miles and miles of miles and miles
People I work with wonder about us when we leave and drive for weeks on end. Walking the streets of St. Paul with G. on Friday, he asked, “But what is it that you do when you’re in the car all that time?” He’s not the first to ask.
We talk and we don’t talk. We listen to music. For the first day, I am antsy and agitated and I pick fights. But then the miles begin to sweep my mind clean and I want nothing more than to keep moving. It’s not ambition, it’s just go. I won’t want to drive for less than ten hours at a stretch, following the prairies down into swamps, tracing the yellow lines. The other day, I tried to explain that the point is to drive until your head is utterly empty and then stop somewhere interesting and strange. Fill up your mind, give it lots to chew on, and then drive until it empties out again. Repeat. Repeat. Spend time with your companion, and then spend time apart. Repeat. Drive.
We’ll leave next month, as soon as grades are submitted and my prospectus is defended. And I won’t come back until someone makes me.
Comments
I understand exactly what you mean. I love getting on the road and just going - no particular destination, no schedule, just going where the road takes me. I usually don't listen to music much, but sometimes I do, and I usually have the windows down instead of the A/C on. I find the road to be a place of cleansing, as you said, and a place of perspective - the world is so much bigger than my little department/school/home/town. You're lucky to have a partner who'll go along on the ride with you.
Posted by: Chris Geyer | April 23, 2007 2:07 PM