On the Road

Well after being stuck in Morgantown, West Virginia for an extra day, I was finally on the road for the short drive from West Virginia to New Mexico--24 hour drive. I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the drive. This was the farthest I have ever driven by myself and in a car that just had a $500.00 Break job. Looking back on it all, what was I thinking, back in my grad school days $500.00 was a great deal of money to a broke student. The Break job really left me worried about just getting to Santa Fe. So I did what any rational grad student would do; I asked my parents for some coins for my purse. Deep down I knew even with help from my parents, I would still have to sleep at rest stops to conserve money. Also not stopping for the whole night anywhere would put me closer to Santa Fe. As I began the long Journey west from east all the nervousness began to leave as I traveled through state by state blaring my favorite band at the time Belle and Sebastian. I had all of their albums, so they were pretty much with me the entire trip. Back in the day we use to have to travel with all of our CDs as the Ipod had not yet been unleashed by the mighty apple.
I must have driven about 14 hours the first day and it was finally time to bunk down for the night at a rest area in the middle of nowhere Tennessee. At first I was scared to sleep in my small cramped car, but then I realized, who is going to mess with a 6 foot 1 African American male. Well at least until I opened my mouth and my beautiful tenor voice rang out at them, lol
I slept for abut 4 or 5 hours or so and was back on the road West. I find driving long distances to be very therapeutic-- such a great time to work through what ever issues one may be going through. I found my self wondering if I was actually good enough to work at the opera. After all they only allowed the cream of the crop to work there. Would I be able to keep up with fast pace? Did I have enough skills under my belt? And of course the question most ask, will anyone like me and will I make Friends. I must have gone over this a few thousand times before stopping for the second night at a rest area near the Texas New Mexico border. Almost there.