Part 2: In-Transit (Connect)
Friday, July 22, 2011 at 12:01AM By Christopher A. Sawyer
Mother’s Day dawned much sunnier, and the Transit Connect was pressed into service once again. A morning run to the local Catholic church was followed by work around the barn. Then it was back into the dress duds and a sport coat for dinner at Trummer’s on Main. It was during the latter trip that the TC surprised everyone, almost literally.
Affection ran deep for the Transit Connect.
Take a right out of Annie and Mark’s driveway, and the two-lane road quickly rises like a rolling wave before dropping precipitously just past its crest. To the right and left are berms of dirt, the left being cut into the hill interrupted by the road as it scythes through the scenery. Almost immediately, much sooner than your brain can digest the giant triangular 10 mph sign staring back at you, is an acute right-hander. Not surprisingly, the white rail fence and large rock planted on the outside of the turn are frequently assaulted by passing motorists and cyclists. Annie knows the turn well. She used to work at Little Full Cry Farm just beyond the sign, a farm owned by Jane Marshall Dillon until her death in November of 2000. A noted equestrienne and descendant of U.S. Supreme Court judge John Marshall, Mrs. Dillon’s students included U.S. Olympic Equestrian Team medal winners Joe Fargis and Kathy Kusner, among others. Though Mrs. Dillon established Virginia’s Junior Equitation School, and wrote books on riding, she also got damned tired of idiots cresting the rise on this particular road at speed, and plowing straight on into the front paddock. Hence the placement of the rock.