Wetness where not expected/Dryness where not anticipated

Yesterday was a fine example of how tenuous life can be while trying to pay the bills and feed the family. As you know by now, yesterday was Foreclosure Day in Georgia. When we received our pile of foreclosures to cry there was a shorter list than normal. In addition, three were canceled as the day wore on.

Prior to leaving on my trip, I consulted the weather and noticed that there was a severe weather advisory on the western borders of Georgia, directly on my pathway. I was concerned, but fortunately, the advisory ended at 10:00, about the time I would be traveling.

I needed to travel to Newnan to start in order to discuss some title and documentation issues with the folks at First Coweta. I drove to Newnan and arrived at the bank in a pouring rain. I threw up an umbrella and by the time I was to leave to go cry a sale at the courthouse, the rain was dissipating. I completed the cryout and drove to Carrollton.

The weather in Carrollton was fine, getting better. I performed my cryouts and drove up to Cedartown in Polk County. I arrived at the center of town to find two courthouses. I parked my car, walked to the front steps of the most recently built courthouse and asked a deputy sheriff talking lazily to another deputy where the foreclosures were cried out. He indicated with a hand gesture about two steps from where I was standing. So, with two deputies and a civilian present, I read the notice to the fine citizens of Polk County, Georgia. There were only three. And they didn't show much interest.

As I descended the courthouse steps, I stopped to read a historical marker which told me that a former citizen of Cedartown had matriculated to Princeton and then created one of the first public relations firm in the history of the world. Ivy Ledbetter Lee. Interesting fellow. He represented John D. Rockefeller, Jr. for a very long time, among other corporate bigwigs. I read something later that quoted him as saying that anything bad enacted by a corporation should be brought out as soon as possible. It would be found out anyway, and the longer the silence the worse the effect.

I then drove on to Dalton. The weather was a little more cloudy, but still dry when I arrived at the courthouse. I parked and walked up to the small entrance plaza in front of the courthouse. I began reading and a gentleman asked me what I was crying out. I told him and he returned to the relative safety of the interior of the courthouse, leaving the door propped open with his foot to enable him to hear me. I still don't know why.

As I continued to read, another person came up to me and asked me if you had to read the notices outside. I told her I thought I did. She informed me that she had twenty three notices to read and then went inside. Apparently, I was not persuasive enough to convince her that the steps were the appropriate place for such sales. Credibility issues, I suppose.

Anyway, I stepped down to the steps to the sidewalk and began walking across the street to my car. Suddenly, a wind and a storm began blasting me with rain and wind. My umbrella was blowing in and out. I was growing progressively wetter. I finally made it to my car only to find the driver of the next car easing out into traffic, trying to avoid backing into the oncoming traffic, but leaving me to battle the wind and rain while she maneuvered the car. Her piddling finally over, I jammed my key into the lock and found sanctuary from the storm. I removed my jacket and hung it from the passenger seat [it still smells like mildew]. I thought about removing my shoes. I seriously contemplated removing my soaking pants. But no. I just drove out of Dalton and on to Chatsworth.

When I arrived in Chatsworth, I knew I needed to drive to Ellijay, and knew that Georgia Highway 52 led from Chatsworth to Ellijay to Dahlonega. So, against the advice of my gps, I turned on 52 toward Ellijay and beyond. My gps was ringing warnings, telling me to turn around when safe and use the route it had chosen. Ignoring these warnings, I finally turned off the gps, only to find that the route I had chosen was a natural Tower of Babel, leading me ever higher toward Heaven. Up and up and up.

The clouds through which I drove were so low that I ultimately popped out above them. One driver pulled off to let me pass him. I was driving about 35 miles per hour, trying to be as safe as possible under the conditions. Finally, I popped out to the top of the mountain and began my descent. By the time I reached Ellijay, I seemed to have bypassed Ellijay completely and returned to same by way of an eastern route. Very confusing. Nevertheless, the sun was shining and the roads were wet, but passable.

I passed through the round-about in the center of the village and began heading toward Dahlonega. The roads were starting to dry up. I passed the closed apple stands of south Gilmer County. As I reached Dawson County, I found myself being signaled by oncoming drivers. I thought, perhaps, that the local deputy sheriffs were patrolling the area ahead. But no, I rounded a curve to find a fallen tree almost completely covering the road from off the road to my right all the way to about five feet from the far extent of the road to the left. I slowly bypassed the fallen tree and called directory assistance to get the number for the Dawson County Sheriff's Department. I contacted a deputy and informed her of the tree. Later, I opined to Cindy that I was the Citizen of the Day in Dawson County. Cindy was skeptical, as usual.

As the road wound down and near to Lumpkin County, I was preceded by a hardware truck. As I followed the truck, the weather began to pick up. Suddenly, the rain was so heavy that streams of red water and trash were being swept across the road in my path. Invariably, every time I tried to circumnavigate one of these streams, there was a very large truck barreling down the road toward me, splashing my car with a healthy dose of red, muddy, leaf-filled water. I would slow my car to about 20 miles per hour, trying to let my wipers remove the deluge. It worked fine, but there were a number of interposed streams to navigate. I knew my car was covered with red mud and would be for some time.

I finally arrived in Dahlonega, just about the time my defroster went out. I took a gob of paper napkins and attempted to keep the inside of my windshield free of moisture. A definite fruitless task. I finally grabbed a Mexican blanket from the back of my car and began to drive and wipe at the same time. At this point, the rain was a deluge and my windows were so foggy as to prevent me from seeing almost anything.

I was creeping through downtown Dahlonega, trying to avoid the tourists and locals. Cracking my side windows enough to allow me to see to the left and right, while allowing a sufficient amount of rain to come inside, I missed my turn. I continued and took a left and pulled off onto the side of the road in a space which appeared to be available. I wasn't really sure whether it was road or parking or just something in between. I stopped and sat for a moment to allow the rain to settle down.

In a few moments, the rain had stopped enough to let me roll my windows down and see around me, if not in front of me. I pulled up to the stopsign and pulled out into traffic. When I got to the turnoff for the courthouse, I found a car attempting to pull out into traffic from the road to the courthouse. I tried to gauge the amount of room he had left me to turn right and took a chance. I wasn't sure if there was room, but I went anyway.

There was. I pulled up to the top of the courthouse hill in time for the rain to stop. At this point, my travels were through. I cried out the last foreclosure, took a trip around the interior of the courthouse, and returned to my car and drove down to the center of town. A little off the courthouse square, which isn't anymore, I found a barbecue spot and a burrito spot, side by side. I parked my car. Got out. Avoided being hit by another driver, a student at North Georgia College, and stopped to call Cindy on my cellphone. She wasn't available. I called Kate and told her what I was doing and entered the barbecue place/burrito place.

The employees were happy to try to feed me. A little heavy on the perky side. I was trying to gather my thoughts and direct them to the menu. I finally settled on something which would allow a mixture of flavors: a sampler platter. No choice as a choice. I paid. I sat down. I drank sweet tea. I stared at a soccer game on the television. I tried to gather my thoughts. I tried to place two thoughts together. It was all very difficult.

Later I called my friend, John Boswell, on my cellphone. I filled my car up with gas. I enjoyed the cold, windy, but sunny afternoon. I finally got home around 7:15.

A long day indeed.