The Thing About Straight Roads

One last thing before I call it a wrap on this trip. When I was a child, we passed through a number of states like Nebraska and Kansas (even the Dakotas) that left me with lingering memories of an exhausting, empty, and lifeless void. And sure, there are these long, unbending roads that go on for 100 or more miles between tiny towns with no stoplights that would probably bore any young kid without an iPad (it was the 80s, after all). But on this trip, as an adult, I was determined to find something more beautiful about these roads. And I did.

In addition to the clear blue and sometimes cottony skies, the periodic oasis, or the yellow fields in bloom, I found that these roads also led me to gracious and helpful people, those who either kindly pointed me in the right direction along another straight road, or, simply waved from a passing tractor. One gentleman in Montana even put my rental on a lift so he could pull the tire and snag a rock that was squealing from the rear, all within fifteen minutes, all without charging me a dime. The thing about straight roads is that you never get lost. You just have to keep going. Because you’ll get there. Eventually.