Friday Field Notes: Postcard from the Road
Where are you wandering this weekend? Chime in below.
Autumn always seems to be a hectic time at Southlands HQ. Wrapping up the book has only made things worse: now I’m on the road for magazine assignments.
I’ve been pushing beyond the southlands. I spent last weekend cooped up in an airport hotel outside Dallas for a conservative, anti-conservation conference. (More on that to come.)
Perhaps the highlight of that trip was picking up Lauren Groff’s new novel The Vaster Wilds, which tells the story of a young woman escaping famine at the Jamestown colony by entering the vast surrounding forest. Think The Road, if only it were set in the first years of colonial Virginia. It’s grim yet gripping.
Today, at least, I get to enjoy the scenery as I fly and road trip into Taos, New Mexico, for a wedding. But I feel like I missing the turn in the weather that’s finally making the Southern outdoors palatable.
Where are y’all wandering?
In the weeks to come, I’d like to answer that question, sharing shots and stories from readers’ travels across the South.
Out on the lost river
Novelist and friend-of-the-newsletter Caleb Johnson agreed to let me kick things with these shots from his August trip on the Perdido River in southern Alabama back in August—when that truly awful heat was still hanging around. Thankfully, the river is spring-fed, and therefore cool year-round. I’m hopeful we get to read more from Caleb about this river soon.
Bears still there
John Mark Looney, proprietor of Crop to Pop popcorn reported that in the weeks before my recent post on black bears, one was spotted in Tribbett, Mississippi, in the heart of the Delta. Despite Roosevelt’s best efforts to kill ‘em all, then, the bears remain in the alluvial forests.
Your nature questions, answered
I’m also opening up a mailbag feature. Got questions about Southern nature? I’ll do my best right now. Right now, per reader request, I’m digging into kudzu—whether or not it’s still spreading, and why. More soon.
Got a question you want answered? A recent trip worth sharing? Or just want some advice about where to wander this weekend? Chime in in the chat below.