Morning all. Today the time change is hitting me harder than it did yesterday. Not entirely certain why but this morning seemed way earlier than it should have been. Still, morning it is so let’s get started. Are you ready to do some deep brain squats and cerebral crunches? Set the timer and get ready to feel the burn. Timers at the ready and deep breath because here we go.
I like this set up. It lends itself to a very neat story line. Something unpleasant is going to be faced but there is a little time for a last vacation. Destination unknown, drive off into nowhere. The possibility of not returning, the potentially talking themselves into going back or perhaps starting a life on the run. many ways it can be taken from here. Not sure where it is going but this is one i will be circling back to.
Tuesday, March 14th: They set off with no particular destination in mind.
They set off with no particular destination in mind. The point was to go someplace they had never seen. They estimated that they had five days before anyone was expecting the, at the house.
“So that gives us two days to drive out, one day wherever we end up and two days to get back,” Sarah said.
Gavin nodded. “Sounds about right. Do you want to look at a map or just pick a direction?”
Sarah frowned in thought, her brow furrowing and her nose twitching as she contemplated the options. “I’ve taken the north/south interstate north a bunch of times and I’ve taken the east west one east a bunch of times but I’ve never been south or west on our two main highways,” she decided.
Gavin nodded. “How about we flip a coin then? He suggested. “Heads we go south and tails we go west.”
“That works for me,” she said. Gavin pulled out a coin from his pocket and flicked it into the air. It caught the sun as it turned over and over in the air, flashing like a star. He caught it and slapped it to his wrist. Gavin lifted his hand. “Heads,” he proclaimed. “It looks like we are going south.”
They got in the car and drove to the nearest gas station. Gavin filled up the tank from the pump and Sarah went inside to stock up on snacks for the road. As she was the only one in the station, she was checked out pretty quickly. She returned just as Gavin hung the pump back on the stand and screwed in the tank cap.
“Are you driving first or am I,” she asked.
“I’ll take first,” Gavin said. “You’re better at night driving than I am anyway.”
She nodded and slid into the passenger’s seat. Gavin slid behind the wheel and they took off towards the on ramp. Their town was small, barely a blip on the map. In fact it wasn’t listed on most maps. You On the state map it looked like just the crossing of two major interstates making a large x. If you looked closely you could see the old church marked. It was their building of note. Beside that there was just a cluster of gas stations mechanics and a small grocery, all clustered near the interstate crossing. At the big x there were five state highways that spread out in a network becoming rural routes as they progressed. Most of the town was spread out along them. With the school consolidation a few years before the church was the only town building left.
Driving out of town felt less like leaving town and more like continuing on a journey you started when you left your front door. Every road was a road somewhere else.
They headed south with the radio blasting. Every now and then they had to change channels as the signal faded. There were some stretches of road where the signal just couldn’t be picked up by their car. Sarah and Gavin talked about getting a satellite radio that would let them pick up stations all over the world, but they just hadn’t gotten around to it. Sarah tried not to think about why they hadn’t gotten around to it or what was waiting for them when they got back. Instead she angled the air vent so a cool breeze washed over her face.
Ten til Midnight 