8/13/2016
I bet you think this post starts in the morning with me complaining
further about this godforsaken campsite! Well, you’re wrong. It starts at 4:15
AM with me complaining about this godforsaken campsite. Though I guess this
part really wasn’t their fault.
I went to bed early, prepared for a nice long snooze, and
was awoken at 4:15 AM by the wind whipping my tent sideways as rain came down
like tiny bullets. Fortunately (still), my tent is quite waterproof and very
wind-resistant. But remember, I was camped in the middle of a field with no
shelter in any direction… describing the noise as “loud” is like describing
Jane’s exhaust sound as “mild”. Pretty impossible to sleep when the tent keeps
whipping around, so I just picked my book back up and read for however long it
took for the storm to calm. Then it was back to bed with me!
Near as I can tell it rained steadily all night, because
when I woke up the entire campground was a massive muddy mess. Good thing I put
my tent on the patch of grass! At least I did that one thing right. Jane had,
of course, protected all of my stuff so it was quite dry. But it was still
covered in mud because the rain had hit the ground so hard that it slung little
bits of mud up and onto everything. Ugh. Useless!
I scrapped making my own breakfast and went inside their café
to make someone else cook me something. I tracked mud everywhere and almost
felt bad about it, but I was pretty grumpy at that point. I’m pretty sure I had
part of a thornbush stuck to my leg. I did my best to be pleasant, and I think
they felt bad for me because they were super quick on the service and they let
me linger over three cups of tea while I charged up my phone. Their pancakes
and hashbrowns were pretty awesome too.
I headed back to camp and started putting things up, somewhat
appeased and thankful that at least it wasn’t raining anymore. So it started
raining again. Hard.
Thoroughly ruffled, I ended up loading my gear and an
extra few gallons of rainwater into Jane. I was soaked and bedraggled and my
shoes were so muddy that I had to drive barefoot. I had a five hour drive home
through an endless rainstorm with a vintage car, and I had to do the whole
thing wet and tired and cranky.
And yet as soon as I got onto the asphalt, everything
seemed to melt away. As always it was just me and Jane. The windshield wipers
beat steadily as the motor – always reliable to a fault, even while suffering
from undiagnosed issues – hauled us tirelessly down the blacktop towards the
horizon. The exhaust hummed happily in countermeasure to the howling wind, and
the radio dribbled out some appropriately laid-back tunes that I could almost
hear. I forgot that I was wet, and nevermind the fact that I was getting wetter
because I had the window cranked down and my arm hung out into the storm. I
forgot that anything had been bothering me. I forgot that I might be cold, or
tired, or achey, or anything else. None of that matters once you’re in the
driver’s seat of a vintage Mustang. Sometimes I think that I could probably
break all four limbs and still feel completely fine once behind the steering
wheel.
Cruising down the highway in that car is like hopping in
an exceptionally well-designed time machine. Not the kind that takes you back
into the past – though it should, since the whole car still retains a very 60’s
feel – but the kind that takes you into the future while showing you the
amazing sights along the way. You kind of pop in and out of awareness based on
the beauty of your surroundings. If there’s something to see, you’ll notice it.
But if there’s nothing to see you just sit back and keep going on and on and on
and then somehow, some way, you’ve arrived at your destination. It’s always a
bit surprising when you get there.
I’ve found out from experience that I need to set the GPS
before I get on the road. Jane’s time machine effect sometimes really gets a
hold of me and if I don’t have a GPS telling me where I’m supposed to go, I’ll
just keep following the road until it ends or I get low on gas. I’ve ended up a
hundred miles out of my way before. I just get really into a zenned out frame
of mind and just… go.
One day, I’d like to take a road trip where I don’t have
a destination in mind. I really think I would end up in some amazing places.
But for now I’ve got a time frame, so I do my best to stick to it so I can see
what I think seems the most interesting.
And so this trip has quietly drawn to a conclusion, ending
with me pulling into my driveway in Austin sopping wet, thoroughly disheveled, and
once again all in one piece mostly due to the help of friends and my
fifty-year-old car’s seeming inability to quit. I’ve had a blast this trip but
now I’m ready for some quality R&R. Jane is now hanging out in the garage
taking a much-needed rest of her own, waiting for me to get off my butt to
clean her up. Hopefully I’ll figure out what all the smoking is about too
sometime soon. I’m sure it’ll be ridiculous, whatever it is. And that’s cool
with me.
Until next time… Kelly signing off.
** Addendum: I will try to post a few other updates in the near future as pictures from other people trickle in to me - so keep an eye out for a bunch more awesome Reno pictures when I get my hands on them! **
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