Mama Diaries

Thursday, January 11, 2018

Off-Roading

I like to hike. So does my son, Bubba. We often find ourselves in some rather interesting situations when we take a wrong turn, or the path abruptly ends. The last adventure involved a hike to see the Papermill ruins of Marietta, Georgia. I saw the hike listed in the local newspaper under fun outdoor things to do. It sounded interesting. So, I told Bubba, and he agreed to come. This was about 3:30 in the afternoon. Usually we don't go out that late, but I thought we'd be able to complete it in plenty of time before the sun went down.

When we got to the trail head, I looked at the map. The thing had numbers of points of interest. It also had some paths marked with solid lines and others marked with dotted lines. There was no legend to say what all these things represented.

I looked at the map and shook my head. "Dude, I have no idea which path to take. My guess is that we have to go to number 26 or 27. But I'm not sure."

Bubba shrugged. "Let's just follow everybody else. They're probably going to the ruins."

We did. But they weren't going to the ruins. About a mile in, I looked at another map. "Okay," I said. "We were here," I pointed to a number. "Now we're here." I pointed to another number. "We want to go here." Where we wanted to go was definitely not the direction we we headed.

"What does that mean?" Bubba asked.

"It means that if we keep going on this path, we're going to end up in Timbuktu. We'll be at least five miles away from the ruins."

We turned around.

When we came to another map, I looked at it. We had been on a solid-line path. This path was for bikers and hikers. (That's a whole story to itself.) The dotted lines, I ascertained, were for hikers only. I discovered that there was a footpath that led up to where we wanted to go. A shortcut.

"We're taking this path," I announced. I looked at the sky. The sun was getting lower. I only hoped we'd make it to our destination.

We climbed up steep hills and trekked along deep ravines. Coming across other maps, I knew we were going in the right direction.

Then we had a problem.  This was the problem:


A giant tree had fallen across our path. It had even crashed into the map sign, destroying it.

"Now what?" Bubba asked.

"I'm not going back," I said. "We've come too far." I pointed past the tree. "We have to go in that direction."

That's when the off-roading started. We found the river and climbed along its banks. It was precarious, but I figured the mill should be situated next to the river. We'd find it eventually. Sure enough, we did.

At first we saw this:


And the we saw this:


We had reached our destination!

(Going back was another story. It included paths closed for "revegetation." Somehow we managed to get back to our car before it was completely dark!) 

And one more thing:  Here is the cover reveal for my picture book, Don't Feed the Elephant!

Release date:  January 16, 2018. 

   

32 comments:

  1. haha goes to show what being stubborn err umm determined can do. Get you there no matter what is in the way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Quite an interesting afternoon but not the way you intended. Pleased you got home before dark.
    Great to read Sherry.

    Yvonne.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh, ack, what a headache! Glad you guys finally found your destination after an ordeal like that...

    ReplyDelete
  4. That was an adventure. They need to take care of that tree.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow. What a great destination. Will you do a future post on the return trip?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hope you had flashlights in case you didn't get back before dark :) (Bet you will next time).

    Cute cover!

    ReplyDelete
  7. We walked there last year, too, only it was in the miserable heat of summer. Dumb, dumb, dumb! I'm sure it was much more enjoyable in more moderate temperatures.

    Your cover looks super!

    Have you guys gone to iFly in Dunwoody? It's an indoor sky-diving place, and the prices are quite reasonable. I bet Bubba would love it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've never heard of iFly. I will look it up. Thanks for the tip!

      Delete
  8. Glad you persisted and made it to the destination.
    That's an adorable cover. Congratulations!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What an adventure! Actually sounds like fun to me and something my son and I would have done years ago. :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Sherry!

    You amaze me with your bravery and resourcefulness, dear friend. Someone who looks like you and plays the violin with such virtuosity has no right - NO RIGHT - to be a rugged outdoorsman (outdoors person) as well. :) I haven't forgotten that you are also a skydiver. I was very happy to find that your hiking story had a happy ending. You didn't turn back and you found a way to reach your destination. I admire you for that!

    Have an excellent weekend, dear friend Sherry!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha! There's a bit of a tomboy in me. I used to play football with the boys in the neighborhood. I was the quarterback! Way more fun than gossiping on the phone with the girls!

      Delete
  11. Timbuktu would probably be more interesting than any ruins anyway :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. SUPER cute new cover. Love it!

    You know, I haven't been hiking in a while. It's just not that comfortable with all the humidity. We took the kids out west for Christmas, and that was my one regret, that we couldn't take them for a hike into the mountains. *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's definitely not fun to hike in humidity. We need a lot of water when we do it!

      Delete
  13. Sounds like the best kind of hike! Congratulations on your new book!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well, that was some adventure you had.

    Loving that cover. There is just so much to look at without it being overly fussy and, oh my goodness, so vibrant colours.

    ReplyDelete
  15. You are braver than I. Glad you made it back.
    So excited to read your new book, Sherry!
    Love the cover.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The book is finally here! I hope everybody likes it!

      Delete
  16. That was sure some adventure! Who ever is looking after the trails, need to look after the tree! Congrats on getting to the ruins!! And, Congrats on your book! Happy Dance!!! Big Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't believe how big that tree was! It's going to take a lot of effort to cut it up and clear the trail.

      Delete