Road Trip

The moon hung in the sky, as if it was placed there by god. I followed it with my eyes as we drove, my face pressed against the back seat, simply watching the world as we passed it by. Buildings were lit by only exit signs and their parking lots were iced over. It felt as if we were the only ones left awake in this sleepy town- but this adventure was just beginning.

The further we got out of town the less we saw. Before too long we were only passing refineries every few miles and then suddenly there was nothing. My thoughts drifted away and finally it was just me, the road and the night.

Before too long the radio quit and we sat quietly, every so often mentioning stories from our jobs, from our lives. My friend Steve took the front seat, every so often mentioning a flight call he took from his time in Iraq. Bubba would reply with a story from the Police Academy. Finally, I would share my story- and silence would follow. The road continued on from beneath the tires- and if was as if we were dropping those worries out as we shared them.

It was two hours that passed in no time. Before we knew it the lights from our destination sparkled into the night sky and gave us a glimpse of hope. A smile spread across my face and the boys cracked jokes again- it was like the city brought us back to life.

Unfortunately we missed our exit and fear hung over us again as we read the sign 'Next exit, 58 miles - No Services.' We were running out of energy, out of gas and out of patience. Luckily there was an exit two miles out and we were able to flip around.

"What city is this?" Bubba asked playfully. There was no city to be seen- just darkness all around us.

"It doesn't matter what city this is." Steve replied. "Its like frickin North Las Vegas- no one wants to go there!"

We finally got to our destination and to our purpose- food. Sitting down at a table I smiled and simply enjoyed the moment. We had actually made it this far and were actually having alot of fun. Stories were shared about random things, jokes were made, I ooohed and ahhhed at the neon. Bubba even had an experience about a dancing man at the urinals (this made me laugh my butt off for quite some time).

Finally the restaurant was closing down and we were asked to leave. The food was long gone and the complimentary bread they kept bringing was getting downed. Our drink glasses were empty, and we were exhausted.

As we stopped to fill up on gas the boys crawled out of the truck and both began to giggle. Confused I sat there- not wanting to get out to see why. As Steve returned to the truck while it pumped he informed me it was puke. After a few moments Bubba returned with drinks and told me that it was puke that had been ran over. I rolled my eyes.

Boys.

A few moments later Bubba replied with 'if you would've given me a few minutes I could've identified the tires by the tire tread. Steve agreed and felt the need to inform me that it was the 'good kind' of vomit. Does that even exist? In all my years of holding emesis basins and cleaning up messes I never knew this.

The conversations never stopped on the way back. Before too long all of our phones died and the radio still didn't find a station. I smiled- this was the way a road trip should be. We cracked open our energy drinks and began to pound them down. We even hit pretty decent fog- and Steve showed off his skills as he whispered to himself distances, he had the vehicles around us memorized and their distances. Bubba assisted him with speeds and our speeds- and we made it through the thick patches alive.

As we finally pulled into the driveway we shivered into the cold 3-degrees that decided to follow us home. I had to be practically carried into bed- and passed out immediately- with a smile on my face.

Its good times like that- where you have your friends and your piece of mind - that you will remember forever.