Where the blacktop ends

Dirt roads. They've come up twice in as many days, so I might as well write about them, right? Go where this leads me?

Yesterday I made the drive from Phoenix to Albuquerque (en route to Denver). Along the way, it so happens, lies Camp Verde, AZ -- a town that we called home for much of my childhood: 3 years old thru the end of 4th grade or so. I haven't been there in ages and couldn't resist a drive-by of the old house.

Odd thing #1 -- I knew how to get to the house. Duh - that may seem an odd observation but it's been a decade or more since I've been there and we moved away when I was 9-ish, so it's not like I drove that road all the time so blah blah it's-like-riding-a-bicycle doesn't count. At any rate... I knew exactly which twists and turns to take and the landscape along the way let me know I was in the right spot.

Odd thing #2 -- There were the signs. First the "No Outlet" sign. That's right, we lived at the dead end of a dead end road. I'd forgotten. Forgotten that we tended to live as far away from anyone else as possible. And then, there it was, the "Pavement Ends" sign. Funny how something so small, so plain can trigger a memory or highlight a trend.

(if you squint, there's a left arrow sign at the end and the pavement ends there)

My parents, in their 32 years together, never lived on a paved road. As someone who has since lived in cities like San Francisco & New York, that's just outrageous crazy talk. But it's true; we always lived on a dirt road. What? Now, they're not here to defend themselves, but I have a handful of theories about why my folks dug that dirt so much.

Today though, is not the day to hash out those theories. Instead I remind myself how far I've come from those dusty dirt roads. More importantly though, I'm reminded of how much I love returning to them. As much as I pose and pretend by living in big cities -- I'm a small town girl, with a love of the back road and the unseen. When I'm telling the truth, I'd rather get lost down a dirt road than be backed up on the blacktop any day.

It's also good to be reminded that what I once thought were dead end dirt roads were in fact only the start lines - I was just facing the wrong direction, that's all.