{"id":774,"date":"2011-01-11T23:34:57","date_gmt":"2011-01-12T07:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.singleoccupancyblog.com\/?p=774"},"modified":"2023-12-27T21:34:23","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T01:34:23","slug":"6-days-3000-miles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlustforone.com\/staging\/3560\/perspectives\/6-days-3000-miles\/","title":{"rendered":"What Six Days, 3,000+ Miles, and a Stick-Shift Saturn Taught Me About Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I can\u2019t help smiling\u2014broadly, wildly, madly–when I remember those days of pure, unabashed freedom on the open road.<\/p>\n

Almost two years ago, I set out on a journey, one that took me from my home on the Jersey Shore through the heart of America to the caffeine-fueled metropolis of Seattle, Washington. And I went alone.\u00a0 A friend was moving to the West Coast and would I drive her car out there for her<\/em>? My heart answered so loudly it overwhelmed all reason. Yes! Yes! Yes!<\/em><\/p>\n

In the beginning, there was nothing but anticipation. And expectation. And uncertainty. But isn\u2019t that always the way it is with travel? The moment we go out across the threshold of the cozy shelter of home, all that we know–all that we\u2019re sure of–disappears in the rearview mirror as we move toward the unfamiliar.<\/p>\n

Driving over 3,000 miles alone in a small, silver sedan with nothing but the sound of my own voice and the asphalt beneath to keep me company became so much more than a physical journey, more than just the transference of metal and flesh from one place to the next. During those six days, the car shrunk to my body like a second skin as it moved me through the awe-inspiring majesty of a changeful, flickering landscape. But it wasn\u2019t just the landscape that changed. The experience reshaped me, too, leaving an imprint on my life like a beautiful scar.\u00a0 As the miles rolled past, the road shared its secrets with me, the gentle hum of revolving tires like a whispered chant.<\/p>\n