The Road Trip
Imagine being stuck in a car with a group of neurotic, depressed and controlling older people who fear change and are generally incapable of truly letting go of the luxuries and conveniences of daily life…Oh, they might claim to be able to do that but these people are unable to travel or experience anything truly spontaneous. They are not adventurers I envision myself to be, they are my family.
People often talk jokingly about their crazy dysfunctional family but I must say that rediscovering mine after covid and just generally living on the other side of the planet is more disheartening than jovial for me. You see I live in Scotland and due to some travel plans changing I found myself in Australia with most of the family getting ready for a road trip to the outback. Seeing these people stuck in their ways unable to truly connect with each other is a pretty grim sight to behold. The juxtaposition with the beautiful outback makes this more evident. So let’s pile this circus into a car for several hours, drive out into the outback and see if we can bond in nature before the individual issues explode out of this clown car.
We left earlier than scheduled due to my aunt being ready and just standing around waiting isn’t something she enjoys doing. She likes to control any situation down to the last detail. It could be seen as being prepared but if you look closer it’s more out of fear than just good planning. My uncle had already loaded the car to the brim with all the necessities we would need for about a week. There are caravans crossing the desert that have fewer supplies than us and we were going away for the weekend. As we drove the conversation was almost exactly the same as I remember from my youth. Discussions about previous road trips, people from before my time and just general reminiscing of the past. It’s like they had pressed pause on their lives in the 80s and any new experience has to play second fiddle to this period. I just kept quiet and enjoyed listening to the stories that are now like folk tales than actual real-world events. Multiple toilet stops, map stops and driver changes later we arrived in the bustling town of Roma where we found our motel and unloaded a bountiful load of food and necessities into a room not much bigger than the car.
I should mention that some members of my family have very specific dietary requirements which are more due to religion/philosophy than allergies. So my aunt decided that Indian food would be the best as they are more able to do proper vegan food but when you are down to checking for the wrong enzymes in your food then things will always be difficult. This is something that my mother who preaches forgiveness and understanding can’t seem to abide. She claims that they live in fear due to the belief in karma and that eating the wrong food can create bad karma. My mom is afraid of almost any self-improvement so this is something that annoys her. Oh, the irony.
Family dinners can be difficult for a lot of people because it forces us to deal with that one relative or face the issues in the family that we would rather not talk about. Fortunately, this was not that dinner but it was a domino falling. I could feel the underlying tension that was building in my mother but after hours on the road, we all just wanted a delicious meal and some rest. The meal was bloody brilliant by the way and we all stuffed our faces and for a while, all was forgotten. Hell, that food might have even patched some cracks that were showing at the dinner table. We might never know but this was just day one and there was another day of driving ahead of us as well as the actual destination. The day ended with a beautiful sunset that is unique to the wilder parts of the world. Hues of blue, purple, yellow and orange lay before us we drove to the motel to digest and rest.
