14 - Road Trip
For many people these two words probably conjure up an image of a
battered, dusty open topped Chevy cruising along a very long, very straight,
very empty road (possibly Route 66) in the middle of nowhere. In the car are a
couple of people - often, but not exclusively, a man and a woman - and on
their trip they encounter thieves/kidnappers/murderers (delete as appropriate).
This scenario has been played out in any number of films including Thelma
and Louise, Breakdown, Jeepers Creepers, and the salubrious Road Kill. But
is this the reality? Well, we sincerely hoped not, because before we left the
UK we had seen the movie Wrong Turn about a group of teenagers on a road
trip in the US who end up in a battle to the death with a bunch of in-bred
rednecks. A seriously scary film.
Other than Hollywood our only source of information to prepare for
driving in the US was a book imaginatively entitled Drive USA. This provided
useful insights about the American Highway Code as well as suggested
routes to take. Generally reassuring, the book was the reason for our
previously mentioned fears about driving in LA, although when it came to it
the city of angels was not such a devil to navigate. In spite of what the map
looked like!
Of course we had both been on long car journeys before and never had to
deal with anyone too psychotic, so perhaps our fears were misplaced. The
main problems we had been subjected to on previous trips were boredom and
tiredness.