Tell me one thing

Land with tulip trees. From one of the pieces I looked at.

I’m sitting back at my dining room table after five full days down south, in Alabama, land-hunting and recreating. I arrived back in Chattanooga exactly 45 minutes before I had to be at work, giving me just enough time to shower the woodsmoke off my body and slap some moisturizer on my sun-chapped face. Just the way I like it. I admit it is nice to have a home base here, nice to have a closet with clean clothes in it and a shower I know I can jump into. I’ll really know that I’m taking the plunge when I cut ties with my job and get another one down there. It won’t be real until I do that.

Tonight I’m happy. I feel like I accomplished a lot this last week. I visited exactly seven pieces of land, and the one that I like best so far is in Boaz, a lovely twelve-acre stretch of pines, on top of a ridge. My dilemma is in choosing between mountain land and bottomland. Mountains are beautiful and have nice views, and are much more remote and isolated. Bottomland has the advantage of lots more water and better soil for crops. Which is of more importance to me? I can’t decide. Yet.

In the meantime, I’m making use of my gym membership before that’s lost to me, too. I ran hard tonight. I had to after five days in the passenger seat of a van, eating fast food and gas station coffee and sushi from the all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet in Talladega. Let it never be said that I’m not a risk-taker.

I’m planning another trip, starting this Wednesday. I hope this one will actually help me make some real decisions. That’s when things are going to get difficult, when the rubber meets the road. I’ve been talking about this decision for so long. Am I really ready?

Pine trees at dusk