One more for the Road

I wanted to write about something that came to mind the other day before I lost interest and forgot... Not that the napkin I wrote on won't preserve the memory or make it more interesting to look back on, it's just that I loose things, and have been in the midst of a half hearted cleaning spree.

Yeah the house is almost clean... Mark your calendars... I'm sure it won't last more than a few days... It never does... But I digress.

So the small memory was of how the world looked to a small child in the front seat of our family car, rolling down the highways at night on our way to California. This is a trip that we took many times over the years to go see my mother, whom I have interesting memories of... But the other night as I was watching that fore-mentioned horror film of the year, I was reminded of the feeling of the drive...

I always loved driving, from the very beginning. My dad often mentioned how as tiny children we would often go for long car rides on bouncy dirt roads to lull us off to sleep. I thought that was an interesting trick and if it weren't for the price of gas, I would definitely have planned on including gas and a new suspension system in my childcare budget.

I always loved the rides we would go on. We were constantly visiting parks and beaches in the far reaches of our state and others. I loved going on picnics, grilling up steaks with potato salad and throwing the grill into the closest river when it was time to go.

But I just wanted to try to crystalize the feeling of the long drives we would take to California. It seemed like on most trips it was raining. I remember the lights hitting the winding roads, lined with Redwood trees for as far as I could see, and the rain splashing on the windshield. That is really the detail that stood out most to me. The look of the world through a car on a rainy road in California. I remember how the cars that would occasionally pass by would light up the car and illuminate the droplets on the windshield. I also remember the rhythmic sound that the wipers would make, creating the soundtrack for our journey.

The sounds of cars has always stood out to me. I seem to inadvertently be looking for the familiar sounds of cars gone by. One of which was the sound of the blinker of my mother's friend Ken's car. It was probably just an old car from the 70's but the turn signal would echo in the car and was one of the slowest tinking sounds I have ever encountered. I still listen to signals hoping to find one that holds the same kind of impact...

Anyway... Off to bed... Hopefully to dream of anything but snipers and hit-men.