January 3rd, 2007, 1:58a.m: Joey looks over at me as we sit on the couch at my parents house.
“Ready?”
We pull ourselves off the course orangie pink fabric and head to the backdoor.
The early morning is cold and dark so we rush to the car.
I’m wired. We’re well prepared to drive aimlessly for days; a bed of cushions and blankets stretches out in the back, cans of food stacked neatly next to it, a GPS mounted firmly on the dash set to 100 Main Street, anywhere, U.S.A.
I forget who drove first. I forget if anyone slept for the fist leg of the trip. I remember the dark of the night slipping into the sleepy grey of morning and then waking to a productive sun.
We saw a sign for Niagara Falls.
”Should we stop there?”
“Why not?”
We’re giddy as we glide into a parking space at our second official stop on the drive as far as we can get before we have to turn around and come home.
Joey and I stayed on the road for twelve days. In four we made it to San Francisco California, and in another eight we arrived back at school 2a.m the day spring semester started. The road was unknown, the trip was unplanned, the weather was in our favor but right behind us the whole way. The trip of a lifetime. Or so I thought…
* * *
“I would do it. Would you guys?” Tom looks at me, both of us sitting back sunken into his big blue couch in Conshohocken.
“I would go. Joey do you want to?” Joey bends his neck to look at me as he makes his way down the stairs.
“Hell, why not.”
Tom smiles widely.
I smile.
“Would you live there?” Tom poses the question to both of us.
“I would.”
I say it thinking it could never actually happen. I say it thinking about how amazing of a story it would be.
“Yea, I’ll live out there, want to drive around for a month?” Joey tests his audience.
All of us quickly agree and sit back- each lost in their own vision of what it will be like.
Maybe I’ve been dragging my feet. Maybe I’m not much of a planner. Maybe I think it would be better to just get in the car and go, but somewhere in the back of my head I know it’s high time I get prepared for this.
The boys have both taken on projects of their own working on the website and the map and how to make this an awesome trip… and I have lamely tried to interject with my lists of “important things’ and requests for direction. My mother brought me up to be strong and assertive, so get your head on right and buckle down Lovelace.
Here’s my direction: Who is going to look at our website? Who cares that we’re on this trip besides us? I’m looking for you, just so you know, so expect a business card in the mail, my friend. Expect me to convince you that this is a trip you want to put your name on.
-Sarah Lovelace
