So it wasn’t a problem with the start time, getting on the road and heading towards the Highway Heading Home shortly after noontime yesterday afternoon. But S. and I were pretty wired (or car tired) nearly ten hours later when we finally pulled up to our end destination. All part of the experience of being on the roads on one of the busiest traveling days of the year.
A few others:
*That feeling of joining and then being part of a great mass of things or people on the move–something scale-shifting–when you’re first driving, albeit slowly, up that on-ramp onto the interstate. Knowing that you won’t be getting off any time soon. Considering that you MUST be able to see this long snaking road of traffic from space, leading to some observer at altitude wondering Where Are People Heading To.
*The inexplicable urge at times to swerve across lanes when traffic gets moving again– just for some variety (though at risk, or pleasure, of freaking out the passenger in the front seat).
*How packed those rest-stops are, heightened in romance after hearing a This American Life episode on, suitingly, rest stops. Offering a bit of humanistic empathy as you pass one young man in his mid-twenties stopped mid-walk on his way out towards his car, look of bemusement, frustration and comedy on his face, a spreading stain of hot coffee along the front of his t-shirt. “Man, that sucks,” you offer, to which the stranger gives a half-smile. You move on.
*The final satisfaction of stepping out of the car at destination, mid to late evening, house stilled in the fog of dusk. Promise of warmth and family and sleep a few steps away.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.
Traveling for Thanksgiving
So it wasn’t a problem with the start time, getting on the road and heading towards the Highway Heading Home shortly after noontime yesterday afternoon. But S. and I were pretty wired (or car tired) nearly ten hours later when we finally pulled up to our end destination. All part of the experience of being on the roads on one of the busiest traveling days of the year.
A few others:
*That feeling of joining and then being part of a great mass of things or people on the move–something scale-shifting–when you’re first driving, albeit slowly, up that on-ramp onto the interstate. Knowing that you won’t be getting off any time soon. Considering that you MUST be able to see this long snaking road of traffic from space, leading to some observer at altitude wondering Where Are People Heading To.
*The inexplicable urge at times to swerve across lanes when traffic gets moving again– just for some variety (though at risk, or pleasure, of freaking out the passenger in the front seat).
*How packed those rest-stops are, heightened in romance after hearing a This American Life episode on, suitingly, rest stops. Offering a bit of humanistic empathy as you pass one young man in his mid-twenties stopped mid-walk on his way out towards his car, look of bemusement, frustration and comedy on his face, a spreading stain of hot coffee along the front of his t-shirt. “Man, that sucks,” you offer, to which the stranger gives a half-smile. You move on.
*The final satisfaction of stepping out of the car at destination, mid to late evening, house stilled in the fog of dusk. Promise of warmth and family and sleep a few steps away.
Happy Thanksgiving, all.