Going Home

“One fowl swoop.” These are the words that Mylinh uttered when planning our trip home. I advocated a more sauntering approach to our drive back to California. A stop here, a night there, some sight seeing, some noodle salad – a good time would be had by all. Then she reminded me that we were out of money and that she was out of her will to travel. I didn’t blame her, for the most part, I was too. Not to mention, Mama Jo and Papa T have a warm bed, fresh coffee and more BBQ that all of the south can offer waiting for us. So there you have it, we made the plan to drive from New Orleans to El Paso to Tucson to Santa Rosa.

We got on the road and started haulin’ ass. 800 miles and 12 hours into our trip Mylinh decides that El Paso just isn’t the place for her. She comes up with the plan to sleep and drive in alternating shifts all the way to Tucson, AZ where we will stay with her brother-in-law for a few hours to shower and rest and then get back on the road. Essentially, she was advocating for driving almost straight back to Santa Rosa with a mere 4 hour stop in Tucson. And so she proclaimed her plan and so it was done.

At midnight I jumped behind the wheel of the car, pounded a red bull and sped down that lonely highway toward the desert. I didn’t have wings, but I did have a good time listening to soft rock from the early 1990s and local Arizona punk rock that is probably only on the radio at 4am. Jonah, Mylinh’s sister’s husband, graciously let us in his house a little before 5am and let us crash on his futon. At 8:30am the alarm went off and we cleaned up and hit that asphalt river that Eisenhower ensured would connect America and its people.

Looking back on our trip a lot of things come to mind. It was one of those months of my life that I will never forget. One of those months that I will look upon as both fun and formative, tiring and invigorating. After traveling over many different parts of the world, it was seeing and experiencing America that was missing from my travels. America in all its forms - its different cultures, different landscapes and the different sorts of people that make up this melting pot.

My only regret is that we didn’t have more time to meet more people and see more things, but that is life. We looked into the eyes of America and America looked back into us. Forever will both we and America be changed. In these historic days of presidential elections and wars and depressions, seeing America as it was meant to be seen, from a car, and meeting the people who make up America was inspiring and only increased my love of our nation.

Whether I’ll ever see B.B King in Memphis, Hank Williams Jr. at the Grand Ole’ Opry, own a farm in Kentucky or a timeshare in New Orleans is uncertain, but I know in my heart of hearts that this isn’t the last I’ve seen of America and this isn’t the last America has seen of me.