I’ve been struggling with allergies ever since I hit Florida, so when I discovered that I felt well driving after I left Amelia Island (outrunning the pollens that bedeviled me?), I kept driving.
I’d seen a picture on Facebook of Callaway Gardens near Pine Mountain in Georgia, and since Amelia Island was only a long days drive from Pine Mountain, I decided to head that way. I set my phone to Google maps and let Google lead the way. It took me through many small towns, some very lovely and oh, so southern, such as Euphaula, Alabama. (The tree-canopied highway swept past well-kept mansions, some with ornate gingerbread trim, some with classic columns.)
I’d planned to spend the night halfway, making it an easy two-day journey, but I didn’t see anywhere I particularly wanted to stay, and since I continued to be able to breathe easily, I kept driving. I was way too late to get a place in Callaway Gardens, but luckily I found a small motel in Pine Mountain. And what a find! White Columns Motel is family run, inexpensive, and has all the charm of a resort bed and breakfast. (In fact, they did fix breakfast for me after my good night’s sleep in a four-poster bed.)
I am now sitting in the sun on a swing outside my room, breathing azalea-scented air, basking under cloudless blue skies, bonelessly relaxed. A sporadic breeze blows away the flower scent and brings me the cool clear odor of pine from the forest behind me.
I suppose I should go visit the gardens as I had planned, but the swing has seduced me. I feel like a heroine in an historic novel, a southern belle with nothing to do but indulge my indolence. Luckily, I am not such a character, because after the indolence comes chaos (otherwise there wouldn’t be a story), and I am enjoying this moment far too much to have it interrupted with plotlines.
If you don’t hear from me in the next few days, don’t worry. I’ll still be here, letting the gentle movements of air and swing caress me.
***
(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)
***
Bertram's Blog 
April 6, 2016 at 9:53 am
I lived in Alabama for twenty-plus years and always found it friendly and comfortful. Enjoy!
April 6, 2016 at 12:07 pm
So far, I really like Georgia. Well, all except the speeding idiot who changed lanes starting in my lane inches from my car.
April 6, 2016 at 10:52 am
Welcome to the great state of Georgia. I look forward to your visit.
April 6, 2016 at 12:05 pm
Thank you. See you shortly!
April 6, 2016 at 8:59 pm
Thanks for dropping by for dinner. We enjoyed your company and the stimulating conversation. All the best to you on your trek across America.
April 6, 2016 at 9:33 pm
You and your wife were very gracious. Thank you for dinner and all the wonderful stories.
(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)
April 6, 2016 at 3:31 pm
Starting with “Gone with the Wind” when I was 13, I used to read historical romances set in the Antebellum era and fell in love with the south. I just had to visit New Orleans and from there Mississippi – loved Natchez – and Alabama and eventually Florida, George, Tennessee, Kentucky, (and Arkansas, where my father’s family was from). Loved the old mansions and the gardens. My poet grandmother wrote about the Magnolia trees on her wedding day to my grandfather and we had this big beautiful Magnolia tree in front of our home in Orlando. I felt so close to her.
April 6, 2016 at 9:45 pm
I remember thinking, when I was very young and going through a southern novel phase, that I was born in the wrong century, that I was more fitted to such times. But then I grew up and realized that as romantic as that notion had been, I would have been terribly out of place, and wearing all those clothes and traditions would have driven me nuts.
(Pat Bertram is the author of the suspense novels Light Bringer, More Deaths Than One, A Spark of Heavenly Fire, and Daughter Am I. Bertram is also the author of Grief: The Great Yearning, “an exquisite book, wrenching to read, and at the same time full of profound truths.”)