blue skies up ahead!

Today was a dreary gray day on the road.

I had already had
two dreary gray days
at the beach
and now I was heading home,
along with lots of other
post-holiday travelers.
And we were all riding
under dreary gray skies.
And stopping on the highway.
A lot.
I guess the folks in McDonough, Georgia, had gone to Florida and were now returning home. Bless their pea-pickin' hearts, they absolutely cannot drive. They seem to think that when approaching an exit, you need to STOP, especially if you are in the far left lane and your exit - or somebody's exit - is nearing on the right.
I am being serious here. Anyone who has ever had to drive that stretch of I-75 between Macon and Atlanta can attest to the total lack of driving skills in evidence around those exits for McDonough. On road trips to visit my youngest brother or my BFF, I have taken to driving thirty minutes out of my way so as to avoid those idiots.
Yet, here they were, repeatedly stopping traffic on I-95, on their way out of Florida.
Sigh.
Very disheartening.

I had tried driving along the A1A,
riding along the Atlantic Ocean,
for a while.
But the gray sky
reflected onto the gray water
and the gray beach
and the gray mist
which hung over all.
So,
instead,
I had relented and chosen the interstate for the path home.
And there they were, the horrible drivers from McDonough.
Or perhaps simply their kinfolk.
Sigh.
Stop and go, stop and go.
Seventy miles per hour, then down to zero.
Repeat.
Repeat.
Repeat.

Then, a patch of blue sky appeared!
Not upward
- oh, no,
that remained
gray, gray, gray.
But directly in my vision,
straight ahead of me after
switching to my lane -
blue sky!
I'll take it!

I stayed right behind that vehicle and its patch of blue sky until we reached Jacksonville. Then it turned westward and I continued northbound, relaxed and serene.
The McDonough folks?
Who knows! Who cares!
Traffic seemed to cruise along as it should after that, until I was approaching Brunswick.
There, another spate of stop and go resumed.

But what was that pattern on the back of that truck?
Not just gray there...
it was blue!
Definitely blue!
A bit faded, true, yet still visible against the gray metal on its flanks.
And calmness pervaded my body and mind.
I had another patch of blue sky to lead the way home.
Nice.

i Thank You, God.