“Let’s go down that road,” my companion suggested, peering down at a deserted artery that snaked through the arid Chihuahuan Desert. We’d been traveling for most of the day, having left San Antonio, Texas earlier in the morning. We were on our way to Amarillo, but somehow, I had allowed myself to be talked into a bunch of detours here and there, and now, found myself standing on a small cliff, overlooking a New Mexico two lane highway. It looked as though it had no purpose.
We’d been sitting there for nearly thirty minutes as my traveling partner/co-pilot took countless photos of the unattractive dried flora. During that time the highway below showed no signs of life – not a car, truck, human, animal, or even errant tumble weed stirred on the asphalt below. But, she wanted to go down that road.
I argued and protested and told her that there was nothing to see. I reasoned that the road probably didn’t lead to anywhere important.
She smiled and said, “Nowhere is somewhere.” So we headed down the winding road. Soon, the road indeed led to another, larger, busier highway. We turned onto this highway and followed the same direction as some of the scant traffic was doing. We soon found, after a mile or so, that instead of venturing further down a lonely highway guarded by desert and cacti, we were actually going up a steep elevation. The road to nowhere was actually leading to a highway that took us up a small mountain, of sorts. It wasn’t very high, but I noticed that the drop-offs became steeper and the air thinned and chilled, just a little, as we ascended.
The Road to Nowhere Sometimes Lead to the Unexpected
I don’t like heights. My friend urged me on, up the small mountain. Up we went, until we finally reached the summit. At the very top, my vehicle emptied out into a jammed parking lot, full of campers, SUV’s, vans and cars. I discovered that we had just reached the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns. Our trek up, had been through Carlsbad Caverns National Park. So, our road to nowhere indeed became a road to somewhere. After our descent into the caverns, and a few panoramic photos, I thanked my companion for urging me on. I had been somewhere I had never been and witnessed sights that I thought I would never get to see.
Sometimes when leave for destinations in life, the road to where we are going may be fraught with perils, dangers, and setbacks. Often, there’s nothing much to see – in fact our journey may become onerous, boring and tiring. However, we must keep going. Because while we might not know where our journey will end, we may find, that when we finally get to somewhere, our road to nowhere, was worth the drive.
