thoughts on a journey....

Yesterday Hubs and I decided to do something crazy, at least for us it was crazy.  We got up and headed down to Arkansas to celebrate the first birthday of our great nephew.  We didn't spend the night, we drove down and back.  With puppy walking breaks and the party itself we were gone for about fourteen hours. It was a long drive, but our hearts were full and we loved being able to celebrate such an incredible birthday.  That little guy has had a tough journey, and he just keeps amazing us at every turn.  

It was one of the craziest things we've done in years.  We aren't spring chickens, so we weren't sure of our ability to pull it off, but we did. 

I took the last part of the first leg, so Hubs and the pups could nap, it's a long stretch of basically nothingness.  As I was driving along in silence, I'd turned the music down a lot, I'd thought about putting on my podcasts, but didn't want to disturb Hubs, instead I found myself lost in observations. 

Heading south means that the beauty and colors of Fall linger a bit longer. There are long stretches that are lined with trees, separated by long fields and little man made structure.  The fields resting for the most part now, but are brimming with life the rest of the year.  The sky was an odd mixture of haze, sunshine and an almost red cast throughout the course of almost a hundred miles. 

I noticed the odd clouds filling the sky, not the clouds that we searched for shapes and characters as kids, but crisscrossed lines that didn't move at all, even though the winds were strong.  Knowing that chemtrails are definitely real and not a theory, I was deeply saddened as I looked out into fields and wondered what was drifting slowly down into the fields and streams.  I longed to see the clouds floating past and shifting shapes, where were snoopy or the dragon shapes of my childhood? 

Another thing I noticed that although they have had a significant amount of rain in the past few weeks, the rivers and lakes that drove past were significantly lower than in years past.  As we'd headed out my sister warned me that it'd been raining a lot and that we would likely encounter a lot of mud, we were prepared to let the Pups hang out in the car while we partied to avoid them being little mud babies for the drive home. Imagine our surprise to almost completely dry fields and almost no mud.  That alone speaks volumes to the dryness of the fields and ground.  

I spent a lot of time just lost in thought, staring down a familiar road and wondering about the changes that were so evident as it had been a bit since we'd last driven down.  I wondered if someone that is familiar, but not a recent visitor to our area could see the changes that are happening up here.  Our rivers are so very low, to the point that we often take the puppies walking on the dry riverbeds as a safe place to romp.  Every time we are on the one just 10 minutes from our house, I am reminded of filling countless sand bags in the rain racing to beat the rising flood waters from that very river. It did an immense amount of damage less than 6 years ago, and today it is bone dry with just a few shallow puddles to even speak to it being a conduit of water for the most part. 

I am wondering what is going on in nature.  Is it all man made?  I don't know.  I do know that it is definitely happening globally.  Just yesterday I heard of floods in the deserts of Saudi Arabia, there are volcano's erupting with a regularity that should be a bit concerning.  

Has man been trying to play God with the weather for too long now?  Are we going to have to deal with trauma caused by their tinkering?  Either a lack of rain or a deluge seems to be spreading everywhere. 

Time with family was a blessing, no matter how little the amount was.  The time driving gave us a chance to talk, to think to be... 

Today is a recovery day, it's cold and we're tired.  Seems the perfect way to simply rest.