I set out alone despite all of the concerns that from friends that going anywhere long distance by myself would lead to my inevitable death. Since when did being alone become so scary? I headed out of Eugene through the beautiful trees with sunshine dripping in between the cracks of the leaves, and I was reminded of how much I love the state that has been my only home.
How could this beauty do me wrong? I thought. I drove and drove until it had been a couple hours and I reached the city where my friend had told me that I better fill up my gas because there was nothing between here and the next city. I drove toward the city until at some point I was heading toward the highway and not the city. I had missed it (I blame Google Maps). Oh no, this surely will leave me stranded out in the middle of nowhere.
I had faith in my little car that I loved so much and that I bragged about getting "insanely good gas mileage," so I kept going, convincing myself that my three-quarters full tank was nothing to worry about. Soon enough, the road that I was on turned into a dirt and gravel mix that made me slow from my slightly-too-fast 60mph to about a 15mph crawl because a mix of feeling that surely this would be where I'd meet my end and because again my car was my baby that couldn't be tarnished yet.
After about 2 miles of thinking that my tire would pop or a piece of gravel would hit my windshield just right and crack it or that my almost full tank would disappear, I made it to the highway and set off, driving far too fast. But hey, there was no one in sight, who would know.
Turned out that my friend was right. Central Oregon is filled with a big ol' sight of just about nothing. I convinced myself it was pretty and serene for a while, but after three hours of dirt, my mind kept wandering to places where I never found relief from the nothingness in the distance. Maybe this was a bad idea.
...will continue this later.