After enough time working that we don’t have to feel too guilty about vacationing, Beau loads me in the truck.
The truck I have very fond memories of.
He asked his parents if they wanted to come, but they declined, saying they were busy. He called his sister next, who said they were bringing the kids so they would drive alone. Annabelle works with Eve as an event planner, making it easy to take time off, and Tucker had already put in for PTO from his job to be home with the kids on their winter break.
“Can you tell me where we’re going now?” I plug the AUX cable into my phone to take over the sound.
“On a little road trip to Speedway in Lights at the Bristol Dragway in Tennessee.” He gets on the freeway.
“What do those words mean?”
“It’s a racetrack and around the holidays they decorate the track with a bunch of Christmas light displays. And you get to drive on the actual track to see the lights. At a reasonable speed,” he says before I can tell him there’s no way I’m racing around at a wild speed.
I’m also happy I don’t have to watch actual NASCAR. I can’t watch cars going in a circle for hours. He’s not that cute.
But I’m lucky I don’t have to test my strength to stand up to him if it was an actual NASCAR race. Because I’m not super confident I would be able to resist and then I would be drinking beers I don’t like and watching the cars go round and round. And round.
“That does sound like fun,” I concede. “How far is it?”
“Four hours.” Beau puts on cruise control, settling in for the long ride.
“Four hours?!” That’s more than a little road trip.
“Four hours. So I can show you why a Southern Christmas beats a Yankee Christmas. And since it’s far I’ve booked a hotel for the night.” He taps me on the knee.
“Oh.” Then I think about it some more. “Ohhh.” As fun as boning in a truck is, a bed would be better. Hell, even a floor would be better than the back of a truck.
“Yeah. I thought you would be okay with that part.”
“Shit got a lot more Yankee this and Yankee that since you got back down here.”
“It’s our way,” he answers placidly.
Okay, then. “So what do we do for the next four hours?”
Eat a lot of junk food, the answer turns out.
Beau stops at a Cracker Barrel, where we load up on biscuits, muffins, chocolate, and chips. And an assortment of beverages I haven’t heard of. Which is impressive in today’s world of giant conglomerates stocking stores coast to coast.
We line up at the cash register to make our purchases and a woman behind us looks over our shoulders. “Ooh, I want to be going with you and all those snacks.”
I turn around, surprised at the new conversation.
“Ha-ha.” I look at her, laughing awkwardly, and then turn back around to face the cashier.
“Where are you guys headed?” the woman behind us asks.
Who is she, the CIA? “Road trip,” I answer succinctly, not giving this stranger my future location. My Chachi didn’t raise no fool when it comes to stranger dangers.
“We’re heading on up to Bristol for Speedway in Lights,” Beau says. Someone didn’t watch the stranger danger videos. I’ll pull them up on my phone when we get back into the car.
“That’s so much fun! We’ve been every year since we’ve had kids and last year was the best since my daughter was home from college and she brought a boyfriend! I think he had a lot of fun since it was his first time doing something like that. He’s from Boston, so it was nice to show him some Southern cooking.” The woman rambles and rambles on.
“It’s good to expose those less fortunate.” Beau nods like the woman trying to tell him her life story at the Cracker Barrel counter is perfectly normal behavior.
“I hope we made a good impression on him. I’m ready to be a mee-maw. Well, after she’s done with college.”
“Sure, sure,” I say into this strange conversation. Is a requirement for being a mee-maw oversharing with strangers? Because if so, she’s already there.
