Road Trips

There’s a specific smell to a cold windshield with the defrost cranked, kids half-asleep in the back, the first bend of a light display glowing up ahead. That’s the appeal of a drive-through route. You stay warm, you crawl at ten miles an hour, and somebody else did the climbing on the ladders. Some of…

The map lies to you. It shows a thin blue line between two dots and swears it’s four hours. What it leaves out is the turnout where the fog peels back off the water, the diner that still makes pie from scratch, the pass where you grip the wheel tighter and feel completely alive. These…