Oklahoma!

I headed out of Oklahoma City around lunchtime for what promised to be a long drive, from the middle of the state, to about 10 miles from the New Mexico border at the end of the panhandle. I was expecting to be bored by the drive, but soon after I left the interstate and headed into the middle of nowhere, it turned out to be a peaceful drive with some great (albeit stark) scenery along the way. I was unaware at the time that I was in the beginning of what I would later realize was the golden era of the trip so far. Departing the East coast a little over a week before this, I had spent the first day or so on the road racked with uncertainty and loneliness, until I got used to traveling solo again, and then found friendship at the VW campout in Missouri. As I traveled through Oklahoma, I did so with a renewed confidence in the journey, and excitement about my plans for the upcoming weeks. It was if the summer traveling had been an initiation of sorts, and now, seasoned by my experiences, I was free to really live the experience I had set before myself. As I drove across the lonely expanse of Oklahoma I was filled with a great peace of mind and certainty of purpose.

For those of you afflicted with the same passion as I have for music, you understand that for every mood, moment in time, and place, there is a perfect song to accompany the experience. As I drove across this landscape I stumbled across a most serendipitous match of music and location/time/state of mind. The haunting and sad stories told on Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" played out of my stereo and my imagination as I drove into the sunset....

The departure of the sun left a world so hungry for light the only way to read road signs was to come to a complete stop and use my flashlight. With no small amount of uncertainty plaguing my mind regarding the location of the campground that was my destination for the evening, I relied on a combination of maps, dead reckoning and my GPS to make my way. I was now unable even to identify the terrain I was in; mountains? plains?, I no longer knew. As I entered the state park with the campground, every bad horror movie I had ever seen worked its way out of my subconscious mind. It was so dark and creepy, I was sure there had to be a lake nearby, a lake where a bunch of high school kids had disappeared long ago.......

To make matters worse, there was only one other camper in the campground. After setting up, I made my way to the bathrooms with my big "D" cell maglight, fully prepared bash the first person I saw in the head. My fears allayed by my safe return from the restrooms, I unlocked the van, put the flashlight away, turned off my cell phone and made my way to the lake for quick swim, leaving my clothes and knife on the shore.....