Road Trip 2020, Day Eight

along a river

this fairy tale ferry stop

has stood a beacon

in muddy waters

kids get to be kids all day

while mamas paddle

nature is our home

found in Kentucky fire

lit by desire

Road Trip 2020, Day Seven

there is no escape here.

only evasion.

it’s up this curvy road packed with hill after horse-country hill,

packed with perfect fences and horses whipping their tails,

with cars zooming past, some honking at my hugging-the-shoulder presence as i pedal

pedal

pedal

past these race-won mansions,

these stacked-limestone walls that can’t trap me in or out,

into the sunny, humid heat of midday Kentucky,

so far from home, so far from home,

so near to everything that is hard and easy, up and down these endless hills

in a circle that isn’t a circle.

Road Trip 2020, Day Six (Turtles and All)

a creek paddle day

brings every boat together

for swimming and grins

Road Trip 2020, Day Five

if only these pics were perfect

as perfectly peaceful as they appear

and no one lost a phone (and all the love attached) to a lake

and no one said they hated each other

and no one lied to their mother

and no one cried.

but life isn’t this lake

this quiet Kentucky fishing lake that we ruined with six screaming kids and one barking dog

this peaceful lake for paddling or praying or both

this swimmable, all-ours, wake-free lake.

Life is this lake, isn’t it?

Perfect and not so perfect.

Road Trip 2020, Day Four

Kentucky cycles:

you can find happiness in

rolling hills, horse farms

Road Trip 2020, Day Three

nothing like my park

and isn’t that so perfect?

vines, dogs, shade, creeks, peace.

nothing like my path

and isn’t that so perfect?

sun, hills, curves, town, bike.

Road Trip 2020, Day Two

not what i dreamed of

for our family vacation;

pretty all the same

you wouldn’t believe

how fire Kentucky is

sunsets, family, all

Road Trip 2020, Day One

Kansas welcomes us

for our pandemic travel

and his first crossing

It’s Over

here we are swimming

like the pandemic has stopped

on the paddle board

Coronatine, Day Eighty-nine

screech owls in our park

cycling through the city

quarantine summer