"How green was my valley then, and the valley of them that have gone"?I pondered this quote from the memorable 1941 Oscar winning movie "How Green Was My Valley" . It was hard not to think about times long past when driving through areas of the East the last couple of days. I thought back to the Colonial times, the beginning of this great Country when the Colonists first set sight on these lands. Then to the heartache of the Civil War, brother fighting brother, that almost brought this Country to ruin. How many feet walked these green valleys with joy or sorrow? How many lives lost on this pallet of color which seems to envelope you like a cool green blanket taking the summer heat away. Driving through Pennsylvania and Marylad to get to the docks in Baltimore, I wondered how many people take this beauty for granted as they go about their daily business.
We arrived at the dockyard Sunday afternoon 
and settled in for the long wait until morning. Our first drop took all of 10 minutes and we were headed to our second drop at the dock across the Chesapeake Bay. Since the last time we were at the Den Dulk Terminal, they had changed their entry location and procedures. Making it past security and obtaining our dock pass we then made a series of turns, u-turns, backups, starting to feel like a rat in a maze then, "Eureka", we found where we needed to be. This time after checking in, we waited a mere 15 minutes to be escorted to where the boat would be off loaded. With paperwork signed, and in under 40 minutes, we were unloaded and ready for our next assignment.
and settled in for the long wait until morning. Our first drop took all of 10 minutes and we were headed to our second drop at the dock across the Chesapeake Bay. Since the last time we were at the Den Dulk Terminal, they had changed their entry location and procedures. Making it past security and obtaining our dock pass we then made a series of turns, u-turns, backups, starting to feel like a rat in a maze then, "Eureka", we found where we needed to be. This time after checking in, we waited a mere 15 minutes to be escorted to where the boat would be off loaded. With paperwork signed, and in under 40 minutes, we were unloaded and ready for our next assignment.We drove to a truck stop in Baltimore to await 
our next dispatch. Shortly after settling in we received it over our truck computer and we only had 140 miles to our destination, Cumberland, Maryland and the Bayliner Boat Plant, which was shut down the end of March. We will be taking some boat molds and other miscellaneous items to our new favorite location, Pipestone, Minnesota. The guys at the Bayliner plant in Pipestone, joked with us that we were taking up residency there because we have been there so much in the last month. Craig and I laughed, because I had just researched properties for sale prior to our last arrival, thinking maybe Pipestone would be a nice place to live.
our next dispatch. Shortly after settling in we received it over our truck computer and we only had 140 miles to our destination, Cumberland, Maryland and the Bayliner Boat Plant, which was shut down the end of March. We will be taking some boat molds and other miscellaneous items to our new favorite location, Pipestone, Minnesota. The guys at the Bayliner plant in Pipestone, joked with us that we were taking up residency there because we have been there so much in the last month. Craig and I laughed, because I had just researched properties for sale prior to our last arrival, thinking maybe Pipestone would be a nice place to live.Back out on the road again, we had the same beautiful green landscape to take in on our way to the Cumberland plant. I tried to commit these beautiful visions in the memory banks of my brain, to recall in the dead of summer when the browns 
of the landscape of the Southwest threaten to erase any reminder of color my thoughts could try to conger up.
of the landscape of the Southwest threaten to erase any reminder of color my thoughts could try to conger up."There is no fence or hedge around time that has gone. You can go back and have what you like if you remember it well enough."
I will remember these images and visions forever.
1 comment:
I think a lot of old timers in these areas do take their surroundings for granted...the bypass here is a good example. Lifers call Sand Creek a mud hole not worth saving. I remember what the area around the 605 Fwy in Calif looked like before they put in a byway....now it is a smog covered, cememt eyesore of an over built freeway.
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