We Are Not in Kansas Anymore
Posted in Dispatches from the Edge on September 8th, 2009 by admin – Be the first to comment
Interstate 70 Kansas
When this odyssey began and I finally hit the road everything was in order. And that’s not easily done considering the times. It is September 2009 and uncertainty is not only palpable, it is regularly inserted into the American lexicon.
With the 2008 collapse as a backdrop, it is only natural that people would want to hang onto whatever they can hang onto. But rather than hording my possessions, I was shedding them. I gave away TVs, stereo systems, couches, chairs, and really everything that couldn’t fit into my beautiful Audi sedan. Which was not much.
But don’t get me wrong. Getting rid of my stuff wasn’t easy. I had hand-selected each and every one of those things over time. So I got real used to having them around. I remember looking back at my bed and, really, that bed alone, I did not want to let it go.
Its brass frame almost identical to my paternal one, was lovely with imperfections and gilded in homely nostalgia. It comforted and conjured a time lost. I remembered the North Carolinian couple I’d gotten it from, and how they shared a piece of their history with me.
Unsticking yourself ain’t so easy. But, as good ‘ol, Hunter Thompson, often affirmed, Buy the ticket, Take the ride.
Time to get out, get some air.