![\u201dtractor\u201d](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/july11\/july19.jpg\")
<\/center><\/p>\nYes, tractors would count. He turned off just before I caught up to him. Chicken. I\u2019d entertained the notion of following him, but he went down a gravel road. I, too, am a chicken. The fun of it was that, had I not slowed to compose a photograph I might have overtaken him.<\/p>\n
Tractors would count.<\/p>\n
One of the nice parts about the route we took this morning is that much of it is so far out in the middle of nowhere you can go miles without seeing a car. You also have great scenery: <\/p>\n
![\u201dbarn\u201d](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/july11\/july20.jpg\")
<\/center><\/p>\nI love that stuff, and this area is full of fields that used to feature working houses or barns that are now storage or little more than rusty, rotting windbreaks. Occasionally you get to see things you aren\u2019t really sure about:<\/p>\n
![\u201dhouse\u201d](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/july11\/july21.jpg\")
<\/center><\/p>\nMaybe it isn\u2019t a mirage. Couldn\u2019t say. This was on a stretch of road I\u2019ve pedaled on once before, notable for the calm, quiet pastureland and that there is no store for miles and miles around. You instinctively nurse your water through here, even on a hot July day, because you don\u2019t know when you\u2019ll find a place with more to sell you. <\/p>\n
Near that house:<\/p>\n
![\u201dfield\u201d](\"http:\/\/www.kennysmith.org\/photo\/july11\/july22.jpg\")
<\/center><\/p>\nI\u2019m always on the lookout for a flat field with a lone tree and nothing in the background but horizon. The parts of the world I live in are too hilly and too covered in trees to see it, but somewhere on the great plains this place exists. I don\u2019t know why I look for that setting, but I have an urge to take a photograph of it. I look and I look, and I find neat little places like that. You probably wouldn\u2019t even notice that from a car. I speak from experience, having spent countless hours on sleepy country roads driving from one family dream to another family event. <\/p>\n
I thought of this on my ride today. I have a list of questions I\u2019m going to ask should I ever get to speak with someone in Management in Heaven. One question is \u201cHow close did I get to walking over buried treasure?\u201d Another is \u201cWas my purpose something small, like not letting someone off the phone so that they could not leave their home and narrowly miss a horrible accident? Or was it bigger, like eating all of the Little Debbie snack cakes?\u201d I have a whole list. And now this: \u201cHow much time did I spend on little two lane country roads?\u201d I wouldn\u2019t ask that out of despair, at least not anymore, but out of wonder. There can be a great joy that can be found in getting from here to there, even on paths you\u2019ve taken your entire life.<\/p>\n
Or on new paths. Today I found myself at an intersection that featured an old country dining restaurant, a decrepit fireworks stand, a Dollar General, a stand-alone ice dispenser and a random country grocery store. I’m going back with a fistful of dollars.<\/p>\n
The Yankee took me<\/strong> to lunch today. She wanted salad, so we visited Panera, where they now give you a pager, ask for your social security number, blood type, mother\u2019s maiden name and the lotto numbers you play. When your food is ready they call your name. <\/p>\n I had a brief chat with the guy at the pickup counter.<\/p>\n Are the pagers broken?<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo \u2026 \u201c<\/p>\n And that was it. They don\u2019t use them, his voice trailed off as if he hadn\u2019t considered being asked such a question, as if the local franchise had been unsure, all this time, about how to use those big chunks of black plastic. How does the home office know what is happening in all of the various satellites operating under their signage near and far? <\/p>\n I liked Panera better before the prices went up and the cups got tiny, back when there was a little craft on display in their sandwich making process. Today I had warm soup dipped from a warming vase and a sandwich with cold cuts. This will run you about seven bucks. The cups, though, are the thing that get you. The Panera drink glass is now the size of most people\u2019s water cups. The Panera water cup is a diminutive thimble. As if they have a staff member, the guy who\u2019s on this mysterious \u201cPager Duty\u201d walking the floor making sure no one ordered a water and pumped in a little carbonated lemonade instead.<\/p>\n Give the place credit, though. This particular Panera actually has seating, a concept which is as foreign in most of their restaurants as the pagers. This is a happy accident. This Panera is in a strip mall and was previously a \u2026 my memory and the Internet don\u2019t recall what it was, let\u2019s call it a specialty boutique retail store of indistinct origin or business model. They\u2019ve capitalized on the space, and there are plenty of tabletops. In fact the room segments itself nicely, along the front are the college kids, in the back are the silver foxes. <\/p>\n We try to sit in the middle.<\/p>\n Links and stuff<\/strong>: Students at the University of Alabama put this little video together on life after the April tornado. Do check it out:<\/p>\n