Morning on the Road

I while ago my job sent me to various places for meetings for which I would sometimes wake up at around three o’heck in the morning to get ready for a long day beginning with a long drive. I would start driving in the darkness along the small country roads near my home and eventually get on the highways that I would drive for most of the trip before getting off and (not having one of those fancy GPS gadgets) usually have a little fun making wrong turns and getting lost before finding my destination and making it just in time. I would have some company along the roads while driving before the sunrise: military (I assume), and bakers, security guards, newspaper folks, cops, convenience store clerks, and various other folks who, for some reason, would be on the roads either going to work or coming home hours before most folks, maybe even their own spouses or kids, would be rolling out of bed to start their day. And along the side of the highway in those small, dark, hours, trucks would rest quietly in the dark with their awesome power; enough power to haul tons of whatever they were carrying fast enough to risk being pulled over by a trooper trying to keep the highways safe for the rest of us; and wait patiently for their drivers to wake up so they can get moving again. And as the sky would glow darkly with its pre-sunrise blue, Americans, getting ready for another day of building America , would start filling the highway. And as the sun rose, even from the highway I swear I could smell breakfast on the grills and coffee brewing in the pots of homes, diners, and truck stops, where people would greet each other with quiet, morning friendliness and talk about last night’s game and the crazy weather we’ve been having lately and how the President doesn’t care about real Americans. And soon the highway would be crowded with all kinds of vehicles: big; small; light; dark; driven by people of all different sizes and colors and purposes but all sharing this moment. And I would pass cities and towns named in various languages, and flat terrain, mountains, lakes, and big cities. And alone in my car with millions of people around me, I would think, “I love America”.

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