Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter Thirteen
“A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and re-
turns home to find it.”
—George A. Moore
I drove up to the American border. I closed my eyes and breathed in deep. So many long
and weary roads were behind me. So many nights, I had closed my eyes and still could see
the white lines in the middle of the road as though they were painted on the inside of my eye-
lids. And here I was—the final frontier. Or at least the final border. And this time, I knew we
would have no problems getting across. I had my green card in my pocket, the un-shredded
pieces of Kindness One's American registration papers (which had caused so much trouble
in Asia), and one straight road home, right into the heart of LA.
My little magic hunk of yellowness was nearing the end of its epic journey, as was its
captain. I was functioning purely on adrenaline. Maybe I didn't realize it until much later,
but I had been functioning on adrenaline for the bulk of my trip: from riding a motorbike on
narrow mountain passes, to negotiating every day for food and places to stay. As much as
this journey had been sponsored by kindness, it had been powered by adrenaline.
As I reached the US border, I was out of that neurobiological fuel. I handed the guard my
papers, and after quickly looking them over, he waved me through. I drove half a mile down
the road and then pulled over.
Out of earshot of the border patrol, I jumped off Kindness One and began to shout. I
had made it. I had made it across the border. I had made it across the world. I was going to
make it home. I mean, sure, home was just over one thousand miles away, but that was close
enough. I knelt down on American soil and kissed the ground. I had made it.
I had my face mask, my warm winter jacket from John, and my Canadian-proof gloves,
but it was still freezing. For that moment, however, even the winter chill couldn't stop me.
The same warmth that had flooded me on that day on Hollywood Boulevard flooded me
again. I had left my house so many months before with only a slight sense of the dream I
Search WWH ::




Custom Search