This early morning was interesting when being outside and seeing the sky and feeling the air. I couldn’t tell if it was to be a gray day or if another storm was moving in as it has been these past weeks with those arrivals of unexpected rain storms. With it being a Sunday morning, I decided to take a little time off for myself and a drive to a destination yet to be determined. Sounds crazy for someone to just get in a car, drive down a street, and when at a directional corner, you sit there for moment or two and make the choice of which of four directions you’ll be traveling. And thus, I did just that. Feeling comfortable with my chosen direction, I continued my driving for miles and miles while following or dismissing arrows pointing to this city or that. After a few hours I decided it was time to visit the next nearest city. I spent about three hours there, and my first stop was in the downtown where I wandered about aimlessly while snapping photos of handsome buildings. As I was walking past a theatre with its marquis lights lit and a screen showing upcoming events, there stood young man holding the door thinking I was going to enter. I looked down at a portable tent sign on the sidewalk and to my surprise, there was a morning service of a religious group called “Truth Church”. As I walked father away I couldn’t help but consider what the Truth Church services must be like. I finished my zig-zaged tour of the downtown and decided to find myself a more traditional church to attend. After driving about seven or eight blocks I could see a tall pencil like steeple of a church reaching above the tree tops. I managed to find my way there, and as chance would have it I was only a half hour early for their services. I figured it was today’s house of worship I was meant to attend simply because of the timing. One of the elder “gate keepers” came out likely having noticed me walking around their grounds and asked where I was from along all the normal words exchanged during a polite first meeting. I entered the church and spent about an hour there reading, listening, and above all, taking in all the visuals. After the service ended, I asked that same man if it would be ok to take a photo or two and he said, “By all means!” Unfortunately while walking out, I found myself in midst of a heavy rain without an umbrella.
The rest of my time spent in the city was visiting the historic district where I stopped for sandwich and cup of coffee and then on to the next district. Since I am not much of a shopper, I figured I’d at least have to go take a walk through their mall. Had I more time, I would’ve just plopped myself on a bench and watched people. As it seems in every city including ours, there are men and women walking about with bared arms and legs exposing their tattoos. I just about had a jaw drop when I saw a man reaching down to pick something up and in that split second, I thought he was wearing paisley pants, but instead I found his legs completely covered with tattoos. It made me think of an old movie I saw number of years ago called “The Painted Man”. It was about a man who continued to have his body covered with tattoos. I looked at my watch and figured that the hour was getting late and time to head home. While driving away and seeing a silhouette of the city in my rear view mirror, I smiled to myself and said, “My experiences today were worth the drive.”
Coming full circle back around to the beginning of our tenth of July, I was more fully reminded how it’s good to just get in your car and drive without any idea where you’ll stop because it’s usually in those times where the more memorable experiences take place. Let’s call them our “random destinations”. I hope you like the above photo I took today of what appears to be a pigeon who’s laid claim to an extended brick protruding out from the side of a building.
