Dawn in the canyonlands of Eastern Utah.
My sister and I drove for 24 hours from Portland to Denver. It’s normally an 18 hour drive, but we took our time to enjoy the scenery and stop off at better places to eat than what the highway signs advertised. I love driving through the night, it’s a time when the world feels special and rare. My sister drove most the night while I slept to gear up for the late night/early morning shift.
I normally listen to AM Coast to Coast with George Nori during drives like these, but I just listened to music this time. AM Coast to Coast is about mystical phenomena, aliens coming to earth, special mental powers, and so forth. One of my favorite moments from the show was late at night as I drove through the Ozarks in Missouri. That part of the country is a bizarre place, full of strange people, and you can sense it from the highway. As I drove, a caller from the Ozarks got on the radio to describe a beast he just caught while it ran across the road. The caller described it as a short, gray, furry animal on two legs. It had yellow eyes and large fangs. George identified it instantly as a Chupacabra. At 3 am, after driving for hours in the dark, with the nonstop hum of an old Toyota Carolla going 70 mph invading your mind, it’s a lot easier to believe. The fear of the Chupacabra kept me awake for the rest of the night.
