(Click on the yellow envelope for e-mail, go to www.ohio.com and follow the links for stories)
On the road again ... here I am in Portsmouth after rejoining the Ohio Odyssey late last night. The flights from Dallas had me in Columbus around 8 last night and it was 11 by the time I pulled in Huntington, our overnight stay across the river from Chesapeake. Today we rode to Portsmouth and I have to say it was depressing. That strip of highway - especially the 10 miles going into Portsmouth - is really wretched. I always look for the good things to say about a city. If Portsmouth didn't have the murals, it wouldn't have anything at all.
During the flight back, I couldn't help think about the differences in high altitude travel versus ground-level travel.
In the air, all you hear is the roar of the jet engines and the rush of air. On the ground, you hear the birds sing. In the air, you feel the gentle vibrations of the plane. On the ground, you have a direct connection to the earth and feel every jolt and jostle.
In the air, you have idle chatter with the person in the seat next to you - that is, until the captain says you can turn on some electrical devices and then everyone retreats into the solitude of their CD-players. On the ground, you meet new people and can talk at length with the people with whom you are riding.
The air offers air-conditioned comfort, but no sense of self-propulsion, a much more gratifying, though sweat producing, experience. Besides, the reprocessed environment clogs your senses anyway. On the ground, even the farm fields smell lush.
At 33,000 feet, the ground is a jigsaw puzzle of various geometric shapes - houses are dots, roads are lines, forests and lakes are splashes of green and blue on a canvas of brown. On the ground, they are real.
No, give me my aluminum steed, give me the sun on my face and the strain of muscle, give me all the sensory highs and lows - any day, any time.
Of course, looking down on the puffy white clouds, now that's cool.
Tonight we're staying at a Holiday Inn. Our connection in Portsmouth never answered his phone today and so we found another place to stay. Finding a decent restaurant in Portsmouth ... well, don't get me started on Portsmouth again, what a wretched place.
10:00:54 PM 
|
