Dreaming of Retirement

I've been giving in to flights of fancy at work this morning. There's not much worse than being chained to a desk for 10 hours with very little to do. Eh. They pay me, all is well. But I was thinking of where I would be right this moment if this Train Wreck of Life didn't demand my presence here.

Heaven

Or, the establishment just across the street, most likely.

While spending the weekend in Galena, Old Sarge and I stumbled across this place while exploring the back roads. There isn't much- the general store, the saloon across the street that for the life of me I can't remember the name of, and the oldest church built in Wisconsin. A few houses standing, and many that are not. Looks like a place to water the horses, so to speak, when you're out biking in the summer. A flyspeck on the map. Deliverance meets the Cheddar Curtain.

But there is a definite appeal for me in the NW Illinois/SW Wisconsin area. The hills are taller, a little more wooded; you can convince yourself that having a little place set off the road in that stand of oak trees just might be as close to Heaven as you can get on this earth. Standing at the top of a hill, the wind lifting the hair from your head as though daring you to take wing, looking down on a pasture below, a creek running fast and narrow through a tangle of trees...I think God must vacation here.

I'm thinking a little trip might be in order. At least we won't have to spit on the floor of the saloon this time, as newcomers must.