finding the way

We have worn out a lot of things over the last few years ... clothes, coffee makers, lawn mowers, etc.  Even I am a little more rumpled ... a bit worn around the edges ... slightly faded -- all of these things are a welcome improvement.  Despite what one may dread, time can be kind -- softening and smoothing, turning us into river rocks.  But I digress ...

What I wanted to talk about is this atlas.  I pulled it out yet again today.  It has proven indispensible for wandering -- both planned and spontaneous.  It's been battered and abused but still it remains constant and true.  Few of its pages are unstudied, most of them bear the marks of planned and actual routes -- splashed and splattered with the various detrious of the road -- food, drink, dirt, tears.  I am still amazed by how simple it is though -- look at the map, look at the road and there you go, there you are.