"This is a song for every girl who's ever been through something she thought she couldn't make it though. I sing these words because I was that girl too. Wanting something better than this. But who do I turn to? Now we're moving from the darkness into the light. This is the defining moment of our lives..." (Beautiful Flower: India Arie)
Day 2 of my epic, self-defying road trip. It's 11:30pm and I'm at a Marriott in Williams, AZ. I woke up early this morning after spending a restless night stiff in the backseat of my car, which was parked in front of the Colorado Bell hotel in Laughlin, NV. The scattered cars parked in the lot, coupled with the twinkling lights of the nearby hotels was a sad reminder of poor economic times and all of the lost souls hoping to hit the "next big thing." I mentally added myself to that crowd, pointing out that hoboing it in the backseat of my car wasn't one of my more finer moments in life. As I lay trying to rest my mind and the jumbled thoughts from the day, I stared up at the moon looking down on me through the window. Coupled with my heavy breathing from the cold I've been fighting all week, I couldn't help but smile at the irony of the mental picture I had of myself at the moment: a sad reminder of the spitting image of Chris McCandless in his final scene from "Into the Wild." Although i too am on a quest to find myself "out in the wild," I hope my epiphany comes with a happier ending.
When I woke up, I gathered myself and prepared to take on the day, starting with a trek to the Target I saw on my way into the city. I fumbled with my keys, played with the GPS, groaned at my reflection in the mirror, then took off down the road. So much for the bright lights of Laughlin! 3 trips to Target, 1 to Walmart, and 2 to Radio Shack later, I was finally on my way with a new ipod, road map, and charger for my camera battery! Things were starting to look up! I decided the Grand Canyon could wait another day and instead chose to head to the closest city near it, Williams, AZ. I took a detour along the "historic" Route 66 in order to check out the Grand Canyon Caverns. My only lead being a little pink square on my hand dandy road map. After driving through absolute desolation for over an hour, I now know to be wary of the word historic, which I think is code for boarded up, rusting buildings and sketchy people in the middle of no man's land. I felt like I was driving through Psycho's present day remake, and I didn't like my odds.
An hour into dusty and rock, I began to get restless for some greenery. Who's bright idea was it to have the winter buff start off in the desert? Or the notoriously bad driver deciding to go on a road trip? My doubts soon kicked into overdrive when I looked down at my GPS and found myself plowing headlong off the road into a a ditch. I quickly spun my wheel and hit the brake, the only thoughts that running through my mind was, "insurance!" My car came to a shaking halt and I floored the gas, causing the back tires to rotate farther into the ditch. Considering the right reaction would be to start freaking out, I started cleaning my car. I tried a few weak attempts at pushing the car while stepping on the gas, but to no avail. I continued to clean and figured a cop was sure to pull by at some point. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long as a car stopped to help and two nice men and a mom with two young children came out to help push my car out. After they told me to be very careful and watched me head down the road, I quickly berated myself for getting too cocky and quickly set my cruise control to 40. Any car that was stuck behind me would just have to deal with it! At this point I was tired, hungry, and finally shaken up as the realization of what happened sunk in. I drove right by the Grand Canyon Caverns concluding once you've seen some caverns, you've seen them all. I wanted to see some trees, and pronto! A hot shower and bed also sounded extremely tempting. Another epiphany of the day: poor people must have a greater appreciation for all of the little things in life that most of us take for granted on a daily basis. Next stop, Williams, AZ, but this time I'm pulling over to adjust my GPS.
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