I showered, dressed, gathered what I wanted to take and was out the door shortly after 6. I headed to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast: two Boston Kremes and a cup of hot chocolate. They were so nice at Dunkin Donuts. All their Boston Kremes on the shelf were ruined by an orange drizzle (Halloween), I turned to go but they made two new ones just for me!
Ah, but I had forgotten an item and had to head back to the house to get it. And at 6:15, I was off!
It is still night at 6 am. When I turned onto the on ramp for I-77, it was dark. So dark I could barely see the ramp! But being the ‘plodder’ that I am, I pressed on. In the dark. The deep, deep dark, thankful that there wasn’t a lot of traffic. When I got into Chester County, it began to rain. “This is great, it is dark AND raining.” A one-eyed driver’s picture perfect trip. I pressed on, after all, Lucca and DC are at the other end.
Dawn. What an absolutely beautiful time of day. What was shrouded in darkness is now being revealed. It’s like the first day of creation all over again. The light is unlike the full light of day, and everything looks different. And beautiful. I was in awe of creation and wanted to take every road. Everything was so inviting. The entire trip was marked by distinct and changing colors, and the freshness of the morning. It was so beautiful, I had a brief moment of sadness, thinking about how it would all be changed by the light of full day.
It’s pretty much downhill from Rock Hill to Augusta. The respective elevations:
Rock Hill 676 ft
Columbia 292 ft
Augusta 136 ft
I’ve noticed this before, but everything looks different in the early morning. I would come to a hill and what a sight! Shortly after mile marker 50 on I-77 you can see the midlands below you. Beautiful. From Rock Hill (676) to Ridgeway (614) at exit 34, there is a drop of 62 feet. Right after this, Wow! You round a corner and the South Carolina midlands is in plain view. Beautiful! (You reckon they call it ‘Ridgeway’ for that reason?)
Same thing happens between Columbia (292 ft) and Augusta (136 ft). This is more dramatic by the rise to Aiken (515 ft), which obviously sits on some kind of ridge itself. You round a bend, and you can see for miles and miles and miles. And you know you are heading down to a river. Amazing!
Between Columbia and Augusta my attention was drawn to 2 Timothy 1:7, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. I delivered a wonderful teaching on the spirit of fear!
I arrived at Mary K’s house at 8:40. Lucca greeted me with, “We love you, Granddaddy.” This day just gets better and better!! We hopped into Mary K’s car and headed to church. Pretty good service. We sang “Come, thou fount” with all the original words! Even,
He to rescue me from danger
Interposed his precious blood
And we confessed (a slightly edited version of) the Apostle’s Creed. In a Baptist church!
We spent the afternoon at Mary K’s house, mostly in her backyard. When I announced I was leaving, DC said, "No" and grabbed me. So, I picked him up and hugged him for a while. Then at 4, I hopped into the jeep and headed back. Uphill all the way. Yet I made better time coming back.
It was a good day.
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| Mary K made a small fire. Lucca is adding sticks |
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| Playing with Lucca on the swing. She had a wonderful laugh |
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