Drinking apple cider

I miss Virginia in the spring and fall. I can do without Virginia summers and winters, but every year I long to see the flowering trees in the spring and the colorful leaves in the fall.

Every year I lived in Virginia, I made sure to travel the Blue Ridge Parkway at least once in October. I loved the winding roads and mountain views drenched in gorgeous fall colors.

One fine October day, Irene and I took that drive. We basked in the scenery, stopping to walk several trails. The day turned quite warm and we became quite thirsty.

Virginia’s Piedmont and Blue Ridge regions are dotted with produce stands. One stand had a large hand-lettered sign reading “APPLE CIDER”. We thought fresh apple cider sounded heavenly, the perfect thirst quencher.

We stopped and bought some, then drank it in gulps as we drove along. We were so parched that sipping was out of the question.

After awhile, the road began to look a bit hazy and fuzzy. Neither of us were sure which lane was which and we were very groggy.

Then the reality of our situation dawned on us: We had just purchased hard apple cider. We were both far too tipsy to continue driving.

Instead of continuing our journey, we had to stop at an abandoned gas station to sleep it off.

We were very cautious afterward to make sure which kind of cider we purchased.