Tasia Malakasis
The Richard Martin Rails To Trails runs parallel to Belle Chevre’s creamery in Elkmont, Alabama, and offers so much to so many – walkers, bike riders, horseback riders, even wagon trains make the trek on the trail – but for me the trail offers solace and replenishment. I take a break during my day at the creamery, changing shoes much like Mr. Rogers, and head out on the trail seeking the fullness that the trail offers.
I absolutely treasure my job. I told my son as he was growing up that I don’t go to work, I go to play. Even with the warmth that my job provides, sometimes a break, a step into a different and very rich environment, can be so nourishing. And the Richard Martin Trail does nourish.
The trees hang like a canopy over the path shading me in the summer and opening up for the sun in the cool months of winter. I meet lots of friends on the trail and have a journal of pictures of them if they stand still long enough for me to capture them – snakes, hawks, beautiful migratory birds, possum, deer, and even turkey. I have a walk not in nature but with her.
Elkmont is a quiet small town of a little over 300 souls, and while the trail seems to mirror that quiet peaceful feel at first glance, it doesn’t take long to realize that she is brimming with life and magnified by the sounds she offers.
I am a very fortunate soul to have this place in my daily life.
