Wet Toes and Tombstone Tour

Word came in via New Neighbor Corey yesterday that the Godfather would be making an appearance in Rockvegas and was up for an adventure ride. As soon as I got home from work I dug out my old trusty DeLorme Gazetteer and started scouting potential gold. There is a region southwest of the farm that runs along the Duck River that I've been wanting to investigate but haven't ever had willing cohorts to venture "off the beaten path." The day was not to be wasted.

I showed them a few gravel roads close to the farm, then about 15 miles in we got our first taste of one of the many "unimproved roads" I'd plotted along the route. Before we headed down the lane, Stanley pulled his phone out and used one of his apps to see if the road really existed. He said it showed it not going through. I said my map showed it crossing a creek before connecting to the highway and asked if which he wanted to believe the phone or the map. As Corey and I consulted the map Stanley disappeared. Soon he was out of sight, already making his way down the lane, laughing most of the way. Stanley is the biggest kid I know.

So far the phone proved to be wrong and the map right. In fact, the map was accurate all the way up to the deep, wide creek crossing. Unable to find a shallow or dry path across, and no real sign of it continuing, we turned back and vowed to come back in warmer temps.

We made our way over and around towards the section of the map littered with unimproved roads, but unfortunately we were met time and time again with "Posted no Trespassing" signs. Ugh. Sign of the times.

We did, however, find many, many cemeteries along the route. One particular site had over 5 separately fenced cemetery plots. The oldest surrounded by a rock wall, others by old wrought iron fencing,  a raised rock bed plot underneath twin magnolia trees, and a small plot of 3 stones outside the fences tucked behind a large tree and small evergreen. We also met a new friend, a friendly Aussie-husky mix.

We wound our way along the Duck river until daylight was getting short and the headwind we'd been riding into started changing direction out of the Northwest, making it a headwind all the way home. Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, and Tailwinds - four things you'll never see. Our 4 county wet toes (yes I got my feet wet) and tombstone tour was coming to an end. Just as I thought it would be a boring ride home along familiar roads, Stanley noticed a stone in a field. It turned out to be a marker erected for a Revolutionary Soldier and his wife. A weathered monolith quietly standing guard in a solitary field in Marshall County. A silent reminder of all that is still out there to be rediscovered.