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Supernatural Road Trip – July 14th – Prologue
Spent $35 for a one-day pass to O-Comicon in order to pay $25 to take a selfie with Julian Richings – “Death” – from Supernatural. It seems fitting, I think, to start what could turn out to be “the roadtrip from Hell” to have a picture of Death looking over your shoulder.
Truth be told, I hadn’t planned to spend the whole day at the con, but as of 3:00 today, it’s been pretty well worth it. Although I feel like I should be home mowing the lawn…
I attended Julian’s panel and learned some pretty cool things. He says, “I’m kind of a jiggly guy.” And it’s true, he moves around on stage a lot. He has a brother who was very much into the punk music scene in England. Julian actually played a “rock god” in a movie called Hard Core Logo. Maybe I’ll be able to watch it while on the trip.
Spent a couple of hours reading a book on my phone and people watching this afternoon. Some of these cos players are very… comfortable… with their bodies and showing lots of skin. At this time I am not one of those people so I shouldn’t judge and yet I have – many times – and at the same time I admired their bravery.
Only tonight, with the car rental 12 hours away, am I getting nervous for my trip. Not sure if it’s the car being a stick, the money, the drive, the potential for something to go wrong… I THINK I’ve minimized my risk sufficiently.
Supernatural Road Trip – July 15-?
Thought I’d try to log this trip as a hunter’s journal. In fact, the hunter’s journal I received for Christmas is what I’m writing in and then transcribing here. (Note to self: you ALWAYS overpack and you KNOW this!)
In “Another Life Saved by Supernatural” I said I didn’t know where my interest in the fandom would take me. Turns out, it’s all over the place, and traveling on my own. We all deal with stresses in our lives in different ways – different stresses require different coping skills. I first got the idea for a road trip when I learned Jensen Ackles was opening the Family Business Beer Company in Dripping Springs, TX. Like the true over-the-top researcher I am, I followed its development closely… geez Carmichael, does EVERYTHING need a backstory?
Very well. Why does it appear that I am running away from home? Because in true “good girl” fashion, I moved from my father’s house into my husband’s house and I haven’t been truly independent (in my definition of the word: not dependent on anyone else, alone) ever. There’s a distinct difference between having a night home alone when hubby takes the kids to the movies or attending a work-related conference by yourself and what I am talking about. (For more insight into running away, go watch the movie Sabrina with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear, and Julia Ormond.)
I positively DESPISE being rescued. Car dies because of flooding on the roads? Call hubby because he has the AAA. Accidentally lock the motorcycle key in the trunk? Call Mom & Dad because they have a spare key – which they have to drive 10 miles to deliver! I am a 40-something grown-ass woman. I shouldn’t NEED to be rescued. (And don’t go asking me how calling AAA for a tow myself is any less of a rescue. This is my brain we’re dealing with. I just know there is a difference.)
And now…reflections on Day 1 – July 16th, 2018
Every trip has to begin with a “shake-your-head-at-the-absurdity” moment. This trip was no different. As I was pulling out of the driveway in my brand-new, rented, “Arrest Me Red, convertible Mustang, a man walks up to the car. (Bastard’s lucky he didn’t get run over. Convertibles have obscenely narrow rear windows!) He is apparently the driver of a big truck that can’t get down the street because my neighbor and I have parked our cars across from each other on the curb. We’re not evil people. We just don’t believe traffic needs to go 50mph in a 25mph neighborhood where kids play. Parallel parking keeps the idiots at bay.
My entire being wanted to tell this guy about the Carmichael Go-Around-the-Block School of Driving, but I resisted. I called the hubby to come out and move the Tin Roof Rusted beast into the driveway after I pulled out.
1st stop on the way out of Omaha: ATM for emergency cash.
I-680 to I-80 west. Passed the wreckage and cleanup of an accident – several cars – on I-680. Four state trooper cars!
I spent a good portion of yesterday worrying about getting stopped for speeding on I-80. Talk about needing to loosen the noose!
The next stop was Grand Island, NE. for gas, which I probably didn’t need but I’m glad I stopped anyway. Three hours without walking around or moving significantly results in the need to stretch. The car is comfortable to drive even if the cruise control is a bit persnickety.
All three times I stopped for gas I almost forgot to close the tank door! A huge shout-out and thank you to the guy in Wellington, KS, who came in to tell the cashier that the gas door was open on “that gorgeous Mustang out there.” I was standing at the register. “Oh! That would be mine!” Doh!
HWY 281 in Nebraska, heading south from Grand Island, is not as straight as it looks on the atlas. Around Hastings I had to backtrack twice because I got turned around or misread the signs. “But Carmichael, why not use the GPS?” I haven’t wanted to turn on or use GPS or Waze app on my phone. Whether I should be or not, I am proud of being able to navigate using a map – even one as basic as the U.S. Road Atlas from Rand-McNally – and navigate accordingly. Some skills are use-it-or-lose-it propositions, map reading is not. A subtle demonstration of independence or stubbornness?
As I was tooling down HWY 281 with the top down there was a lonely air raid siren tower out in the middle of a Kansas field. The strangest thought went through my head: “What kind of guy takes a job keeping a lighthouse?” (Thank you Linus Larraby, Sabrina). As I continue to think about that single tower, that line made more sense. Similar to the lighthouse keeper, somewhere, there is a person whose responsibility is to sound/activate that siren. A single, stolid sentinel whose reach sounds for miles warning of pending danger.
Made it to Lebanon, KS – the Geographic Center of the Lower 48 Contiguous United States – population almost nil. OK, 281 people according to the last Census. I even got pictures. There was a young family just out taking a day trip so we traded cameras. Hubby 3D printed an angel blade for me as an anniversary present. One picture I took has the blade laying on the podium in the chapel on the grounds of the center Monument. I drove through the little town after visiting the monument. Many run-down properties sat abandoned, surrounded by verdant fields. Alas, there was no bunker to be found.
It’s very understandable why Lebanon was chosen as the site for the Men of Letters bunker. Similar to the reasoning behind siting the Strategic Air Command (Offutt Air Force Base) in the middle of the country – it’s a hard target to hit from anywhere else on the planet. If the town was any more unassuming, there wouldn’t be a town there. There’s a point where “out of sight, out of mind” becomes both a strategic and a tactical advantage.
Looking east on HWY 191 from the Center Monument, everything is just spread out healthy and green. The area must be getting adequate rain because even the creeks and rivers were up. Although I did notice a fair amount of irrigation going on. Here I’ll stop the travelogue and take a bit of a thought detour:
There was a block of time where I traded listening to the radio for Jamie Campbell Bower’s/ Counterfeit. CD. The whole “Together We are Stronger” album has some extraordinary rhythms perfect for hard driving. I just let it repeat probably five or six times. Since then, I’ve been chasing a thought/ concept around the “Together We Are Stronger” theme from the album in relation to how I was feeling standing at the Center of the U.S. Something along the lines of being strong together doesn’t imply weakness in the individual. When I finally stopped at the end of Day 1, I was in Vinita, OK. In order to flesh out these thoughts, I contacted Axy, a fellow wordsmith and SPN fan.
Fendi ran a commercial this year with Jamie Campbell Bower as their model. In the ad he is asked, “What do you fear?” to which he answers, “Collapse of the imagination.” So there I am, standing smack dab in the middle of the U.S., looking out over literally thousands of acres, when that question and answer popped into my head. There is a connection that I can’t quite bring together: between fear, imagination, strength in unity and strength in individuality. If imagination is a key to all kinds of freedom (perhaps to freedom itself) and an escape to (and FROM) everything, and fear is a lack of freedom…does it follow that without imagination we are simply slaves to our fears? As I stood viewing and absorbing that vast expanse, I felt opposing things: 1) How small am I right here? Vs. 2) How strong am I? How determined, headstrong – to show up alone? It was almost as if I was proving to Nature or the universe that I was something other than all of my fears. Maybe “fears” isn’t the right word.
“What IS the right word?” “More isn’t always better, Linus. Sometimes it’s just more.” (Really, you're going to need to watch Sabrina to get all the movie quote references my brain has to offer. 90% song lyrics and movie quotes up in here.)
And now we return to our regularly scheduled programming…Day 1 continues
I took HWY 281 south to HWY 36 hoping to “quickly” – always a relative term in fly-over country – make my way over to Vinita, OK. It started to rain so I pulled over to put the top back up on the car. Judging by the sunburn on my shoulders and forehead, that was probably a good idea. HWY 36 east – stopped in Mankato for gas then got over to HWY 81 South which turns into I-135 until the toll part – color me cheap. HWY 81 is the most infernal road – bumps and cracks – and it keeps pairing up with other highways going other directions. It was easy to go too fast on it though. Keeping my lead foot in check – which I inherited honestly from my father – was difficult. But sometimes, you just gotta let the horses run! I've got this beautiful machine: a 5.0 Litre V-8 engine that will crank out 460 horses if I need it, and capable of 420 lb-ft of torque? It would be a shame not to take advantage of that for at least a little bit.
Oy, how many times did I have to recheck the atlas to make sure I didn’t confuse HWY 160 and 166? Too many! I finally made it down to HWY 166 which kind of goes along the ass-crack border of KS and OK. Awesome. Just a straight, albeit long, shot over to Vinita! Oh contrare mon frere! As towns grow into cities and annex each other, dirt roads get paved; fields that grew crops now sport racetracks, arenas, and apartments; and neighbors aren’t so neighborly. These “improvements” happen gradually and over time one forgets things about Small Town, America. Small towns that stay small tend to roll up the sidewalks at 8pm even on a weeknight, and one begins to feel a sense of relief at the sight of a Casey’s General Store or Flying J truckstop still being open when you crawl through town at the modest speed of 30mph.
One of the goals of this trip is to try to answer every day and honestly the following question: “What have I appreciated more about me today?”
For July 16th:
- My stamina. I left Omaha about 8:15 AM, went southwest almost 5 hours with only 2 short 15 minute stops until I got to Lebanon, KS. Then another eight hours back east and a smidge south to Vinita, OK.
- Ability to read a map and navigate effectively – thanks Dad!
July 17, 2018 – Day 2
Since I rolled into Vinita so late last night, I determined to spend the day looking around the town and then doing some reading and writing. I am so jazzed to meet Deb White, aka ClassiChassis, one of the co-authors of some of the DarkHunters fanfics. While I learned that Vinita is on the historic Route 66, I also discovered that I am a weather wuss. Torrential downpours almost all day long actually prompted me to make scads of hot tea in my hotel room. I spent today writing, planning out more of my trip, reading, and drinking tea.
I texted with Deb a few times today and we made plans to have dinner. She and her husband Kevin picked me up at the hotel and we went to a diner that served the best chicken fried steak! Listening to some of their convention stories, I find that Kevin and my husband have 3D printing in common, and then we went back to my hotel.
Travelling solo is supposed to be an adventure, and in light of my “I despise being rescued” attitude, this may come as a surprise, but I ASKED Deb and Kevin for a second opinion about the state of one of my tires. To me, it appeared the front passenger tire was a little low. Deb asked, “Doesn’t that car have an electronic tire pressure sensor to tell you if it’s low?” According to the little book in the glove compartment it did, but a lifetime of doing your own maintenance kind of gives you an eye for these things. Deb pulls out this handy compressor with a tire pressure gauge on it and yep, it’s a smidge low! It’s not enough to be dangerous, but enough to notice. Kevin added some air and voila! All done! Maybe look at this as “rescue prevention?”
The three of us hung out and chatted in my room for probably an hour. Deb and I found more to bond over than just Supernatural. Props to her for pointing out to me that I am in fact, driving the Horseman of War’s car (a cherry red Mustang, 2018 vs. 1965) on this trip. We both collected Breyer’s horse statues in our youth and love the Outlander books. (Note to self: take a picture of the horse on wheels and send it to Deb.) They both signed my Hunter’s Journal and we pledged to keep in touch.
Addendum, 8/6/2018 - I forgot to answer the question, “What have I appreciated more about me today?” In hindsight, there are a couple of things: “The problem with wanting spontaneity is that sometimes you get it.” In other words, be careful what you wish for. And the corollary to that is Charles Darwin’s “It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” I adapted to my situation mentally, financially, and physically, and was OK with that. So I didn’t get to tour the town the way I wanted, and bowed to the weather’s whims. I also appreciated my ability to focus and listen as Deb and Kevin relayed their convention experiences, photo op fun, and search for classic cars. Scrolling through Twitter posts from throughout the fandom, it’s very easy to get caught up in comparing your life to the lives you see represented in your feed at 140 characters. It often feels like a game of “Keeping Up with the Jones’ “. However, actually having a sit-down conversation cements the fact that these “voices screaming into the void” have 40 minute commutes; jobs they love (or hate or tolerate); and people, projects, or interests they feel passionately about. (Shout out to the Oxford comma and apologies for ending my sentence with a preposition!) The first quotation is mine. Perhaps I’ll turn it into a song lyric…oh, lyrics, that’s a completely separate entry.
7/18/18, 10:42pm
Left Vinita later than I planned due to an ant infestation! From all of the rain over the last 24 hours, the ants who would normally go marching in two-by-two to get out of the rain crawled out of the hotel flower beds, up my car tires, and took up residence. They crawled in the cup holders, on the steering wheel, and under the floor mats. Gah! It was my own personal “Bugs” episode from Season 1. Finding a store with ant traps to use in the car was the first challenge of the day. The second challenge was just keeping myself from shivering with the heebie-jeebies each time I noticed another ant.
Going through Oklahoma diagonally via HWY 69 because while the interstate may have been faster, this trip isn’t about speed. HWY 69 went over Lake Eufala, which is gorgeous when covered with fog. I wonder if this is a lake created and managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, because that connection with my first “real job” still makes me proud. I am resolved to come back here and actually stop to visit.
Meanwhile, all of the little towns that exist on HWY 69 conspire to make it impossible to maintain a consistent speed. Yesterday I was following a conversation in the fandom on Instagram and Twitter about parts of the male anatomy which was quite amusing. All of the sudden, I pull up to a stoplight in some small town and what do I see mounted on the corner next to me? Yup the largest statue of a rooster I’d ever seen – a giant cock-a-doodle-doo. I couldn’t resist posting a picture.
Crossed into the Republic of Texas at 3:22PM. Hundreds of miles of construction and Route 1 South through Austin after dusk and I finally made it to Dripping Springs, TX. I need a nap!
Discovered something about the lights on the Mustang. When it’s dark and you open the doors, the image of a horse shows up on the ground! It’s wicked cool and I’ll get pix tomorrow night! How did I discover this wonderous feature? Well, I blew through Dripping Springs because it was dark as pitch and no readily visible signage close to the highway for my hotel and no sign (that I saw, let’s be honest) that says “Welcome to Dripping Springs, home of the Family Business Beer Co!” So, I just kept driving and driving, and it’s dark, and there are sporadic cars and trucks. Finally, I suppose I’m about 10 miles past the last gas station I saw with lights on when I decided I needed to turn around and ask for directions. (Insert your favorite male-bashing joke here)
Pulling into the gas station/Subway parking lot faster than was prudent, I parked and opened the car door. There on the ground was the image of an all-white pony, legs up like it was running flat out. For some reason, after seeing that, I didn’t feel like a nincompoop having to go in and ask where my hotel was. And since the geezer (I use the term with endearment) behind the register was so cool, I bought a Coke in a real glass bottle, even though I didn’t need it.
“Up to the third stop light, then hang a left, and then another left, and the hotel is back in behind the shopping plaza.” Truth. There it was. No wonder I couldn’t see it from the highway. Oh, and they only have one room available for tonight. I have to check back in the morning for future accommodations. Actually, this is OK with me. Seeing as how they want way more money per night than what the website is advertising, I am willing to go elsewhere if needed.
7/19/18, 9:00AM
Only able to get tonight at the Holiday inn. Even making that decision to spend $168.00 was excruciating! Now I am calling the Outpost Motel to see if they have a room for tomorrow night and Saturday night. It’s a little ways from where I am at now, but according to their website (and yet, who can believe any hotel website now?) it’s $75 per night.
1:42PM
Forty-two minutes to wash 4 days’ worth of laundry. And so no one takes my blue jeans and undies, I am staying in the laundry room at the hotel. Aside from the machinery, it’s cool and quiet – unlike the 103 degrees outdoors.
I’ve had a blistering headache since I got up this morning. Took FOREVER to make a decision about staying in this hotel for another night despite the cost increase. Why? Why? Why did I have such a hard time making that decision? Not sure where I’ll be staying tomorrow night. Maybe the Sleep Inn if the Outpost motel is full. Honestly, I went into this trip with literally no planned itinerary, no reservations I might have to cancel, just go with the flow. So, it shouldn’t really matter where I end up staying, right?
I’ll head out to the FBBC – that’s the Family Business Beer Co. for the uninitiated – after laundry is done. They open at 3PM.
Now, let’s try to answer the question, “What have I appreciated more about me today?” in regards to yesterday.
1)Once again – stamina. Over 12 hours on the road which could account for my headache.
2)My somewhat obsessive attention to the gas tank – I didn’t let it get below half a tank. And I tried to be nice to the engine by not running the A/C all the time.
3)Being what I hope was a courteous driver and marveling at the sheer audacity of the civil engineers who planned the interstate system in Dallas. Seriously, are they all high when they design these things?
4)I listened to my body at dinnertime at Dennys. I only ordered a club sandwich, fruit, and H2O. Then because heat was making me feel funky, I only ate half and that was plenty.
5)Calm under unfamiliar circumstances. HWY 290 is very dark and very fast. Pretty much blew through Dripping Springs because I didn’t see a sign. Finally found a place to SAFELY turn around and hit a gas station. (See previous bit about the geezer.)
Keira – ok Johnnie – said to bring him back a demon from my trip! Maybe I can find a stuffed one.
Mick wants a shot glass from the brewery. I figure I will get beer for Rob, David, and Tom. A growler each?
A new ballcap for myself from the brewery and hopefully lots of meet and greets of Supernatural fans who will sign my Hunter’s Journal. I suck at taking selfies so hopefully others will do it for me!
Ooh! Now an hour to DRY the laundry. The pool outside has no one in it which surprises me considering the temperature.
Am thinking that even though the SanJac Saloon is on my spontaneous to-do list, it would be OK if I didn’t make it back into Austin. Maybe that’s me being a wuss. Maybe it’s one of those stops that would be better enjoyed by taking a direct flight from Omaha to Austin and getting a cab.
It’s amazing what a chance meeting with a local will uncover. Two suggestions for other places to explore besides FBBC: Hamilton Pool on Ranch Road 12 North and Jacob’s Well on Ranch Road 12 South in Wemberly, TX. As it turns out Hamilton Pool was on my list already.