On a Road With No Signs

Mr. S. was feeling adventurous and wanted to drive a road we had often seen from a highway. On the other side of a river that ran alongside the road, were a lot of nice homes and gardens, cattle and fields. We wanted to see how those people got to their homes because there were no bridges across that river.

We found the road, but it was not marked on any of our maps. It also had no directional signs and no mileage markers.  I do not know how long the road was, but it took us an hour and a half to drive through.

The cows we saw were adorable. I wanted to have my picture taken with them but Mr. S.wanted to keep going.

The beginning of the drive was pleasantly normal; a two lane road with smooth pavement, clearly painted, as you see below.

We motored past pleasant paddocks  and shining waters:

A few minutes later the road became even smaller, with grass growing in the middle...

...then to only packed gravel with no lanes, no right, no left. We did not meet anyone coming the other way.  The road wound up into the mountains.

I asked Mr. S. if he knew where we were going, because there was no phone reception and no map book with the location on it.

He replied, "We are lost. But, we are making good time."

That is one of the sayings in his collection, so remember it. You might want to include it in your own sayings. 

Ever since I added his initials to my monogram, he has blindsided me with his wry, dry wit. I thought I would be able to predict him by now but I never expect what he is going to say. He isn't predictable.

Well we had to slow down to a crawl because the road became so narrow you could only call it a footpath.

...and eventually the road became dirt over occasional parts of cement...

We kept driving higher and higher up the mountain road...

..until it was an unclear path covered by leaves...

and I was becoming a little apprehensive. "Should we go back?" I asked. At least we would know where we were going.  But Mr. S. said it was too far and we would waste a lot of fuel. The road was too narrow for turning around and there were no turn-out areas on the side. He was for going ahead, even though now, there was not much of a road.

...and at one point Mr. S. tried to move a fallen branch.

I was glad he was wearing his red plaid lumber jack shirt. Every man in this area has one.  He looked the part and was perfect in the photo.

The branch was still on a fallen tree and  was so heavy and tough, we had to drive around it. It was not fun looking down at the cliff while going around that tree.  Note: get Mr. S. a chainsaw for Christmas.

After an hour we began to descend and the road was a little clearer. We saw no civilization, no animals, no evidence of anything at all. It was a strange feeling having no signs telling us where we were or how far to the next stop.

The trip was getting to be so slow, and I was thinking of all the things that needed fixing at home; all the things I'm so far behind in, etc. but I was stuck in the car on a long road, going at an armadillo pace.

As we got near sea level the highway was nicer; paved and marked, but still no signs. There was no cell reception either so we didn't know where we were. We didn't meet any other cars.

Eventually we came to a pub: no town, no neighborhood, nothing but a pub in the middle of nowhere. 

I wish you could have seen the picture I got of Mr. S. going into the pub to get directions but it was on his camera.   I waited and waited for him to come out of the pub.

  When  he got back to the car I asked him what took him so long, he said,"There was no one there but a dog. The dog barked at me so loud and long I was afraid he would tackle me if I tried to leave. I felt like I was under arrest. Eventually a man came and told me I was going the wrong way." 

So, we pulled up to the highway again, and there was a roadside tree trimmer-cutter machine going past. Since we had recently spent an hour and a half at the speed of 5 miles per hour, I was not enthusiastic about our car being behind the even slower tree cutter machine.

As the truck was going past, I was trying to get Mr. S. to pull out onto the highway and get ahead of him, but to our surprise the truck stopped, a man in a plaid shirt got out and began a casual I-have-all-the-time-in-the-world chat with  Mr. S.  He gave him the weather conditions on the road and asked where we were going, then pointed the right direction.  

When we got to the sea I couldn't pass up a photo opportunity so I had Mr. S. pose like a tourist.

A man in a truck (we Americans love our trucks) stopped and offered to take our picture together, because he noticed us trying to get each other's picture. Note: find a truck for Mr. S. to go with the plaid shirt;  a truck that will not break down.

The man was taking pictures of us and asking if we knew about the principle of "thirds" in photography. He wanted to know what my preference was for the photos: vertical or horizontal, so I told him, "Whatever makes us look skinny."  But, to quote an old saying, no cigar.

After he took the pictures of us, he showed me how to zoom in with my phone camera and take a picture. Usually I have to get someone 8 years old or under, to show me these things, but this man was very smart. 

He explained to us about the Greeks and their architecture. He said he had spent a lifetime in a career that required him knowing some things about the Golden Mean and proceeded to educate us  about the Greeks and the Golden Mean. I'll let you look that up, yourself, since he went at length on the subject and kept us standing there awhile.

The man then drew a map for us to follow to get the best views along the coastline and told us we were headed the wrong way for good views. We followed his advice and we were glad we did. I didn't even get his name  but he was quite knowledgeable about a number of things. However the sun was setting fast and I was not going take time out for his college course by the sea.

Here I was trying to get that clear green color under that approaching wave.

After feeling like we did not know where we were that afternoon, coming home and facing some of the housework did not seem so daunting. A ride always refreshes me and then I see the work around here with new eyes and consider new possibilities with it.

While we were on that road, I was thinking that we were lost for awhile, but what would have happened if we ran out of gas. In an hour and a half we never met one other person.  I think our kids would rather us not take back roads any more but we hate the express ways.  We probably should stay around the civilized world.


I'm enjoying the safety of home even more now and I thanked God for the opportunity to clean up the laundry room.

Speaking of cars and trucks. Ladies I remember when they were not very reliable and it was common to see vehicles stopped on the side of the road when they broke down. Don't you remember people driving slowly by and saying, "Get a horse"?  Vehicles are much more reliable now.