Chapter 1

Once I had gotten to Charlotte, I pretty much had made up my mind about a lot of things. The most important right now was that I was going to stop here, get a room with a Hot Tub and the biggest steak dinner they had.

I pretty much had decided to find a small place on the beach or not far from it and vegetate. Like so many, my married life had come to an end. Not so much as either of us had a SO, but the marriage was just not working out as promised. Both of us had a career and both of us had a difficult time seeing the other a part of it. She was Hell bent on becoming Dr. Janet Jones(Her maiden name mind you) and I wrote songs; lyrics mostly. The divorce was the next logical step. We had been married almost 5 years. Neither of us was rich. Her parents were though and becoming a doctor seemed to make the apple in their eyes happy with or without the dolt.(Me)

She very happily went off to Bethesda, MD and me, well I decided the wet and wild South, near water would be OK for me. My two laptops, one power desktop and a dozen backup drives would allow me the freedom to roam. Now if I could only find a range and a place to live I would be all set. Get it, a 'Home on the range'. I did not expect Antelope but deer were plentiful. In my Land Cruiser were the .44 S&W Model 29, revolver and a .44 Winchester lever action rifle. I was a fair rider and up ahead, in Augusta were some of the best hunting preserves for wild hogs you could find. One day, three or a weekend would guarantee you got something, a week meant one of trophy size. My ex hated hunting so as a parting gesture I just wanted to kill something thinking it was her. Actually our parting wasn't that bad, yet it hurt my pride.

Past Columbia on 77, then US 1 ran into US 20 and a little ways South into Augusta. I intended to stay near the border then backtrack down the 95 down along the beaches in Florida. I figured having a high-speed Internet would be good but if I sold things face-to-face then a DVD seemed best.

I stopped for lunch, or as they called it dinner in Columbia. Fried chicken, smashed taters, greens, grits, sweet iced tea and biscuits with honey seemed the right way to go. When the little waitress came up again and asked me if I wanted anything else or some desert; I was going to say no. Her comment about mama's homemade peach or apple pie made that earlier decision mute. I ordered both and more biscuits and honey to go, saying I planned to go hunting and to let me know if there was any game preserves near US 1. She said she would check in back, and get me my snacks.

She came back carrying a sack that looked big enough to hold enough food for a week. "I checked, the cooks use a place up ahead. Here is the number and address, they say to ask for Zeke and tell him Billy from the diner sent you. Here are some left over stuff and I made you 2 ham sandwiches to take on the horse, you need to use a horse around here."

She handed me the bag and a bill for $9.78. That up North might have got me a coffee. I shook me head. "Hon, what's your name?"

"Mandy! Did I do something wrong, Sir?"

"Yep, can you call your mom and have her come out for a second?"

She did, and more of the boys were looking out from the door ready to come to the aid of Mandy.

A mirror image of Mandy, her hair in a bun and apron covering her sizable endowments came out. "I'm her mom, Mandy said you wanted to see me, what's wrong? If the bill is too high I'll..."

"That's part of the problem. The bill is too low, not too high. She did not charge me enough. She gave me enough food for a week, plus what must be two whole pies and ten pounds of biscuits and honey, plus told me about a great place to go hunting and sandwiches to take on the hunt. I want to know what your going to do about it, the food alone is worth $50-$60 let alone the tip about the hunting lodge? I get the feeling that if I needed a place to stay I'd be moving in at your place. Hell if I even knew your pies and those sandwiches were half as good as the chicken was I'd be begging her to stay and weigh 300 pounds soon."