By Joe Cross
From Virginia we again headed south stopping briefly in Charlotte, North Carolina, then traveling on to Atlanta, Georgia, where I commemorated my long-term, but now defunct love affair with Coca-Cola by visiting the World of Coke Museum. Though I found it strange that there could be an entire museum devoted entirely to a carbonated beverage, it did evoke very fond memories of my childhood in Sydney. From the time I was a little boy, Coke had been among my favorite comfort foods, and visiting the museum was like an art lover going into an auction at Sotheby’s with blank check in hand. I managed to avoid the temptation to break down and pour myself a cold one, but while the influence of Coca-Cola on my life was over, its influence as one of the most powerful corporations in the world continued to take my breath away.
By the way, we had a lot of fun in Atlanta. Since I grew up in a big city and much of the traveling I’ve done is to other cities around the world, I felt at home there. I had a friend from New York named Ellie Mae who was living in Atlanta, and she offered to show me around. As Ellie is a bit of a fashionista, she of course suggested we go clothes shopping which I willingly agreed to, as my clothes had begun to get very loose on me. I can’t tell you how exciting it was not to have to shop at one of those store for “big and tall” men.
What struck me as we headed further south were all the vivid, varied colors along the way: the blues of the mountains, the lush greens, the orange-yellow leaves, the pink sunsets. Some of my favorite moments involved looking around for a place to pull over and make myself a juice.
There was something cathartic about the simplicity of finding a roadside farm stand, carefully selecting the ingredients for my meal and then making myself a juice. No restaurant, no stove, no fuss, just the delicious taste of the fruits and vegetables against the backdrop of a country road or a mountain ridge. The routine made me feel that I was self-sustaining, and there was something liberating about that.
Have you been following my past journal entries? Make sure you catch up here. I’m sharing these thoughts with you as part of the 2nd Anniversary celebration of Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead so I hope you are either able to relate or be inspired by my journal entries. Don’t miss out on the other pieces to this celebration:
Win a Breville Juicer
Be Someone’s Joe and nominate your loved one to attend Camp Reboot.