highway
a. A main public road, especially one connecting towns and cities.
When I was young, someone told me towns were separated by roughly a 15 minute car drive. They also told me this equates to a day’s travel by horse. Towns were established this far apart way back when so people would not have to survive long without provisions or lodging.
It was dusk and I remember looking back and forth at the faint reflection of myself in the back passenger window of our 80’s Dasher station wagon and the passing tractor trailers hauling who-knows-what to towns beyond. The highway at night had a silent hum that fascinated me. The lights and the reflectors on the sides of the trucks almost mimicked a fly-by-day carnival.
We travelled sometimes to the next town over for a treat out to eat. I would dream of living the life of Sonny Crockett on Miami Vice while listening to The Hooter’s “Nervous Night” album on my Sony walkman knock-off. I could listen to one side before we arrived at the restaurant and then listen to the other side before making it home just in time to catch Crockett and Tubbs busting some nefarious ne’er-do-wells.
Maybe those trucks were hauling supplies down south to Miami. How long would I have to wait to grow up? Highways are now ones and zeros. You don’t have to wait long at all.
