Denouement

1. 
   

   Barb asked me how I felt about the trip winding down, and the word that came to mind was "Denouement."
   
   
   

   de·noue·ment

   ˌdāno͞oˈmäN/

   noun

   1. 
      

      
      

      the final part of a play, movie, or narrative in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved.

      
      

   
   But I'm not so sure I am able to draw the strands together at this point…I've been thinking about it the last few days, and its seeming like the trip carries a theme of water, and flow… the flow of water, the lack of water in so much of the early part of the trip, the beautiful bodies of water I've enjoyed, the flow of images, the flow of ideas and creativity, even the flow of traffic (!), and the flow of life… Think I'll play around with that and see what comes up.  And of course that leads to one of my favorite Zen quotes:
   

   Don't push the river, it flows by itself.

   So, if everything goes as planned I will be back at "my" river tomorrow.  I look forward to seeing my mom, friends & family and Crosswinds. I wonder how Theo will react.  He probably thinks his life now consists of living in Mac.  Think he'll be pretty excited to get home.
   
   But I don't want to skip over the last couple days of the trip.  They've been good!   We took our time leaving Scioto Trail in Ohio yesterday - got a mile walk in and Theo got an early morning moment of Zen.
   
   
   

   

   Theo's moment of Zen early am at Caldwell Lake

   
   I love how he feels he needs to shake when he's standing in ankle-deep water…
   
   We followed the "3-hour rule" and drove that amount of time to one of my favorite campgrounds - at Camp Creek West Virginia.  Middle of the week and lots of empty spots.  It was forecast to be rainy, so we decided to take a spot with electricity on higher ground.
   
   
   

   

   We love empty campgrounds!

   
   Camp Creek is a nice spot - near the highway but just around a small mountain so no highway noise, well-maintained, clean and friendly folks.  I love the river and falls that flow through it, but the water was a little low at the end of the summer.  Theo and I got out for a walk this morning before we headed out.
   
   
   

   

   Soft green mountains at Camp Creek

   
   
   

   

   Theo shaking in ankle-deep water again!  Happy dog.

   
   I half thought of pushing on through home today, but our three hours of driving time is actually 5 hours with our stops, so we were ready to stop. Why break the "three-hour rule" now?  But we made it to North Carolina soil!  
   
   
   

   

   Beautiful view from the WV Turnpike

   
   

   Will get home tomorrow… going with the flow.