Navigating through New Territory

I’m looking out the windshield at six lanes of traffic and my fingers squeeze the steering wheel like a vice grip.  My heart is doing double time and I feel sweat begin to drip down my back.

I am trying to navigate through what feels like the busiest freeway in the world.  It is actually a very typical highway and something I should be used to.  The difference is that it is the I-5 going through Seattle Washington.  And it’s at rush hour.  And I’m driving my sister’s Jeep, which feels like a tanker truck compared to my little car.

I glance around at my three sisters and mentally raise my eyebrows at them.  They have placed their faith in me to take the helm and by default are placing their lives in my hands.  I must be doing an okay job, because this is not my first time at the wheel during this trip.  They have not balked at the idea of their youngest sibling sitting in the drivers seat. 

We are on the second-last leg of a much anticipated road trip through the northwestern United States.  And although I’ve been driving for a while, the unfamiliar road and the shear volume of cars are unnerving.  Drivers swerve around me with the familiarity that comes from being a local.

Our goal is to find a hotel before it gets dark, but for some reason our luck is not with us today.  We search for the elusive accommodation signs, but we see nothing, just endless miles of concrete and the constant rush of over-confident drivers. Overpasses and exit lanes approach and recede and I feel like I’m in the middle of a never-ending video game.

I’m surprised at the level of my anxiety.  I wonder if it started with the drive over the Astoria-Megler Bridge earlier in the day.  The structure spans the Columbia River 200 feet above the water.  The feeling of being suspended that high over a large body of water with limited escape options put me on edge.  While my sisters talked excitedly about the view, I was envisioning a roller coaster’s first ascent before it hurtles downward.  It didn’t help my state of mind to discover that they were also repairing this behemoth while letting traffic on.  As a prairie dweller, I am not subject to these kinds of structures on a regular basis.  The scariest situations I‘ve encountered have been wondering wildlife and snow-covered roads.

Fortunately, the journey over the bridge did not last long.

The same feeling from the bridge accosts me now.  Finally, we see signs for hotels and I slowly navigate off the busy freeway.  But this road leads us into a labyrinth of residential streets that threaten to swallow us slowly, like bugs in a Venus flytrap.  We decide to use Natalie, the Jeep’s satellite navigation system.  We give Natalie a different name every day due to her track record of leading us into dead end roads and questionable neighborhoods.

I get the distinct feeling Natalie is evil and wants to lead us astray.  Visions of a horror movie about a possessed car float briefly through my tired mind as we program Natalie to bring us to the nearest Best Western.  But my fears are unfounded.  She appears to be in a better mood today.

We find the hotel but are turned away.  No room at the inn, they say.  Exhaustion creeps in as the sky darkens.  We may be sleeping in the Jeep tonight, I think.  Luckily, my sister doesn’t seem fazed by fatigue and calls the Super 8 we see a few blocks away.  We snatch up the last room.  My smile fades though, when I realize I will have to do one last bit of driving.  Our hotel is on the other side of the freeway. 

We ditch Natalie, as our confidence in her is still not up to par.  Besides I think, how hard can it be to drive across an overpass?

I cruise through two green lights and follow a car in front of us that is making a left hand turn into the hotel parking lot.  Great, I think, seems like a no-brainer.  Like a sheep, I follow it and turn on my signal, relieved to put an end to a long day of driving.  Suddenly, I see the car’s reverse lights pop on and they are backing up rather quickly, in short, jerky movements.  I take a moment to look around and with a shock, realize we are in a right-turn lane on the wrong side of the road.  In the inky-blackness, traffic lights and headlights blur my vision.  Adrenalin takes over and I throw the Jeep into reverse and hope for the best. 

In seconds, we are back on the right side of the road and turning into the correct entrance to the hotel.

I shift the Jeep into park and turn off the engine.  We sit in silence for a moment before one of us cracks a joke and we all erupt into laughter.  All my stress drains away as we make plans for a well-deserved supper.  I can’t imagine a better way to end the day.