Early tomorrow, amidst a light rain I expect, I will set off again to see more of this extraordinary country, meet different people, and find a special sort of contentment that seems to only come to me when I wander around and look and listen. This trip, which I’m calling The Eastern Reach, will follow the spine of the Appalachians from North Georgia to the Maine/Canada border before slipping across the Bay of Fundy to Nova Scotia and the Island of Cape Breton.

As usual, I am heading out with an open mind and no preconceptions about where I will go or what I will find, save the basic route on which I intend to travel. I do know that the ground over which I drive represents, if you go deep enough, or know where to look high enough, some of the oldest ground in North America. And that the Appalachians themselves, once as high or higher than the Rockies, are not anymore — some perhaps no more than hills or knolls. I’m guessing the years took some things away and left some things behind in and among this great geologic fold in the fabric of our country. Lets see what we can find.