AM/PM

I pulled off the road at 2:13am. I’m not sure why I remember the exact time, but it’s something that has always stuck with me over the years. I was in the middle of Nebraska somewhere, on some state or county 2 lane, making a run south to Amarillo. Back then, I tried to stay off the interstates. I always found trouble there. Or it found me. I was never quite sure. There’s less to worry about on those back roads anyway. Sure, it’s less convenient, sometimes a lot slower, but I saw more of America that way. Hell that was the main reason I took the job. And I wasn’t afraid to drive all night. You’d be amazed at how many people won’t drive overnight.

Anyway, like I said, it was 2:13am. Had to be late September, early October. Days were still warm. Nights were starting to get a little chilly, but not into frost season yet. Moon was full, and probably the brightest I’ve ever seen. Got out to stretch, took a walk around the van. I took in the sounds of prairie at night; the wind rustling the long, dry grass, a cricket chirping. The road was deserted. I hadn’t seen anyone in at least an hour. No houses out there either. I hadn’t seen anything really in quite a while. It was peaceful. Probably the most peaceful I’d ever felt. I climbed up onto the hood of the van, and spread out, resting up against the windshield. Stared into the nothingness of a sky filled with stars, it stared back. I came to a realization of how insignificant each and every one of us truly is. How can we be so self-important, when the universe could really give a shit whether we existed at all? I was as important to the universe, as one single piece of sand in the Sahara was to me. Not important, or meaningful at all. Something I wasn’t even aware of. And I was content. Not with that fact itself, but something about that comforted me. Right down to my core. I hopped off the van. Went over to the side of the road and took a piss. As beautiful as it was there, I had to get a move on it. I had to be to Amarillo by 3pm. Jumped back into the van, turned on Coast to Coast AM and did my best to get the hell out Nebraska.