Road Trip

Pete had trouble sleeping. He had planned for this day most of his life, and tomorrow was the beginning of a ninety-day cross-country trip. The car was already packed, and his route meticulously plugged into his GPS. He intended to visit all the places he had read about and seen on TV. It would take him from his home in western New York, south through the Appellation mountains, then west to the Pacific. The work a day world would just have to wait until he returned home.

He rose early, ate a quick breakfast, said goodbye to his parents, and headed for his car. His father caught up to him just before he pulled out of the driveway and offered him an oversized book. The young explorer looked at his father’s offering and laughed. “Why in the world would I want to carry that outdated old atlas, Dad? We’re no longer in the age of the Flintstones. My trip is already on my GPS and if it dies, I’ll just buy a new one.”

“It’s your call, son, but it never hurts to have a backup plan.”

“Thanks anyway, but I’m good.” Pete waved to his parents as he drove away from the house.

The first three weeks were amazing! He traveled from his home to Niagara Falls, then south to Washington, D.C. After seeing what the capital offered, Pete followed the Blue Ridge and Smoky Mountain ranges until it was time to turn west. He traversed Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and West Texas. Part of his strategy was to utilize as many secondary roads as possible, shunning the interstate highways whenever he could. Using his trusty GPS plus Waze as a back-up getting lost never entered his thoughts.

The event occurred on day twenty-three of Pete’s trip. A large asteroid traveling in an orbit between Mars and the Earth shattered, creating a massive cloud of basketball size rocks. The force of the disintegration sent the cloud on an intercept trajectory with Earth. The first rocks created an amazing light show as they burned up in the atmosphere. The full effect occurred on day two. Weather, navigation, and communication satellites all around the world collided with the meteors and ceased to function. The planet reverted to pre space age times.

“Lost satellite reception” was Pete’s one and only notification of trouble. He had crossed into New Mexico an hour before heading towards Roswell and Carlsbad using state road 70. The landscape, made up of gravel, scrub brush, and cactus, stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. The satellite radio station ceased to function, and local reception was spotty. It was up to him to find his own way.

Pete realized how valuable that old atlas would have been if only he had listened to his father. He decided once reaching Roswell, he would stop at a gas station and buy one. Unfortunately, he discovered other lost travelers had already purchased every map in town. With no map and no GPS, Pete decided it was time to head home using the interstate roadways.

The problem with asking a group of locals for directions to the closest highway is everyone knows the best route and all the offered routes are different. Pete chose the directions an elderly man offered him and headed out of town. Before long, he became hopelessly lost him in the New Mexico wilderness.

Nighttime in the desert is both beautiful and terrifying at the same time. Pete drove for hours in search of I 40 or I 10, whichever one he came across first. He was low on gas and reaching panic mode when a flicker of light in the distance caught his attention. The light grew brighter the closer he got. It was a city!

The car coasted into the first gas station he came to, the gas gauge needle below the E. Pete refilled the tank and went into the station to replenish his supplies. Somehow, he had made it to the outskirts of Albuquerque. Tucked away on a back shelf of the gas station was an atlas printed in 2005. He scooped it up and carried it to the checkout counter. His father was right. You always need a back-up plan.