| So, I went to Texas last month. It was March 12-15th to be exact. Saunders and his friends, who are now my friends, all piled into a Ford Windstar and drove from Delco, PA to Austin, TX. Mike, Zach, Matt White, Andy, Bill, Sarah, and Ducky. I guess those things they say about growing these strong bonds with people who you have major experiences with is true. We drove. We drove miles and miles, and after that we drove some more. I think the exact amount of miles lies somewhere in the 1490mi range, but don't quote me. Delaware was the only state we really experienced traffic in, surprisingly. Once we made it through to Maryland, we made very few stops. I would say the highlight of that trip was crossing the Shenandoah river. The first thing that came into my mind as I gazed upon this massive vein flowing through the mountains was the Argonath. If Tolkien were to have ever seen this place, I'm sure he'd be inspired. The vast open river stretched on for seemingly forever, and mountains of hard jagged rock on either side sheltered a wide flowing course with rocks dispersed throughout. I half expected to see monolithic figures built out of the hills. I'm not sure whether it was on purpose or not, but at that point the song "Country Roads" by John Denver came on whoever's Ipod we were using. We crossed that river into West Virginia and I finally felt like I had left the East Coast, something I had never done before. The sun began to descend and we made a pit stop at a Food Lion and a gas station along the way. In true delco fashion, we bought a 12 pack of Yeungling and a whole bunch of wine. Ducky decided to drive for awhile, so I hopped in the back with Zach and Bill, and we proceeded to kill that 12 pack. I would not suggest this to anyone, but I will say it was fun. After about 4, as usual, I passed out against the window. I awoke at a truck stop where I guess some people had to pee. It was midnight I think. I felt mostly alive, so I volunteered to drive again, since the drivers seat was far more comfortable than being jammed in the back. Zach decided to grab the copilot seat. We drove on for many hours that night, and I remember listened to a few bands, namely Lucero and Gaslight. They seemed to match the trip perfectly, somehow. As we climbed through mountains, I remember one particular point of the night where we were cruising along the top of this ridge, and far down below a small city lay alight, and for miles after there was nothing else. I floated in and out of lucidity as I drove on and on. Finally, as the first moments of dawn crept up from the East, I traded off with Zach and nabbed like 3 hours of sleep. It felt great. One of the more awesome things about driving there was that all you had to do was keep taking Interstate's that either said West or South. It was one of the easiest trips, and we didn't even get lost once along the way. Much of the rest of the trip is blurry, considering at this point I was running on like 3 somewhat decent hours of sleep. I remember stopping at a gas station halfway through my shift of driving and bought this awesome mexican blanket, which turned out to be a really great companion then and to this day. I remember waking up at a waffle house, something more amazing than dennys at the time. I waltzed in to this diner-esque place, wearing a poncho and being filthy and ragged, and I wondered what people thought of us. US-40 West was I think the longest stretch of highway we were on for the whole trip. It stretched from the middle of VA all the way to the end of Arkansas. Arkansas has nothing in it. Nothing. It's open for miles on once side, and open for even more miles on the other. There was nothing notable in those lands. Tennessee was similar, but for some reason I remember being more interested in the scenery there. Once we hit Texas, we were all nearly used up, but a newfound vigor raced through us as we were within a few hours of our destination. The sun began its descent once more as we passed Dallas. We arrived in Austin somewhere between 8:30pm and 11pm. I really can't recall exactly when but I remember because we parked somewhere that it was legal to park. We set out to explore, and shortly after we became separated from half our group. Ducky, Bill, Zach and I all ended up at this bar, I think it was called Shots? (continued in next post...) |
