Found a journal of the trip he took across the country in 1917. He must have been on his way to enlist. They didn’t have maps then, just a series of vague directions. Turn left at the green barn, go over a wooden bridge for a good while. Road might be muddy in the rainy season. That sort of thing.
He drove a 1902 Pan American made in Mamaroneck, NY. He had won it in a poker game in Baton Rouge, betting his father’s Civil War timepiece to do it.
He came back from France a changed man. They all did.
Haunting last line. (p.s. those directions sound like mine!)
Perpetual struggles, well encompassed.
Sounds like this man could have been in the Australian outback. Go on for a ‘good while’ may be 10 miles or more in ‘Cocky’ speak – (meaning farmer’s language). The boys who enlisted were, like so many around the world, naïve and adventurous. Just like your last line, those who managed to ‘get back’ were certainly changed. And this is what your tale conjured up within me! Well done.
Fascinating. Makes me want to know more!
Killer last line- simple and small yet packs a punch.
Can anyone ever come back the same??? I think not.
Realistic …
Isadora ?
Well told! We still use those directions here in the country in the States!