A Road Trip In the Rain

A Road Trip In the Rain

By:  a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures

Dear Henry,

I get to work from home, which I genuinely love. But even good things can become crowded.

Sometimes, getting out of the house isn’t really a break,  especially when I’m almost always with Fish, and home is full of other lives that need attention. Three cats and a dog make being alone functionally impossible. And every now and then, what I want most is not company, but quiet.

So I planned an evening away.

I headed toward Lake Hamilton in Arkansas, an overnight trip chosen for its simplicity. The idea was to spend the evening somewhere calm and catch early morning photographs on the way back, sunrise over the Ouachitas, maybe Lake Hamilton itself. If timing worked, I might even slip into a spa. Hot Springs has a way of offering stillness on demand.

The trip was planned before we knew about the storm system.

Spring, it turns out, had other ideas.

I wasn’t especially worried when I left. I checked the radar and felt reasonably confident I could stay between the two bands of storms the entire time. And despite appearances,  and some concern from those who love me, I was right.

I stayed between them.

Still, it was a rumbly evening. Not dangerous, but unsettled. Thunder rolled. The air pressed in. It wasn’t the kind of night meant for wandering or walking, more a night for listening, staying put, and letting the weather do what it was going to do.

The rain stopped very early the next morning.

The silence is what woke me.

Instead of tossing and turning, I just got up. Sunrise didn’t really show itself until I was near Fort Smith — a lovely city, but not one that asked me to pull over and photograph it that morning. And so I didn’t.

What I did get was time. Miles of it. The kind of quiet you don’t schedule so much as accept. A road slick with rain, low clouds, and the steady hum of motion without urgency.

Sometimes the photograph doesn’t happen.

But the thinking does.

And that, as it turns out, was enough.

xoxo,
a.d. elliott

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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life

She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.

You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.

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