You start thinking about all the eventualities when you are on the road. You wonder what happened here.. or there... You ponder the lives of the kamikaze birds that fly right at your windshield and the lives of the oil workers, ranchers, or kids in these tiny desolate towns. You look at the horses and the scrub brush and wonder if they are being cared for. Then you lose interest and start wondering about you... about how you got here... which insect bite itches more... when and where the next pitstop will be. But the deep thoughts don't always come they way you want them to. On a bike, you are worried about mileage because your legs will eventually tire. You worry about lunch and snacks because that is fueling your trip. Now we are in the bus... gasoline powered, Walmart stocked, and traveling hundreds of miles a day. it is a different type of traveling. Traveling by car. You see more, but talk less. You get to more places, but meet fewer people. I miss the micro flora and fauna you learn about on the bike. Slowly pedaling up hill, you really get aquatinted to the tiniest insects and grasses growing on the verge. You smell the local scents both good and bad. You also cherish small cafes, no matter how run down. Tepid coffee or cool water, sugary snack to refill your tank. By car, you don't need to stop and don't really want to either, because you are so much farther away from where you intend to go. We go sign hunting. Hurtling down roads at 50 miles an hour, rolling down the window, lining up the shoot and SNAP! the shutter closes and the photo is taken. Another state, another gunshot-holed sign captured for the photo book, or Facebook... There are also really good points too. Emma is cool and comfortable while she naps in her 5 point racing harnessed car seat. When we want to go get dinner, we just hop in and find some tasty local grub, no matter if it is 5 miles away from the campground (10 miles round trip). Clean clothes are just in the back seat and so are a few extra toys and board books. We also get to see the WHOLE COUNTRY in a summer. Not every state or every small town, but huge parts of an enormous, varied, beautiful, hideous, ostentatious, amazing, frustrating country. We are traveling out west... as a family, sleeping, eating, living together every day within inches of each other before we go back to work, back home. We are learning about each other, our likes and dislikes, her tantrums, his driving... We sing, laugh, and tell stories of our past adventures to pass the hours, and the miles.
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