Tessie D

I was grocery shopping last weekend, and on impulse, I picked up a road atlas. It’s a huge book with road maps for every state. They’re always in the magazine racks at the front, and I’ve looked through them while waiting for the cashier.

I bought one this time, and I’ve been reading through it in the afternoon, plotting routes through each of that states. I imagine what it might look like to drive until the road runs out in Maine and Florida and Washington.

The road that runs through town, Highway 377, goes all the way through Texas from the northern part of the state all the way to Mexico. One weekend, I could pack up my car, fill it with gas, sandwiches, and a sleeping bag, and just drive until the road runs out at the border. I imagine that that’s what the landscape in Lonesome Dove might look like. Similar to the path that Cal and Augustus took. I could see it for myself. Then I could turn around and come back in time for work on Monday.

I wouldn’t be Ferdinand Magellan circling the globe, but I can imagine that seeing what is at the end of a stretch of road might feel just as good right now.