On the road for 6am on Black Friday...too many tardy shoppers were clogging up 610 where I entered and then they all zoomed off at Causeway. They must have been late getting to Lakeside or some other shopping center.
Once I was on Interstate 55 heading north, I could enjoy the solitude of the road, a pink to lavender sunrise over Lake Ponchartrain through wisps of Spanish Moss, and many rest stop pastoral scenes along the way.
Leaving Louisiana for Mississippi, this favorite Welcome Center waited. Getting older, I enjoy stopping more. It's no longer a race. I take a few photos, use the facilities, and sometimes even have a little lunch break outside of the moving vehicle.
Even though the trees were rich with color and prettier than usual, my heart seized regularly at the many dead animals beside the road...lots of deer, possums, skunks, and racoons, but for the first time I saw a large number of birds.
In Mississippi the birds of prey wisely flew high above the evergreens, but in the fields and plains of Arkansas there were many big beautiful birds who took off just above the cars and were forced to climb higher faster than they had planned. I watched one who lifted straight up above the car in front of me and did make it to safety. Although that could explain the many dead birds along the highway, I had to wonder if hunting season added to those numbers. Their size, beauty and power took my breath away.
My heart still hurts when I remember the number of fatalities I found on the Black Friday highway. If only seatbelts were an answer for them!
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