Dateline: Clayton, Missouri, September 14, 2014
9/14 I’m homeward bound, gorgeous day, a bit nervous. I don’t know why I’m nervous, but I feel the gravitational pull of New Jersey, where Laura is about to fly out to Chile to teach English. I need to see her. But I am thrilled to have had this chance to spend time with Emily at school. And of course, there’s all that other stuff. It’s been a wonderful trip, in so many ways.
The Arch looms close to the highway and bids me farewell with ever changing shape and the sunlight gleaming on its lower edge. I tootle along, listening to the Burgess Boys, a family more dysfunctional than most. This is one long book for one long road trip. I have a thought- and plug Dayton into the gps and decide to meet Jen for lunch- 387 miles in. It’s a chance to stretch my legs and spend a bit more time with her. Long gone are the days in 2010 when she lived with us for a summer working at the NJ Department of Health while gaining her certification in Preventive Medicine.
We get black bean wraps and ice cream and the food makes me sleepy. My second book on tape proves dull, so I crank up the a/c and the radio, wake up, and log 300 more miles.
Coffee and gas in Somerset, hard by Shankesville Rd., then I go through the toughest sections, curves, tunnels, a little hairy in the dark but I’m alert. The Pennsylvania portion of this trip is really not a highway. I make Harrisburg, then Hershey, and I know I’m going straight through. If I stop to sleep I’m just going to stare at the alarm clock, and what’s the point in that?
Sudden red ! on the dashboard and I’m thinking back to the spectral guy with the dustpan and broom at the Somerset Rest Stop, in the parking space RIGHT NEXT to MINE, sweeping up glass. The dash is yelling MAINTENANCE REQUIRED ! and I’m thinking, “What do you want from me? I gave you two new tires, I gave you a new battery in your key fob, I gave you nice gas to drink, I’m driving you smoothly, please don’t have a flat or stop running out here it’s very late and I just need a little consideration from you…”
Ok so I’m rattled, but the car is humming along getting 42 mpg. I push for home, singing lustily with the radio, willing the car along, threatening to keep singing if it stops. I ditch the highway at Lamington Rd., take my first trip over the new 202 bridge, and amble in the drive at 12:30 am.
954.6 miles. No pain, no where. Incredible that. The dog won’t look at me and I’m wired, don’t get much sleep, but I set out across this great land and reached and crossed the wide Missouri and the Big Muddy, and the wild west awaits. The open road calls. The sun is up and so am I. What’s next?
