After that fiasco, I continue tracing the road in my Avalon.
That gut feeling directs me down several seemingly unrelated roads. The more I drive, the less I can believe my gut feeling. The series of roads seems to cut right through St. Louis without a particular rhyme or reason, although the buildings lining the road suggests otherwise.
Eventually, I stop at a gas station. By this point, I'm rapidly approaching the edge of the city, and I still have not a clue on what road or roads the path I've traced once was. The station's name is Phillips 66, which sounds suspiciously familiar. I still can't place the road that I'm on, but I digress.
I approach the cashier with $30.
"I need $30 on pump nine," I say.
"You look awfully young to be driving," the cashier replies.
Crap, I forgot to apply the Mist walking in.
"No matter, I get that a lot," I reply.
"Can I see an ID?" the cashier replies.
Now I get really suspicious, but whatever. With a quick illusion of the Mist, I take the driver's license I got from the elf-Laestrygonian hybrid, apply my face on it, and change the birthday to mine but a few years older. I hand the amended ID to the man.
"May 25, 1996. Happy early 18th birthday, young man," the man replies.
It just occurs to me that in two days it will be my 13th birthday. I had been so busy lately I lost track of my own dates.
"Thank you, sir," I reply. "I have a question. I've been on my way to visit some relatives here in St. Louis. However, there is one road that seems so out of place. Or actually, it's a few roads. My relatives suggested I take a joyride to figure this out."
"Well, the name of this gas station should give you some hints on why," the cashier says.
"A road numbered 66?" I ask.
"Y'all youngins don't really know the good old days of this road," the cashier replies. "Back in my father's day, it was known as the 'Main Street of America.'"
Main Street of America? Phillips 66. I should have known.
"You mean, these roads were part of US Route 66?" I ask.
"Here's a map if you would like," the cashier answers. "The old road is traced here in red."
"Thank you."
I pay for my gas and the map, then head to the pump.
You shall go west on roads rediscovered.
The first rediscovered road was the Old Pennsylvania Turnpike, but now I realize I hardly travelled on it. Then, I took the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to get to here, but those aren't exactly roads. Now that I've arrived here in St. Louis, I finally find a piece of the puzzle. The road is US Route 66. This road is so old most of it has gone into disrepair or have been bypassed by Interstate roads. I have no clue how I will follow the path of a non-existent road all the way down to Los Angeles, but I'll have to try regardless.
I take off back onto the open road and drive towards the city limits. Hoping there will be paved roads past this point, I put my car into magical overdrive and drive at 200 miles an hour once more.
Thankfully, this section of the road has been repaved as Interstate 44, and a good chunk of the other part is now Interstate 40, meaning there are open roads for days on end. However, even with 200 miles an hour speeds, that's still over nine hours of non-stop driving to LA, part of which won't even be on the main road. And after all the monsters I faced overland, I can't imagine what monsters will I face along the way. It has been not even a week into the quest, and though I'm halfway across the country already, there is still a lot of time I'll have to spend in the Underworld.
As expected, I burn through my stock of gas and have to stop at another station. I take this time to check my safe in the Duat. Neither of my papers has been responded to, which is not a good sign. Sadie typically replies within forty-eight hours, meaning something else has her attention. I don't want to think about what threats she could be facing, for there are so many weird ones I have to face on my own and only I can kill. What I would give to be a son of Hades or a full Egyptian magician. Shadow-travelling and sailing on the River of Night both seem like really great options right now, but all I have is a modified Toyota Avalon. I fill up all my containers of gas, then go on my merry way.
After about two hours, I arrive in Oklahoma City. I decided to bypass Tulsa and Springfield, not wanting to deal with cities. Every city I pass up seems like a hotspot for monsters. I take a quick exploration run of the city, which is honestly quite boring. It seems like most American cities that aren't New Orleans or New York are basically all the same. I find a nice place outside of city limits to take a break from driving.
I settle in a patch of woods north of city limits. This place seems peaceful enough, though monsters seem to love attacking me in forests. I take out the groceries I bought in the city and cook myself some stir-fry. The stream flowing by looks quite clean, so I decide to refill my canteen with this water, Unfortunately, the appearance is deceptive, I the water turns up yellow. I empty the canteen and find a way to clean it.
After a nice bit of lazing around, seeing that the Sun is still out, I head out and drive towards Route 66.
Though the road has been bypassed here, there's still enough paved roads and so few cars on this section of Route 66 that I can drive peacefully down it at 200 miles an hour. I check the map as I drive, and the next major city seems to be Amarillo, Texas. The road seems to stretch on forever into the distance. Thankfully, the monsters seem to have chilled out for now, and I have gone more than half of the way across the country without incident.
I reach Amarillo at nightfall, meaning I'll be stopping for the day. I find myself another patch of abandoned wilderness and settle in for the night.
My car is parked where I thought was abandoned wilderness. Then, after a bit of exploring, I see a red laser trained on me. Just absolutely peachy. I move slowly backward until I'm back up to my car. The laser is still on me. I get into my car and the laser is still there. I start the car and begin driving away. As I did, the laser suddenly switches off. I hear a bunch of footsteps, but they don't sound like monsters. In a burst of foolishness, I get out of the car to see if the laser will come back. It doesn't. Then, an old man in overalls and a plaid shirt holding a rifle comes out of the woods.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Ah ought to ask you the same thing, young man!" he bellows back. "What's a youngin lahke you doin' all bah yerself on my property?"
"This is your property?" I ask. "I just needed a place to stay the night. Just show me where your property ends and I'll be on my way."
"Yah look too young to be out here bah yerself," he says. "Ah have a good nerve to sinned you back to yer parents."
"My parents are dead," I lied. "I'm on my way west to my other family in Oregan."
I decide to throw this man off my trail in case he's not who he seems.
"Say that to the law," he says. "Yer comin' with me!"
"Sir, just leave me alone," I say as calmly as I can. "I just need to know where your property ends."
"Boy, I'd be damned to shoot you!" he yells. "Yer comin' with me!"
I realize there are very few options, but I'll have to try something. He seems like a Mortal, so I'll try the only metal my gloves can conjure up and defend myself from him. I conjure up a rifle of my own with a silver magazine that signifies what's loaded in the chamber.
"Let me go, for you're not the only one that's armed," I reply, deadly calm. "It was an honest mistake, and you as a stranger will not take me with you."
"GET OFF MAH PROPERTY!" he yells. "AND GET OUT OF MAH COUNTRY!"
Where have I ended up? Who does this guy think he is?
I try something way more drastic. What wildlife lives in this part of the country?
A loud growl erupts from behind the man. He snaps his head around to face what's coming at him. Then, two black bears appear from behind him. He begins to shudder and ignores me. Of course, I don't actually see anything there at all.
"What we have here?" the man muses. "These bears can get the illegal for all ah care. But yer on mah property."
He begins to shoot wildly at the bears, which to his horror don't get hit.
"Ah swear on mah Uncle Billy that ah shot yer hahnny!" he lashes out.
I take my opportunity to drive away from that racist property owner. What did I do so wrong by being born half-Asian? And he thinks I'm some sort of illegal immigrant? What gives? Didn't your ancestors massacre everyone here?
I find another patch of woods to settle in before I go off to sleep in the back of the car once more.