A journey of 1200 miles begins with a single step getting your car out of the body shop then staying up until 4:30 am with your mom and sister. Yes, that sounds about right.
Until 4 pm on Friday it was uncertain whether or not I would be able to begin my cross county adventure or postpone it, once again, to the following week. Exactly one week after my first planned departure date, and one hour before the body shop closed for the weekend, I got my car back. After months of planning, weeks of readjusting those plans and what seemed like an eternity of trying to be patient, it was time to start driving.
My first stop would be my mom’s house near the Oklahoma/Arkansas border, about 2.5 hours from OKC. There I would see my mom and youngest sister once more, get a good nights rest and leave before the sun rose the next morning. As I have become well aware over the past couple of months, plans change. We stayed up laughing, talking and carrying on until 4:30 am. After 3.5 hours of sleep, and a couple cups of coffee, I finally hit I-40 E. It probably wasn’t the best approach to take before setting off across the country, but it was something that I would never trade.
Oklahoma quickly turned into Arkansas. Arkansas turned into Tennessee. Just over the Mississippi River I stopped in Memphis to stretch my legs and visit where one of my favorite musicians, Jeff Buckley, had drowned 14 years earlier. Several hours later, as I approached Nashville, I called Jack White’s Third Man Records for their hours that day. I was only slightly disappointed that they would be closed by the time I passed through. I knew I needed to continue driving. 11 hours after leaving Oklahoma I pulled into Knoxville to refuel and assess the situation. Though it was late in the evening I decided that I would push through, at least to the next town. Or two. Or three. The clock struck midnight as I approached the Smoky Mountains. (The Smoky Mountains experience is a story all its own) Tennessee turned into North Carolina. The relief of getting into North Carolina soon gave way to pure exhaustion. 2.5 hours from my final destination, with 16 hours of I-40 behind me, my mind and body simultaneously decided that they were going no further. At 3 am I stumbled into the nearest motel and slipped into a small coma.
I pulled into Durham the next day with the satisfaction of what I had accomplished coupled with a surreal feeling of knowing that I would now call this new city home. After recovering from the long day before, I had to laugh at what was on my camera. I hadn’t taken much time to stop and take pictures. I had places to be and people to see. However, I did take short clips of different stretches of I-40 E. As the miles passed, the states and scenery changed. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina. As the miles passed, emotions changed. Relief, excitement, nostalgia and exhaustion. Apparently as the miles passed, the music changed as well… Yes, I rocked some blue grass in Eastern Tennessee.
Maybe a journey of 1200 miles ends with a short video of the same interstate highway and the amazing memories of that time you drove across the country to live.
