Announcing Another Stop on Our Winter Adventures

An Atticus M. Finch story.

After our stay on the Outer Cape, we are changing things up.

We’ve added an unexpected stop to our winter adventures. It is totally out of character for us; I could not be more excited.

Our trips are a marriage of thorough planning and whimsy. The three of us know what makes us happy, which is mostly walking freely in open spaces where there are better chances to encounter wild souls than humans. However, to get to those places outside of New England, we have to pass through the concrete gauntlet of the Northeast. I dread the first’ first and last forty-eight hours, whether crossing I-90 or shooting down I-95.

Country mice like us are not at our best in big cities, where I’m often reminded of John Muir’s belief that “Civilized man chokes his soul.”

As an empath, I pick up on the angst and anger, sadness and frustration, desperation and despair. Even in smaller communities, it hits me, but it is not as smothering. (I avoid all Walmarts.)

Samwise and Emily are not fond of leashes, which are …