Looking Glasses

All road trips are just that, trips on the road. Certainly if we had to walk it would be much more ridiculous and disastrous and long. The destination can at times seem meaningless when reflecting on the actual events that take place from point A to point B rather beginnig to end. "Not all those who wander are lost". True statement, but it seems that the long road that stretches out before us as we embark upon journey's with innumerable possibilities and adventures that it is neither the A's or B's but rather the inbetweens which I will call the X, Y's and Z's, that really make a difference.
Most of your time is spent pent up in a car too small for all it's occupants and all the "stuff" they insist on bringing along. At the time of planning said vehicle was/is economical and has the right number of seats to allocate all it's passenger with a seat belts, Unfortunately after two or three hours the thought of sparing a few bucks in gas money and the environment don't seem quite as apealing as it had at the time.
The lines drawn between the pros and cons can get fuzzy after the first 12 hours or so and everything just becomes funny or irritating. And are as follows:

Not enough leg room, not enough AC, too much AC, way to many snacks which is a topic all in of itself, and pillows soo many pillows. Clothes strewn about, maps, changing and driving, snacking and sleeping and mapping, and rocking to tunes chosen specifically for the occasion; Inspired by the hopes and visions of what might be in the time between point A and Point B. Views that are incredible, breathtaking, thought provoking and at times dismall and situations that are intolerable and hilarious which makes it all bearable and wortwhile. Pit stops at gas stations in small towns(and those small towns make you ponder upon the word 'pit' being used as a reference to the stop you make whilst passing through, pit?...), moments that you find yourself alone and life happens and you wish you were in that cramped car to be able to share that moment that all could have enjoyed and laugh heartily. An overall lack or disregard for personal hygene... And of course the company that you share is especially important.

You don't just hop in a car for 6 or 8 or 12+ hours with just anyone, obviously you can learn a lot from a person or about a person by how they deal with such a stressful environment. The smells, the clutter, the lack of comfortable sleep/seaeting, the lack of nutritous sustenance, It is a telling tale indeed. I myself when deprived of sleep begin to form incoherent thoughts that are hilarious to mostly just me. Traditionally such thoughts would stay trapped in my head for me to enjoy but when the chemical is released to aide in my alertness on the road the door to discovering the workings of my inner mind are opened and really it can be a interesting and possibly disturbing occurence. Uncontrolable laughter follows the incoherency of thought and a loss of all standard functioning, arms, legs, laughter runs rampant and it feeds off of itself, thought processes etc. Few have witnessed such happenings and that is how it shall remain. In high school road trips were numerous. To get anywhere you had to drive, camping, concerts, california, the porter house (Idaho), Utah etc etc etc. I can recall hearing songs and feeling a literal pull to go somewhere and those spur of the moment trips were some of the best i've been on.

The people and places we pass along the way as we venture from point A to point B in our lives are truly what make the X,Y's and Z's so very wonderful and A-mazing. Sometimes we feel cramped and that the road is way too long or the scenery is not very appealing/too appealing, or we might even feel "tripped by the road" and find ourselves face down with dirt in our teeth. As we stop to take in the scenery beautiful or not we might just recognize that we are where we want to be with those we love the most. And we can laugh and maybe cry, mostly we can feel and change. Maybe we don't like our course, but that just gives us the perfect opportunity to change our destination and help determine the outcome by how we react in our tiny cramped, sleepless car of clutter and company.