home again, home again, home

After eleven hours on the road, I'm feeling a bit nutty this evening. By the time we were within 100 miles of Corpus Christi, C and I were both slap-happy; the Chicago soundtrack on repeat didn't help matters much.

We set out from El Paso early in the morning and made great time, despite stopping several times to stretch our legs or buy refreshments.

I'll probably need a bit more time to reflect before I can really provide a retrospective about our road trip, but the part I figured out on the long drive home today is this: you can get as much out of a journey as you're willing to.

There was a time in my life when I was a destination girl. I'd have preferred being flown from point A to point B; I didn't want to bother with the distance in between. I think my philosophy has changed somewhat over time. This trip was planned as a way to explore a region of the country. Not three cities in various parts of the country, but the entire region. This was as much out of necessity as because of possibility; it was cheaper to drive and stay in motels than it likely would have been to fly, and we had time to drive, so we did. It was a completely different trip as a result.

And for the most part, I really enjoyed that part of it. I liked how the landscape changed significantly from hour to hour (to hour to hour to hour); the shift is so gradual that I've never noticed it before, and yet profound enough to be constantly obvious. I'm glad we didn't retrace our path, other than from El Paso to Corpus Christi. We saw so many different environments by going through northern New Mexico and Arizona than we would have seen if we had remained in the southern parts of those states.

But the drive from El Paso to around Junction? Boring as hell, especially the second time around. Geez.

Covering 3,500 miles in 7 days has changed my perspective on distances a bit. The 200-mile drive from Corpus Christi to Austin, which I have long dismissed as lengthy and boring, will seem like a short jaunt after all the driving we've been doing lately.