. I’d started the day breaking tent after a cold night. Waiting for the sun. Writing up yesterday’s comments. Watching the fog on the water. I would wait many long hours for the futon to dry. I finally gave up waiting after having moved to as spot with direct sunlight and laying the futon, wet parts exposed- on the back roof of my car to expedite matters. I went to use the facilities across the woods and on the return to the car, about midway…I found the penny. Now, if you’ve been reading my prior posts you know how auspicious an event of finding a penny on the ground has been for me.
So, as usual, I picked it up and added it to my coin purse. And I wondered what might be in store for me today.
Now, I’m not prone to :magical thinking” and soothsaying, but I do look at this as more being observant and open for possibilities. And out of possibilities can come opportunities. That being said, I had a good feeling about finding that singular penny.
Thinking that the futon was “close enough for jazz” and that if I faced the still moist ends up toward the back window, it might complete the job for me as I drove to Natchez Trace today.
I studied the map and made my way out of the park when, out of the blue, My cousin Laura called me! I had to pull the car off the road to talk to her because my cell is dying and can only be recharged if I hold the cord in place. And this is a two lane road with virtually no shoulder. I got some nasty looks during the call. But it was great to hear from her and we haven’t talked since December before things went the way they did. She is not a computer person in the least, she checks her email maybe twice a month and has rebuked numerous friends requests to join Facebook. So she asks about how people are getting funds to me. And then asks for my bank account number. See a penny, pick it up indeed. I later (at a gas station properly parked) check my paypal balance. It’s jumped! Unexpected amounts have been deposited into my account!
I have to wait to find out the source of these donations until I get near the I-40 onramp and the McInternet just in front of it. I check my email and Facebook pages and discover that it is my neice (who has with this contribution vaulted into the Patron level of supporter) and one of my nephews (who chose just slightly above the Supporter level) [God, this sounds like Pledge week on PBS…but I guess I AM “Listener sponsored” when it comes down to it.]
I get a nice message from David Hungate about our meeting the day before. It was a pure joy for me! I get back to some people who have contacted me in the chaos of the last two days and I hadn’t had the time to get back to until now. I look over a message from “The Story” producer Phoebe Judge and realize that my interview aired TODAY, not next Wednesday as I’d thought from the brief reading of her message I read on Monday while being buffeted by gale force winds in the McDonalds Parking lot as the storm front blew in.
I pull it up and am (as usual) mortified by the sound of my own voice. In never sounds like it sounds I my head (why is that? - as Andy Rooney would ask). I pot a link to the interview to my Facebook page and see that someone in Idaho has already contacted me on my “Cohalen’s Journey” Facebook page about the interview. I comment back to her that I have not yet been to her state but that it will be the 3rd to last state I visit (if all plans come to fruition.)
I finish my Internet and head off to my next campsite. As I bypass Nashville and head south and west I am taken by how beautiful and green Tennessee is. I start trying to capture some of the scenery I see hanging the camera out of the window as I drive the backroads hoping that my random shot will capture just a hint of what I’m seeing. I mean, there’s so much of it…how could I miss. Well I do in a few of the pictures, and the pictures fail to capture the real essence that I saw. Oh, well! I’ll leave that for a person with a better camera and more time to expose themselves to the vistas awaiting their study.
I set up camp, It is clear that two things need to change soon, my tent and my cell. If they were animals they both would have been put down a long time before this just out of mercy.
It is getting to dark to go into town tonight, I’ll wait for morning and setle in for now. I’m wearing shorts and smiling. I call many friends to let them know about the interview and to just catch up. Good news travels well.