MARCIA POWELL -- Blog article – July 17, 2011
Well, dear friends, I managed to handle most of the items on my “Do in Illinois” list.
The day I left, I got up at 6:30 and started packing. Took till 6:30 p.m. (!) as I had to decide what to leave in Illinois and what to take with me to North Carolina and Florida. For weeks I’d been worried about it all fitting into my little Mazda—but, by golly, it DID!
For years I’ve had a problem with leg pain when I drive over 45 minutes, so wasn’t sure what to expect driving 1000 (approx.) miles by myself! The M.O. was to stop at every rest stop, take off my shoes (grounding—heard of it?), lie on the ground and do a series of exercises. Might’ve looked funny to passersby, but it worked!
These rest stops are really quite beautiful. However, I realized how irritated I get when the toilet flushes on its own. It’s like, Hey! Who said I was ready to flush? Then it’s done before I get the paper thrown in, causing the next person to think it hadn’t flushed. So they flush again, which WASTES WATER! I just read the issue of “Yes!” magazine about the planetary water shortage, and we all need to stop wasting water.
Anyway, I asked myself if these AFT’s (Automatic Flushing Toilets) are run by electricity. If so, what happens if the electricity goes off? Eeeeooooou! Maybe I’m just becoming a reactionary conservative in my old age… or maybe it’s just that I want to be CAUSE OVER FLUSHING. So now I’m into the game of it. First I have to learn to recognize an AFT—like pay attention when I first walk in. Is it me against the robot, or not? Also I think it’s important not to lean forward, which can lean to premature flushing. And maybe wiping from the back will prevent it. I recall previously being irritated by this phenomena, but I think it was after a movie and I didn’t have attention units to put on the problem. That’s what driving alone across the country does—allows you to put attention units on previously unimportant matters. Oh well, it’s always good to have another game to play!
Anyway, Kentucky is beautiful, as is West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina. It was hard to enjoy the corn and soybeans in Illinois, as I think soy is not that healthful, nor is corn and its products. I just went to ask.com and asked about the ethanol issue. Didn’t have time to research it properly, but intend to, as I think there’s downsides to it. Part of my work in Illinois was to figure out what to do with my 22 acres. For starters, I plan to grow alfalfa (hay) next growing season as a way to start the transition to sustainable farming.
As I got further and further east, I enjoyed seeing animals grazing on grass (as opposed to eating grain in huge cattle farms)--and other crops being grown, and BIG farmers markets.
You may or may not know I’m somewhat of an NPR (Natl Public Radio) junkie. But as I was driving across the sound to the Outer Banks, I realized I wanted to hear beautiful music to go along with the beautiful scenery. Realized again the beauty of small white fluffy clouds in a blue sky, over green foliage. I think it’s most beautiful in a ratio of 2/5th clouds to 3/5th blue sky. Isn’t it odd that I’d think that way… go figure… (tee hee) ?!
Miraculously, my sister and husband (one car), niece and family (another car), and I all managed to arrive (without caravanning) at our destination within an hour of each other. Stay tuned…
Love to all, Marcia (818) 552-2211 cell
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