Memories of road trips.

Greetings my good reading friends, today I am remembering when I used to travel the roads of my country while driving to go to college.

I like to drive because while doing so my mind is transported to imaginary places and I create stories as crazy as my imagination allows me to.

I would always tell my college friends that I would put the car on autopilot and it would drive me to the place I was supposed to go.

Of course those were my stories, my car had no autopilot, I just drove on those roads for 6 years straight, 4 times a year round trip.  I would drive a little over 1000 km one way and then back, my car probably knew all about the road by this point.

On some occasions I would concentrate so much on my thoughts that I would drive along a road and then after my eyes realized that the road was new, it would snap me out of my thoughts and make me realize that I had taken the wrong road. This didn’t really bother me, I was pleased, I would look for a sign on the road that would point me to where I was at that moment and then backtrack and continue with my journey and my thoughts.

When I found the road again, I would dive back into my thoughts. How I miss those trips, not the student life because even though it is great to remember what I experienced in my classes with my classmates, teachers and friends, I would not like to repeat it again, I just enjoy the memory but I don't want to live them again.

I remember one time I was already entering the second to last state to then get to the state where I came from and I never thought I would pass by my state's signal crossing and not realize it. I thought I had it engraved in my mind and subconscious but it wasn't so.

At the intersection, I kept going straight ahead and was entering another state until I eventually realized that this was not the road. I looked at some people sitting under a tree and I asked them what that place was and they answered me that it was X state, I thanked them and I went back on my way. It turns out, that I was already half an hour in another state full of trees, just like the road I was supposed to pass by, but it was in the opposite direction. Hahaha how crazy, so I turned back.

I laughed as much as I could and after half an hour I saw the sign indicating where to cross and I did so.

I only had two hours to go after almost 15 hours on the road. This was at the beginning of my travels and after one or two years I started to make stops in different cities, where friends lived and so I was up to 3 days traveling until I reached my university town.

I no longer had to drive 17 hours straight. I would leave my house at 4 in the morning to arrive before midnight to the city where I was going. Then when I stayed with friends or family I would make a 4 hour travel to stop over and then a two hour drive to get to a second city and then, if I did the rest, one 11 hour trip to a third city.

Then, when I graduated, I would go on a trip to a town three hours away from my city. At first I didn't go back anywhere, my mother had just died and I no longer had a place to find a sense of family. I looked for family friends who gave me support and there for two years I was working and going everywhere and nowhere.

When I finished working in the city where I was sent I chose where to go and I went back to my hometown and stayed in a rented apartment until I traveled to another state where I stayed for two more years. Before I finished there I decided to travel every Friday for 3 hours to get to the city where I would do my subspecialty as a medical sonographer.

When I finished my specialty I said goodbye to the town and went back to my home state, I went back to rent and started practicing my specialty to this day.

I no longer traveled, I settled here, with my son. I sold my car and was waiting to buy another one but the economy of my country collapsed and I could only travel in cabs until it was too late.

Now, in this pandemic I am at home, without traveling, waiting for the day when I will take the road again and my mind will fly again, I hope that this year the isolation will be normalized and my son and I will be able to go again on the roads of my country.

Thanks to all my reader and commenter friends. Thanks to all the sponsors who support me, especially @Eylz2021 and @BCH-lover for their continued support and renewal.