Sunday Favorites Feb 7, 2010.

Chari at Happy to Design has a feature called Sunday Favorites. It allows participants to share an old blog post with readers, while still taking Sunday off, by reposting an old post.

Years ago, as an over the road truck driver, I collected a few thoughts and stories from my journeys and travels.

At one point, I put them into an AOL Journal, then when AOL discontinued journals, I moved them into a blogger file where they have sat dormant.

I thought maybe, on Sunday Favorites, I would share a few of them.

My first one, was written some time in early 1999. I don't have an exact date.

But here it is:

Where Do They Go?

It was a sunny, brisk February afternoon as I drove Eastbound on Interstate 80 through Nebraska.

For as far as the eye could see, in every direction, there was nothing but
rolling hills, grass, and utility poles. On my right, alongside the
shoulder of the freeway ran a barbed wire fence. Parallel to it,
about 15 feet further in was another fence. Between the two were two
ruts worn in the grass, obviously made by farm implements on their way
to do whatever it is farm implements do in the grassy fields of
Nebraska.

Suddenly, far off in the distance I saw them, eight black specks,
stretched out in a row between the two fences. As I got closer, they
got bigger, and I soon recognized them to be cattle.

They were rangy, a nondescript breed, mostly black, but with a few
white markings. They were walking at a brisk pace, all in a line down the
lane, in sort of a bovine game of "follow the leader".

I looked in the direction they were headed. There was nothing but more ruts as far as I could see. A glance in my rear view mirror did not reveal where or why they had started this journey. Yet they walked on, oblivious to the traffic rushing past, a mere 30 feet away.

I couldn't help but wonder as I passed them. Where are they going?
What is there at the end of the rutted lane that would motivate them all, not one,
but eight cows to all walk down the lane, not stopping to taste the
morsels of green grass, or to scratch their thick necks on fence posts,
but pursuing with some strange dedication their unseen goal?

I thought how often we walk down life's pathway, our goal so far out of
sight as to seem unreachable at times, yet never wavering from our
journey.

Do we, like the cows, simply plod along, chewing our cud, with no
notion of what lies ahead, just following the equally clueless
cud-chewer in front of us? Or are we motivated by an unseen goal
joining with others, as we all pursue the same final destination?

I wanted to ask the cows, "Where are you going? What do you hope to
find there?" But alas, as they were traveling at the speed of cows and I was
driving much faster, I was unable to do so. And so, as I watched them
disappear in my rear view mirror, I realized that I would forever
wonder....

Where Do The Cows Go?

Make sure and stop by Chari's blog: Happy to Design, for more Sunday Favorites.