Country roads, take me home to the place I belong.
In 2023, I was happily bumping and rolling down the highway in my pickup truck, heading south on a spontaneous end-of-summer camping/road trip. As I was making my way through Virginia, I started to recall a long forgotten favorite song that felt appropriate for the scene. The words to the verses were slowly coming back to me as I hummed and sang John Denver's "Take me Home, Country Roads." Then, just as the lyrics were finally getting pieced back together, I was stunned to see the signposts that identified the river I was crossing over was the same one from the song--it was the Shenandoah! I called it Kismet. So I took the first exit I could, then doubled back to follow the quaint, farm-delimiting roads to get back to the river I felt I had known since childhood (even though I had never seen or touched it in person before). She was a beauty!
It was on this day that I made my acquaintance with the iconic river, walked along its banks, took a dip in the cool water. and was pleased to find this river as friendly and welcoming as my own home waters.
