Goin' Out To Cally – Part 51, Go East Young Man… And Hurry!

As the air grew colder while the blue Acura Integra sped through the mountains away from San Francisco and toward home, the temperature of friendship inside the small car grew frigid as well. At this point in the trip the four travelers had grown weary of each other. We all wanted our old beds, our old friends and our own space. Small inconveniences had become major obstacles and cracks in the foundation of companionship had opened up to large, gaping holes filled with short tempers and heavy silence.

The trip home was to be accelerated, as we planned to drive straight through. No camping, no hotels, no stopping, except for gas. Just the sweet purr of the Acura throttling between 70 and 80 miles per hour and the desperately needed respite of our homes quickly approaching. The most direct route eastfrom San Francisco was taking Interstate 80 just past Reno, then hop onto Highway 50 through Nevada, connecting with Interstate 70 in Utah, through Denver all the way to Illinois. At that point we'd take Interstate 24 to Nashville, hop on I-75 and head south until we got home. Direct, precise and ill-informed.

As we weaved through the mountains of California it was as if everyone spoke through clenched jaws... that is when anything was spoken at all. The joy of conversation had evolved into mandatory information only. There was no joking, no laughing, no sharing memories nor sharing dreams. The conversations consisted of who was driving when and where and where the next gas station was located. That was about it. Sunday and I sat in the back, counting our pennies, figuring out how to survive on the couple of bucks in our pockets, while Tim and Beth conversed lightly between themselves about future plans and family, yet never engaged us in their conversations. Like Berlin after World War II, a strong and impenetrable wall had been built brick by brick between us. Ever since leaving Florida, with every passing hour did we slowly build and cement those impediments between us. Now, only a ladder, a tunnel or a massive explosion would allow escape.

With little left to say, we all slept as much as possible... or acted like we were sleeping. We took advantage of anyway we could to escape this current situation, even if it meant we resorted to using our own dreams to do so.

Night arrived and we could see Reno, Nevada in the distance, the glow of neon piercing the otherwise black, cold evening. We all gazed out of the window, wondering how much fun it would have been to have been there on any other occasion than now. Instead, we just stopped, refueled and continued on our way.

Our turns behind the steering wheel were defined by the size of the Acura's gas tank. Each full tank would get us about five hours of drive time. After the tank was full in Reno, Tim and Beth silently exchanged places with Sunday and I. I sat behind the steering wheel, put the car in first and continued off. The night was early and I had not slept very well, but felt relatively fresh, confident I could make the five hour trek ahead of me. There are usually numerous distractions on the road... other cars, interesting well lit gas stations or local stores. I just focused on getting through the next fifteen minutes. After twenty of those fifteen minutes segments, my shift would be over.

I followed Beth and Tim's directions and left Interstate 80 and continued east on Highway 50. After about an hour I found the road growing lonesome. Everyone in the car had fallen asleep and other signs of life, such as traffic or buildings, were growing thin. There was just the twinkling of the star covered night and the lone glow of our headlights on the unlit roadway.

It was then that I spotted something that just had to be wrong.

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Part 51, (Text, Audio) - Part 50, (Text, Audio) - Part 49, (Text, Audio)
Part 48, (Text, Audio) - Part 47, (Text, Audio) - Part 46, (Text, Audio)
Part 45, (Text, Audio) - Part 44, (Text, Audio) - Part 43, (Text, Audio)
Part 42, (Text, Audio) - Part 41, (Text, Audio) Part 40, (Text, Audio)
Part 39, (Text, Audio) - Part 38, (Text, Audio) - Part 37, (Text, Audio)
Part 36, (Text, Audio) - Part 35, (Text, Audio) - Part 34, (Text, Audio)
Part 33, (Text, Audio) - Part 32, (Text, Audio) - Part 31, (Text, Audio)
Part 30, (Text, Audio) - Part 29, (Text, Audio) - Part 28, (Text, Audio)
Part 27, (Text, Audio) - Part 26, (Text, Audio) - Part 25, (Text, Audio)
Part 24, (Text, Audio) - Part 23, (Text, Audio) - Part 22, (Text, Audio)
Part 21, (Text, Audio) - Part 20, (Text, Audio) - Part 19, (Text, Audio)
Part 18, (Text, Audio) - Part 17, (Text, Audio) - Part 16, (Text, Audio)
Part 15, (Text, Audio) - Part 14, (Text, Audio) - Part 13, (Text, Audio)
Part 12 (Text, Audio) - Part 11 (Text, Audio) - Part 10 (Text, Audio)
Part 09, (Text, Audio) - Part 08, (Text, Audio) - Part 07 (Text, Audio)
Part 06 (Text, Audio) - Part 05 (Text, Audio) - Part 04 (Text, Audio)
Part 03 (Text, Audio) - Part 02 (Text, Audio) - Part 01 (Text, Audio)