In the Zone

I once picked up a hitchhiker. I was driving back from Lexington, Ky, along a stretch of road known as the Mount Parkway, toward Pikeville. On that road, about 2/3rds of the way back, you reach what is really the last real stop for about an hour.  Near the location of the Natural Bridge State Park is a welcome center and rest area, and it routinely became my stop on that trip. This trip was no different. After a long day in Lexington by myself doing hospital visits, I was on my way home.  I stopped in a rest area to make my final pit stop for the day and as I exited the restroom, a seedy looking man approached me. "Hey, are you going to Prestonsburg?" he asked. Prestonsburg as at the end of the Parkway, and it was on my way home to Pikeville.  I'm a minister, on my way back from ministry visits, and without my family as an excuse.  As much as my sense of fear gnawed at me, I really had nothing else to say. "Yes," came my begrudging reply. "C