The Detour

There are no words to describe the beauty of the vast openness of an empty road, a dim glowing horizon and a sky full of stars. Even better is the sunset right before the nothingness, where you can discover brand new colors no one has ever seen before. My story starts here on an empty road, in the southwest, headed from Los Angeles, CA to El Paso, TX at the end of a one of a kind sunset. I was taking a route my grandfather once traced out for me on a map he must have bought in the 60s. It was one of my most prized possessions especially during this particular time and I was clinging to it like I had never taken this road before. With the map in hand, I mentally marked down every city I passed. With each evaluation of my journey Id imagine his voice saying things like,”When you’re headed out of Arizona and if you have about an hour to spare, take I80 south after Benson to Tombstone and check out the OK Corral”. But I was never one to stray off my course and thought it foreign for me to start now, so I drove on down my planned path. I had the radio off listening to nothing but the consistent swishing sound of the tires on the road and the memories that flooded my mind. Subconsciously, I was reevaluating myself, my choices, life direction and how I lived my life in general.

My Grandfather was seventy-nine when he passed away, so close to eighty, but it was as if he chose not to enter another decade. I can see him rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up saying, ”Ahh..I’m too old and tired for any of that!” In his classic, hispanic, machismo manner. Of course, I’ve edited this short story taking out the expletives he used and was know for. I’m sure you can use your imagination to fill them in. Papa, as everyone in my family called him, was a very wise man. Not just the type of wise that gives you advice you can look back on with a frustrated mind and tell yourself, “Ahh yeah, I should have done that”. He also had a type of intuitive wisdom that knew exactly what to say and when to say it, which I’m sure is usually par for the course of any grandparent. It always amazed me how much life you have to go through to gain that type of knowledge. It's as if the prerequisite to life is life itself and your last few years you sit back and just say,”Wow, I get it now”. As I drove down this road and the sun was setting, Papas wisdom kept ringing through my ears as if he was in the passenger seat.

Papa: “You should probably get gas in Lordsburg, it’s about an hour more to Deming.”

I nodded in agreement, “Yeah that’s probably a good idea”, I said aloud as if I were responding to him.

Following an array of brightly lit lights up ahead, I make my exit into a massive gas station. I park next to a pump under a the big sign that said 21, my lucky number. Exhausted from a ten hour drive and Papa on my mind, I decided to go inside to reload on snacks and drinks. As I came out of the convenient store with Pistachios, a Monster energy drink and a new beanie, I heard a noise i didn’t pay too much attention to at first. As I unhook the pump and began to fill my tank, I heard it again. I looked to my right to see nothing but empty gas pumps and the front of the store. I looked to my left gazing down an empty dirt road that was eventually swallowed up by pitch black nothingness. I shrugged it off, looked down at the pump and resumed the reminiscent thoughts I had left for that brief moment. “I should call my sister and see if she’s in town yet, and my brother…” A noise blurts out, “Hoo Hoo”. I was interrupted again by the sound I couldn’t recognize, only now to realize I was hearing a hoot. I seemed to be the only one at this gas station other than the attendant who was inside slowly falling asleep. I scanned the station carefully in hopes of finding this majestic creature that calls out. Nothing again, and now I’m slightly freaked out because there is no living thing out here other than me, but I hear this sound like its right on top of me. I finish filling my tank to return the pump to its place and scurry for my car door. In one motion I opened the door and start to get into the driver seat.

As I was halfway in, one foot in the car and one foot on the floor, I looked up and locked eyes with something I’ve only seen in a David Attenborough animal documentary. “The Majestic white Barn Owl” I say in my mind with that easy going British accent. Our eyes where locked with no signs of straying. Then a familiar warmness went through me, an embrace of the dry cold November desert weather enveloped me and a knowing of this presence chilled me. “Hey Buddy, what are you doing way out here?” I said to myself confident I would get a response. All there was, was stillness from him as if each second that went by with no response was a subtle demand for more profound respect. My insecure nature forced me to break eye contact looking to his left and right to see if he had any friends, never letting him completely out of my sight. Finally, he opened his wings to reveal a wing span larger than my arm span. Even though i was awestruck seeing this rare sight and those beautiful white and light brown feathers, I reacted in fear. “This thing can probably pick me up by the shoulders and take me to it's nest as food. Wait.. this isn’t a Pterodactyl, relax.” I reassured myself. It's wings closed up and we resumed eye contact while I settled into the driver seat. I shut the door thinking I might scare it off but it held eye contact. It tilted it's head very slightly and flared up it's wings once again as if to say…”You Ready?” It turned around, opened it's wings and started down the empty dirt road I had noticed earlier. It drifted away slowly as if to stay in my sight so I could follow him. Against my nature and with no possible clue as to where this owl was taking me, I put the car into gear and sped off down the road to catch up.

As we were making our way into the dark abyss of the desert and with no destination in sight, I began to doubt my spontaneous decision. “When was the last time i got new tires? Hopefully they are going be ok on this road.” I saw its wings gliding effortlessly just above the road allowing me to follow. In stark contrast below, I was bouncing around struggling to stay in control of not only my mind but my car. As the rocks and hard dirt road shook my car all over the place, I managed to keep my focus on the owl. I thought of how much fun this actually was, even though I was far out of my comfort zone. I skidded and drifted through the desert holding the steering wheel tight ignoring the loose rock that sounded like baseballs hitting the undercarriage of my car. As the owl flew just ahead of me, it began to pivot and circle in a playful manner, as if to show off. A smile finally overcame me and I broke out into laughter. This was a big deal to me at the moment. To feel as if a weight had been lifted, like life hadn’t changed overnight and I was enjoying the moment like a kid again. The owl, still unyielding yet graceful, lead me into the dark vastness of the desert until I became aware of my surroundings and noticed I was literally in the middle of nowhere. Still, I kept a grin on my face and excitement in my heart knowing I was more than a few miles from the gas station. Suddenly, out of nowhere a gate appeared in the middle of the road and I slammed on the breaks skidding just about two feet from hitting it. I jumped out immediately looking for a solution from the owl. As if he knew my predicament, he veered off to the left without looking back and kept gliding into the darkness until he eventually disappeared. “What do I do now?” I asked myself “where do I go now?” I looked back at the gate that had blocked my way and noticed it was unlocked. So, I decided to open the gate far enough so that I could pass through, then quickly shut it before continuing down the dirt road. Scouting the sky through my windsheild, i notice the owl was no longer in sight. I was preoccupied thinking of what I had just experienced, when I noticed a highway up ahead that met the dirt road. Once I got to the intersection I pulled over and got out of the car. I looked at the sign following the paved highway and realized It was the highway I was supposed to be on. “Huh, that worked out well,” I thought. I walked back to my car and took out a notebook from under my seat. Instead of writing the details of what just happened, I wrote, “Life is about enjoying the bumpy journey to nowhere and even though you are unsure of where you’ll end up, you will always get to where you need to go.” Before I continued my journey, I sat there looking towards the highway and felt a lump in my throat. I whispered “...thank you.” Then set off to El Paso to say goodbye and celebrate Papa’s life.