Tulsa, OK

A countless number of films have been made in the setting of a hotel, motel, or the like. More often than not, the genre of horror comes attached. Everything regarding the plot seems so subtly unnerving that one hopes that such a thing does not really exist. I am here to tell you that these things are real. 

Imagine a place that invites you inside, surrounded by sinister clouds and flashes of lightning. A place where the trophies of game hang contentedly on the walls surrounded by resonant silence and employees absently gaze into your eyes as you approach. Beetles, both dead and living, litter the carpet. A meal prepared within the hotel leaves me feeling more cold and sick than I'm sure were the hands that prepared it; other diners seem unwitting of what is so obvious. A stagnant pool sits in the midst of an enclosed courtyard, an easy view for anyone who walks outside of their room. Surrounding the pool is a haunting terrarium, its purpose I am sure cannot be decoration. The pungent stench of an unidentifiable source leaves your head spinning and works much like an anesthetic to relieve you of the reality you are currently experiencing. Such places  do exist.

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"...I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

-Wizard of Oz

And I would like to make it clear that I share Dorothy's enthusiasm for no longer being there.

A place where fields idly roll and cows haplessly graze, unaware of their fate. Where the stretches of highway are so long and straight that the heat jumping off the asphalt turns road into sky on the horizon. This is Kansas; all of what we saw anyway. I find it calming to drive in the countryside like this. A sudden entrance into the city leaves me feeling as though my patience behind the wheel was all for nothing. These places really are beautiful but seem to be so consistently interrupted by needless developments and other modern things. At any rate, the drive through Kansas passed by quickly, almost making me wish we had wasted the day on something more worth seeing. 

Entering into Oklahoma the hills faded and the green and the trees with which I am so familiar began shooting out of the ground. They formed a thin canopy on both sides of the elevated highway and breathed freely. We crossed a body of water, although I have no idea which one, and the sailboats seemed to whisper along the glassy surface. As we continued driving we came to Tulsa, OK, which is where we are staying for the night. I've decided, as a result of this trip, that when it comes to driving, I am invincible. I have promised myself to conquer Portland when I return and will do it with ease. 

I look forward to tomorrow, because I am driving us out of this mess that is the city. I also look forward to it because it means that I have slept, and right now, I want nothing more.

Wishing you all were here

-D