On the road

I have spent many days on the road. My parents were into driving vacations when we were little, so we drove to Florida many times, to Canada twice, as well as countless trips to North Carolina and Kentucky. We did fly out west a few times for vacation, to Arizona, California, and Washington state, but each time we got there, rented a car, and drove like there was no tomorrow to see all of the state.

This week, for the first time, I spent several days on the road by myself. Even before I started driving, I noticed that my car smelled vaguely like a banana (David agreed with me on this). Unable to locate the source (and being pretty confident there was not actually a banana in there), I resigned to the fruity smell for the duration of the trip. When I stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Arkansas, they had Yankee Candle scented car fresheners. I was ecstatic and bought one. It is melon scented, so now my car smells like a fruit salad.

With hours and hours on the road, pretty much every possible thought crossed my mind. Amidst periods of extreme boredom, I also had periods of deep pondering. One of my questions: is there such a thing as fate? How can I be sure to not lose my hope? Will I find friendship in this new phase of my life?
I discovered that indeed, there is such a thing as Fate: it's a small town in Texas. And never fear, I also found Hope and Friendship in Arkansas, "The Natural State".

At one point, I decided to count the number of pickup trucks I saw. I counted for ten minutes somewhere near Dallas, and saw 66 trucks (I estimate they were about 1 of every 2 cars). Six hours later in Arkansas I waited until traffic was similarly light and saw 32 (I estimate they were 1 of every 4). I didn't count again until I was into Indiana, and there I saw 16 pickups out of 100 cars.

In the midst of my deep musings, I pondered the plight of Arkansasians. For one, what do you call them? Arkansians? Arkansasians? And secondly, they seem to be not so creative in naming their cities. Texarkana. Arkadelphia. What's the deal with place names that are half their state name and half the name of some other place?

Missouri was perhaps my most eventful state. First there was the car problems and my 3 hour stay in rural Missouri (which was 3 hours too long, I might add) that left me with a messed up muffler, hundreds of new mosquito bites, and a free flashlight from a random guy who stopped to help. Next, there was the Gateway Arch (that is, Gateway to the West) in downtown St. Louis, originally built as a tribute to US western expansion. The Gateway Arch is actually part of a national park called "The Jefferson Expansion Memorial National Park". It is complete with an underground museum that documents American westward expansion. Now, perhaps it's just me, but I felt that this museum and park were both completely absurd. Westward expansion of the United States meant the obliteration and/or subjugation of American Indians (the museum clearly documented all of this, showing when treaties were formed and broken with the American Indians, when they staged uprisings, when they lost battles). Personally, I was a bit uncomfortable having a national monument celebrating that very westward expansion. But hey, that's just me.

Illinois was the least interesting state I went through. Maybe I was just so bored and tired of the inside of my car by the time I got there that I stopped paying attention to anything. The only really remarkable thing about Illinois was that when I got out of my car at a gas station, it was about 70 or 75 degrees (as opposed to the 90+ degrees it had been in Texas all the way through St. Louis); I shivered and started worrying about my next few years.

My last bit of important info I gained from my trip is that if you are looking for the largest selection of saddles anywhere, you can find it in Texas just outside Texarakana. And a sight you would never want to miss, the College Football Hall of Fame, is located right near me in friendly South Bend, Indiana.