The Beginning of the West

West of San Antonio, Tx, the country changes.  It's Hill Country, and it's dramatic.  It's also much more desolate than east of San Antonio.  Back east, every highway exit off of I-10 had the same cluster of stores; a few fast food restaurants, a big gas station or two, and a mall with big chain stores.  Some of the exit complexes were laid out in an identical plan, with the same stores in the same juxtapositions.  It was actually eerie to drive for an hour and get out in an identical setting, like getting off in identical elevator lobies on different floors of a tall building.

But west of San Antonio, things thin out.  There can be 30 or 50 miles between exits, and if you get off, you have a 50% chance of finding a gas station, and if there is a store, it's not part of a chain.  I am struck by the magnitude of what I am doing.  For some, it may be merely a driving trip.  But for me, it's a radical departure from everything I know.  My friend Mike, in Poplarville said I was a runaway, I just waited a long time to do it.  There is a lot of truth in that.  And as I drive out here, my mind chases surprisingly old demons.  I am not sure if I have the courage to write about it.