There’s a whole world out there, a whole America, a country that once was, a country currently dying.
Everything dies eventually.
Right now there are mermaids, in Aquarama, and spring training baseball, and the Overseas Highway as it unrolls to the Florida Keys, with miles of warm pastel sunsets, palm trees pausing to catch their breath, and as you drive out of Miami and away from the monster noises you lose all your history natural.
Sometimes the magic of a chili dog at a roadside stand is that it makes you sick. But in a good way.
The highway has its own current. It pulls you, Your Honor. The Pacific Northwest is everything they say it is- flannel is for real- and the smell of the sawdust at the mills is better morning food than coffee.
She turned to me in line at the pharmacy while we buy bicarb effervescent, and “Let’s stick to real restaurants the rest of the way,” and I nodded even though I knew we were both lying. There were pictures to be taken, highway exits to be missed... there were license plates to be collected.
Right now it’s time to take your time, let California tour you, through wine country, through endless weeks of endless summer, to taste the black and red of the grape crush slow and good while it spill easy over your lips and insides. There are no phone numbers in the Napa Valley.
The day is crisp. A toast.
While we’re young. While our states are still united. While we can still taste the double cheeseburger.
Okay I’ll shut up.
For a while.
I’m thinking about doing this again, and I’m thinking of taking you with me. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
One thing I have learned in my travels is that America is powered by double A batteries.
Day 42: Is this place a dream?
GUY SITTING NEXT TO ME ON BUS: “Yup.”
I love her. I’m pretty sure she loves me. We’re traveling across the country this winter, to see the world, to escape the solstice, to say goodbye to America, to pledge our allegiance, and we start every morning with a kiss to seal our vows.
We’re off to see America. And we’ll send you a postcard from everyplace we get.
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