The Adventures of Kinky Reggae: A Vagabond for Beauty

My trip back to Phoenix was quite eventful. There was a huge winter storm the day I was supposed to leave (we got 3 inches of sleet!), and I could tell my dad thought I should wait one more day to leave. But that would mean missing out on the hot springs in Arkansas, and I'd already stayed one day longer than planned, so I left anyway. I had a bad feeling about it, and sure enough, got in an accident 10 miles from my parents' house. It wasn't my fault; another car spun out while attempting to change lanes and there was nothing I could do to avoid hitting her. It was like slow motion as I crashed into her, and my main thought was, "Dad's gonna say 'I told you so...'"  Attempt #2 at getting on the road was successful, and I decided to drive through Kansas. I had never been, and I could collect a stamp in Topeka. I visited Brown vs. Board of Education National Monument and learned about this important Supreme Court decision. I learned that they purposel

This was the best drive back to Chicago I’ve ever had, because I had Molly with me! I also got to cross off three more national parks from my list. We left after work on Tuesday and spent the night at a newly remodeled Motel 6 in Albuquerque. We thought it was a nice room and slept well. When we emerged from our room the next morning, there was blood and glass all over the sidewalk. Apparently some guy had gotten drunk and attacked his girlfriend in a room a few doors down from us. He’d broken windows downstairs, too. How did we manage to sleep through that??? We hiked a short trail at Petroglyph National Monument the next morning. Molly’s mom treated us to a luxurious Hampton Inn in Joplin, MO that night. We visited Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Missouri, and both of us felt stupid when we realized we didn’t know which side Missouri fought for in the Civil War. The ranger went into all this detail about the battle and neither of us wanted to admit that we didn’t e