The edge of nowhere

I have heard it said that Charles and I have moved the middle of nowhere. Heck! I might have even uttered that once, but I have to tell y'all that after the driving that Charles and I have done this weekend, we do not live anywhere near the middle of nowhere! I can now say that I have been to the middle of nowhere and have returned to tell all about it. Charles and I were invited by some very sweet friends to join them at a weekend rodeo event. We were supposed to go on Friday night and stay until Sunday, but because Friday was so rainy we decided just to go on Saturday instead. The rodeo was great fun and I have lots to tell and show about that, but right now I'm gonna share a different tale.

On our way to the rodeo Charles was consulting his printed map from Google. He was using a Google map at his own choosing even though Ann had provided directions via a text message. Charles being Charles decided on using his Google map. The Google thing took us the back way. (Cue the "something-bad-is-gonna-happen" music!) We start driving on an interstate and after a couple of turns after our exit, we find ourselves on a back country road. This looks normal, like a lot of the roads I am becomming familiar with. Then the road starts to change. It is not a 2-lane road anymore, it is about a 1 1/2-lane dirt road. As we drive further on this road, the trees seem to close in on us and in spots grow over the road creating a tunnel effect that blocks out most of the sunlight. With little light and a dense tree scape, it made me feel like we could easily have been swallowed up by the woods. I asked a number of times if this was the right way, and after consulting the Google God, I was told we were doing fine. I was spotting fewer and fewer houses, and the ones I saw seemed straight from a movie set-a few dilapidated outer buildings, overgrown yards, inside furniture used on the outside, rusted farm equipment scattered across the yard, smoke coming from battered containers... I jokingly turned to Charles at one point and said, "Paddle faster...I hear banjos!" After another 10 minutes on this same road I saw no more houses, just the hint of a house here and there like a mailbox at the road...a path cut up the mountain...the sound of a dog barking from the woods. It was getting darker and I knew that if we didn't find the rodeo grounds soon, we would have to back track to the interstate and follow Ann's directions and we would be driving these roads in the dark. Charles didn't want to admit that his precious Google map had gotten us lost because...well...because he has testicles! But he did let out a maniacal laugh at one point and admit that we were possibly in trouble! We came to a fork in the road that Charles couldn't find on the map and had 3 (!!) houses near. At one of the houses there was a teenage boy standing out front with his dog and I rolled down my window and asked where the road was that we were supposed to be on. He polietly asked, "Are you looking for the rodeo?" (How in the world he knew that two people in a Vibe with Florida plates and 2 chihuahuas on their laps were looking for a rodeo is beyond me!) After following the boy's directions and a few minutes extra for Charles to pull out that blasted map to "orient himslef" we found the rodeo sight! Thank goodness and a teenage boy!

Yes we do live off a dirt road. Yes there are miles and miles of forest behind our house. Yes deer and the occasional bear visit our yard. But Casa Peck is 10 minutes from downtown Manisfield, 8 minutes to the Walmart, 12 minutes to McDonalds...we are far from living in the middle of nowhere. Maybe we just sit on the edge of it...