Our 39-day, 23-state drive around the USA was not a photo expedition, so it was rare for me to stop the car and turn around. That is what I did when I saw this colorful fireworks stand just after entering Alabama on Route 278 on our way through Piedmont.
I took several shots. As I edged closer to the road, I was alert for traffic, not wanting to get distracted. Suddenly I heard behind me a car moving fast, very fast. I turned to see a dark sedan with two police cars in hot pursuit, like something out of the “Dukes of Hazzard”, which was set in nearby northwestern Georgia. The sedan was perhaps a hundred yards ahead of the chasing vehicles when they all disappeared around a curve. All around us was forest. It was soon as peaceful as it had been a few moments before. I went back to my camera after offering a brief prayer to those with whom I had briefly shared the scene, their lives full of drama, mine far from explosive.