3 July Crossville, Tennessee “Come to think of it, Rich, we’ve never been to a game over there”, Zack reflected when I firmly broached the subject. Whether he and Penny decided to join us would never sway my plans to drag Phillip ninety plus miles to a AA baseball game. “Good, the you’re in to come?” “Yeah, we’ll do it!” Under other circumstances, I’d mention that he should ask Penny, but instincts told me she would be on board. “We just have to make a stop at a Lexus dealership to pick up a garage door opener t [View Full Entry]

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4 July Crossville, Tennessee The paradox of Lookout Mountain does not trouble any child, especially mine. He sees no trouble with its lofty summits, serene views, and relief from the summer heat combined with the tackiest of amusements and commercial attractions for family tourists. Lookout Mountain straddles two states (supposedly seven can be seen from the naked eye from the summit) on the most southerly bend of the Tennessee River opposite Chattanooga. Be willing to take Robert Frost’s offer of taking the one less traveled by. Otherwise, prepare to stare out the windshie [View Full Entry]

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1 July Crossville, Tennessee Unmistakable indicators abound in the South to remind the outsider that we’re not from around here. “Good Morning!” I greeted her no differently than I would anyone else or anywhere else except a slight more enthusiastically now that I am away from the daily grind and chains of work. Neither she nor her partners are too busy behind the deli counter; no ticket dispenser is set on top of the counter in case of a mad rush. The middle-aged woman in a black apron and ultra thin elastic white cap associated with food servers returns my s [View Full Entry]

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28 June Manchester, Connecticut All I wanted was a few weekends and to take him to a hockey game now and then. Instead his mother resorted to the deplorable yet sure-fire tactic of using him as a weapon against me. She has utilized him this way from the very beginning when she didn’t get what she wanted out of me. For years I tolerated the put downs, insults, and threats. I held my tongue and other primordial impulses when she force fed him a liver dinner. I squealed with him as she practically pried his teeth open with the fork from [View Full Entry]

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Welcome to this summer’s essays entitled THE SUMMER OF MY SALVATION. THE SUMMER OF MY SALVATION will depict a different type of journey starting in Tennessee. From there, who knows? A traveler’s itinerary should never be set in stone. For me, it is still developing as I compose these words. I am still considering a change in title, as planning has been thrown on its head in the past week The purpose of these essays was to originally document a part of the world through my eyes and ears. While raw, unfiltered, and very subjective, more introspection will come into play. [View Full Entry]

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Interstate 81 and I go back to my earliest memories of elementary school. It and I would join at Scranton, the corridor that splits the Allegheny and Blue Ridge Mountains, a 324-mile straight-shot gutter ball asphalt groove connecting Winchester and Bristol, Virginia. The highway and I have a somnambular relationship. My aunt would zip across the commonwealth from the West Virginia border and out I would go sometimes as far as two-thirds of the way. The running joke for years is that I would travel through Virginia and seldom see any of it. We rarely took on the much more intimidating [View Full Entry]

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“Allô?” “Allô! Ça va toi?” “Are you OK?” I looked straight up to my feet. It took little time to smell the decaying grass protruding through the smashed windshield. I wiggled my toes. Fine. I could move my arms, legs, and neck. I felt fine. “Yes, I think so.: All I could make out was his voice and beams from his flashlight that penetrated the snow-covered brush. “Are you alone?” “Yes.” “Can you move?” Affirmative. Things still made sense to me. I saw it all transpire in slow motion. There was nothin [View Full Entry]

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Winter in Québec takes on human qualities and does not follow the guidelines set forth by a twelve-month calendar. It has already come and will not surrender for the better part of the next four-and-a-half months. It lends a feeling of being in the last outpost before pure wilderness takes over. Lac Mégantic, a stern community on the shores of a sizeable lake of the same name, loses its seasonal appeal around the time the last tourists return to Montréal after having extracted their boats out of the water. What is left behind is a singular, sand-covered Main Street of strict [View Full Entry]

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“Where do you live?” I offer the truth, however boring and confirm my citizenship without any supporting documentation. “Where are you going?” “La Patrie.” Her facial expression begged the question, Why? But she did not ask. Whatever profile they seek out for a further round of questioning, I did not fit it. At this crossing, I never do; it is why I go out of the way to enter Québec here. I volunteered some more information. “I’ll be there a few days. It’s where I go to forget, to get lost.” Her grin confirmed that my de [View Full Entry]

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19 August Amritsar, Punjab, India Except for arriving from and departing back to the United States, I usually do not take too many flights when traveling. Yes, I know they cut distances and save time. But I need to be lodged against a window and see what I would be missing, impossible at 35,000 feet. If a train goes, I’ll be on it. Otherwise I’ll settle for a bus, minivan, outside panel of a jeep, or bed of a pickup truck. Ameen asked me back in Gilgit where I would go after we parted company in Chitral. “Peshawar”, I said. “Are [View Full Entry]

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