Other noteworthy moments on the road include everyday activities, but with a twist. For example: I love Indian food, and I followed directions from an online map to an Indian restaurant in Morgantown, West Virginia. When I arrived at the address, I found that the restaurant was located inside of a tiny airport for tiny airplanes- an unusual, unexpected detail. I walked into a thrift store in Forsyth, Missouri, to a woman playing the piano and singing. I forget how live music electrifies an atmosphere. There was a diner in Sevierville, Tennessee, with a jukebox loaded with songs from the 50s and 60s (aptly named “The Diner”). (Be still, my heart!) I camped at the State Fair Fairgrounds in DuQuoin, IL, on Easter. What an eerie feeling, being in this venue that was designed for crowds of tens of thousands of people, and it was empty. I heard the fun vintage song “Rag Mop” in a thrift store in Borrego Springs, California. (I’ve heard this on CD, but never over the loudspeaker of a store.) On a hike I took with my mom in the fall in Wisconsin, a hungry hummingbird landed on a fuchsia stripe on her T-shirt. Soon after arriving at an Indian restaurant in Salisbury, Maryland, the family at another table left, and I was the only one there. The waiter (who was also a cook) started talking to me while I was waiting for my food. He sat down at another table and ended up talking to me during my whole meal. (It didn’t feel creepy or uncomfortable- just something I had never experienced before.) I drove on the Musical Highway near Tijeras, New Mexico, a short section of rumble strips that plays a portion of the song ‘America the Beautiful’ as you drive over it. (It lasts about 30 seconds.) A police siren started a group of coyotes howling in Catalina State Park, Arizona. They matched their song to the melody of the siren! A tiny downtown park in Sweetwater, Tennessee, featured a winding river, a curved bridge, a variety of ducks, and a coin-operated duck food dispenser. Crossing the bridge, the path continued alongside the river to the main city park, then circled back to the ducks. In Roswell, New Mexico, I chased a kid around the mall for a few seconds. As I was walking down the hall, he’d run ahead a little, then stop and wait for me to catch up. When I got closer, he’d act like he was scared and take off again. So I started running after him. I would have played longer, but I wasn’t sure if his caretaker could tell I was only playing.
One of my favorite days happened early on, in Tennessee. It was my third day at the same campsite, and I had already hiked the nearby trails and run errands in town. It was cold and raining, so I went for a drive on the backroads. This great oldies radio station came in, so I spent a few hours driving among green rolling hills, singing along with old songs. I also discovered a charming tiny town with Victorian-style architecture and an old-fashioned main street. That was what road tripping had been like years earlier, and what made me dream of expanding it into a more colossal adventure.