It Can't Be Far Now

*** continued from previous post ***


As we progressed the road curved to the right, and I thought for a moment that we were going to skirt the back side of the cliff and escape the water all together but . . . no. It swung back on itself and headed straight for where the water met the cliff. Fine. Drowning seemed like a fairly quick death of which I was sure your Mother would agree, so I pushed on.

Fortunately, the road didn't end! HA! Our luck was improving! I hadn't been able to see, but the road actually skirted between the cliff and the lake! Now here is what made it so weird - the level of the lake was possibly an inch below the road level. Lake on one side, cliff on the other, it looked like we were driving on water. It may have been exhaustion or hypothermia, but it was one of the most bizarre optical illusions I've ever encountered. It actually made my stomach flutter.

Mom leaned forward and said, "Well, this is just unreal. It feels like we're driving on the lake."

Yes. Yes it does.

We drove on and on around the lake for what seemed like an eternity, but was probably more like 4 minutes. Or 17.6 Kiloseconds. Whatever. The point being it was long enough. Up ahead I saw that the lake ended, as well as the cliff, and the road, (Yay!), continued on through an extraordinarily beautiful meadow. I breathed a sigh of relief. Which immediately fogged my glasses and I didn't tell your Mom but for the last quarter mile or so I was driving purely on instinct. I don't think she would have appreciated, nor been amused by my mad riding skills.
As we traveled further from the lake the road improved a bit. Now there were brief sections where there were no washboards and the gravel was packed down firmly. I bumped the speed up a few notches. The Lodge couldn't be far now.

We began to climb a little, and the road deteriorated once again. The path became narrower, and instead of lush meadow we were heading into a stand of forest. Big trees on each side with the road cutting a swath between them.

I leaned back, "You doing okay Babe?"

"Yeah. Fine. Funny, 2 hours ago riding on this part of the road would have scared me to death. After coming through what we just did, it seems like a well maintained freeway."
I nodded in agreement. "I'm exhausted, but the place can't be too far now."

Yes. The place can't be far now. That became my mantra.

*** the journey continues ***