Going Up the Country: Mama I’m Coming Home

 In October of last year John and I took a trip up North. I visited my family in Virginia and John went to Pittsburgh to see his family. We left at 3 am and travelled up 95 in the muggy dark with a thermos of coffee and a Red Bull. We got the neighbors to watch and feed our cats. A hurricane was coming so we left in literally the nick of time (sorry cats!). I was nervous about driving on 95 but I did just fine; plus I didn’t want John to do all the driving, so I put on my big girl pants. We watched the sun come up as we drove through Georgia. Getting out of Florida is such a breath of fresh air (no offense). 

We got to Virginia in the late afternoon, and I felt a definite temperature change; I had to put on long pants. I drove us over the mountain to get to Luray (my hometown) and I forgot how steep and twisty the road is there. But I also forgot how beautiful and green it is (at that point in October the leaves hadn’t quite changed yet. Which is also gorgeous). Driving those roads was like something being old and new at the same time. That particular road, 211, passes through the entrance to the Shenandoah National Park, which is basically in my back yard. It takes you to Griffith Court, which is the trailer park I grew up in and where my mom still lives. The driveway was still the rocky gravel I remember. Some of the trees were missing, but the willow tree was still there. The trailer was somehow bigger and smaller than I remember it, if that’s possible, so I guess it was the right size (duh). I walked to the back door and saw my mom’s face in the little window; she hadn’t changed a bit, except that she had just had a radical mastectomy (she conquered cancer). I was happy to see her. And my brother. 

I got my belongings out of the car because I was going to stay a bit and John was going to travel north to Pittsburgh (my brother offered him directions off of Google, but he found his own way. He’s been traveling way before google and GPS). It felt good to be home, but I was cold! It’s chilly in Virginia in October. I put on my jean jacket. Thankfully my mom let me smoke inside (even though she doesn’t smoke. She quit years ago), and gave me a pretty blue glass bowl to use as an ashtray. My brother, Dylan, took us out to Hardee’s for dinner. It’s the closest and one of the only fast food places in Luray. I got a vanilla malt; they’re so good. My mom made me eat a ham and cheese sandwich cause “you can’t just have a malt for dinner.” I put on my pajamas and we sat in the middle room and watched TV and had good conversation. I slept under an electric blanket that I brought with me. 

The next day my mom had an appointment at the cancer center so we went to see Dr Houck at Winchester Hospital. It was too cold to shower that morning, even though the trailer is heated by a kerosene furnace, and I’m so used to Florida weather…so I made my chicken-ass take one the next day. I wore my green winter coat and we got into my brother’s Subaru Legacy for the hour drive. The cancer center had a beautiful display of bromeliads in the lobby. I sent a picture to John; he loves plants (but he doesn’t like text messages). I got to meet my mom’s doctor, and he told her how great her test results were (he said they were “f-ing awesome.” For real. I like this doctor! Jk). I couldn’t smoke on the hospital grounds ( it is a cancer center, after all) so I had to go way out in the parking lot to sneak a puff, while my mom met with the breast surgeon. She told her she could get the drains removed soon, but not yet (I can’t imagine, but kudos to my mom. She’s a strong woman). Driving home we stopped at Wendy’s in Front Royal for chili and sandwiches. 

The next day she had another appointment, but this time we stopped for breakfast at a little gas station outside Front Royal. They make killer egg sandwiches. I wasn’t hungry but I ate one. We went to Cracker Barrell for lunch. My brother got a mimosa. I didn’t know you could get alcohol at CB ( I’ll admit I was a little jealous, but I was having too good of a time to think about drinking. Temptation: DOA). We browsed the gift shop and I bought a glittery pink pig with wings (this baby’ll fly before I ever drink!) Meanwhile, John was in Pennsylvania watching his niece’s soccer game and seeing the new grandniece, baby Ingrid. We took a back road to go home and we saw cows, and a deer, I think ( definitely cows). Those roads are the real Virginia, adorned by old farmhouses and livestock, little churches, slow-flowing creeks, and forgotten wildflowers. Those roads take you back in time ( if time existed. What!). I miss those roads. 

I can’t remember which day, but we also stopped at a little roadside market coming home that sold flowers and pumpkins, jellies and preserves, and baked goods. There was a display of handmade wallets and little zipper bags. Some of the fabric was the breast cancer pink ribbons. I wanted to buy one but I didn’t want to pay the money (now I regret it). I talked to the lady who made them and she said her mother had had breast cancer and she beat it…but then she got lung cancer. I was sorry to hear that.

By this time Hurricane Milton had hit Daytona Beach and I was curious to see the impact so i watched the news and looked on YouTube. I wasn’t too surprised by what I saw. I just hoped our trailer didn’t flood (the whole reason we rushed back to Florida was so John could see the damage. It wasn’t nothing but it wasn’t major).

On Saturday my mom and I went to the Heritage Festival. It is held at the Luray fairgrounds every fall. It’s like a fall festival that celebrates farm work, handmade goods, and good food. I thought I might see somebody I know, but I didn’t, or if I did I don’t remember. The usual concessions were there: the barbecue chicken, the pork barbecue, the kettle corn, etc. It was reassuring to know the Girl Scouts were still making apple butter. John came to pick me up that day and I had to say goodbye to my family, my trailer, and my town. It went by so quick.

We wanted to do some sight seeing and adventures on the way back to Florida but we didn’t really do that. We spent the night at a Super 8 in North Carolina (every motel was booked and it was the only one we could find with vacancy) and the next day we went in search of a casino John found online. It turned into a wild goose chase for a bogus casino in a strip mall. We never got to gamble. But we did stop at South of the Border and had lunch and went through the reptile exhibit (including live snakes. You know how I am with snakes). 

We returned to Florida Sunday night after many gas station and rest stops. Even in the dark the hurricane damage made an impression: the kayak was washed into the back yard along with other objects, the concrete steps had moved, the porch door was  pushed in, and there was a broken window (I think a boat ran into the house but I don’t know), and the dock was totally FUBAR. All the cats were accounted for, thank God. The next day we threw away most of the food in the fridge from the power being out. Later on John and Earl would repair the dock.

So that was our trip and I enjoyed writing about it and I hope you enjoyed reading it.