i drove back to akron the other day and i left oxford the morning after a long downpour caused flash flooding the night before. a warm front had moved in and the weather was gloriously warm for late december. the clouds we're stacked on top of each other in deep grey-blues stretching for miles against the sky, but the sun somehow managed to slip through. it was optimal weather for driving. headed along the south-western ohio roads reminded me of all the beautiful drives i had been on when i was younger and how the time i spent on the road was one of the motivating factors in my decision to travel west.
we spent a fair amount of time driving when i was a growing up; trips back to virginia, up north to spend summers in michigan, visits to my older brother at school in durham. sometimes the hours in the car were tortuously long, but they are also some of my fondest memories. during these car rides it was impossible to escape the influence of my family. rare was time without conversation, and my parents and brothers possessed not only an excellent ability to talk incessantly, but also an impressive breadth of knowledge. given that we were inclined to speak often and loudly, the trips were full of cacophony because the only time the music ever stopped in the car was when the CD was being switched.
music was an important part of driving with my family and it is the sounds of the allman brothers, bob dylan, neil young, and countless others that accompanied our travels. to me, the road is a place for music and it is hard to detach the two from each other. every summer as we drove deeper into the wooded roads of northern michigan my parents would put a dead show on and the connection that the two have for me is inseparable. this music is the voice of my country and when i listen it calls me.
both music and travel are an escape, they are an invitation for something new. the road stretches on ahead for thousands of miles and all with the possibility of adventure. i heard something in the music and in the road and it beckoned me to follow it, so i will.
**posted late. v late. oops. i'm too good at wasting time in order to avoid posting things.
One of my favourite family-time-in-the-car memories involves driving through the northern michigan woods, all of us in the car singing along to Old Crow's 'Methamphetamine' . . . So wrong, I suppose . . .but also just right . . . .
ReplyDeleteOr the last time we drove up there in December (more than 15 years ago) driving in the dark, through the pine forests, with lots of snow muffling everything outside, listening to the (long) space sequence in 6/28/74. I think all three of you may have been asleep in the back by then.
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