A Bridge of Her Own (10 page)

The weeks passed by. Lacey and Jane began their trip-planning in earnest. They plotted out hotels and motels, and in some situations, bed and breakfasts that had high safety ratings. It was also important to them, as single girls, to not travel too far off the beaten path. They were going to take Jane’s car. About two weeks before their trip, Jane’s dad took the car in for an overall for an oil change and transmission flushes, four new tires, and any other recommended maintenance. Later, he was satisfied the car was road trip worthy.

Jane’s temp job went on until the Friday before their trip was starting. She had been such a good employee that the company even offered to take her back once her road trip was done. She declined. With any luck, she would be moving at the end of her trip. She went to both the matinee and final performance of Lacey’s show to cheer her on. Once it was all complete, Lacey bowed with tears streaming down her face.

Jane took her out for ice cream after. Part of her wanted to hit the road right then and there. Lacey was cautiously optimistic that Jane was over Wyatt. She still had a sneaking suspicion about the stop in Illinois having something to do with Wyatt. She just felt that Jane had never dealt with the breakup.

She had been there for their prior breakup and was certain that Jane was avoiding this issue. She was able to talk Jane into waiting until Monday like they had originally planned. They both spent Sunday finishing packing. That night, Lacey spent the night at Jane’s. After a complete breakfast, thanks to Jane’s mom, they hit the road.

Chapter 15

They headed south first. Lacey had found this place near Clearwater, Florida called “Weeki Wachi” where you could see mermaids swim. They weren’t actually mermaids rather young women dressed up as mermaids performing an underwater show. Lacey’s favorite movie of all time was the Little Mermaid, so it was the first sightseeing spot of their trip. Traffic south was light given it was a Monday, as opposed to Saturday and beach traffic.

The girls’ hope was to make it to
Weeki Wachi in one swoop. The navigation system registered it as13 hours away. Jane’s mother had packed them a lunch for the first leg of their journey. Otherwise, they planned to eat via value menus on the road while attempting to avoid chain restaurants during their stops. Lacey could not resist a McDonald's sweet tea on their way out of town.

“You're going to regret getting an extra large iced tea, babe,” Jane said, sliding into the driver’s side as Lacey slurped happily away at her
ginormous sweet tea. “We are only stopping two more times ‘til Florida,” Jane went on.

“I have the bladder of a camel. You do not scare me Jane Martin,” Lacey said bravely.

Two hours later, Lacey was dancing in her seat again. They had already stopped once for her. Jane grumbled about another unscheduled detour but, smiling, pulled off at the next exit anyway. Lacey took over driving after that, only to have greater control of her next bathroom break. Jane eventually dozed off, and Lacey shook her awake for their last pit stop of the day. She groaned as she stretched her legs out, putting her hands on the small of her back, dipping her shoulders. She hoped she would not be this car sore the whole trip.

They arrived at the motel both very stiff. It was hot and humid. Luckily, the motel pool did not close until 10 pm; the girls immediately grabbed their suits and went for a dip after checking in. The pool did wonders for their sore muscles. After an hour or so, they were exhausted and returned to their room. Jane called her parents to let them know they had arrived safely.

Other than the occasional giant flying roach, their room was decent, sparsely decorated with very creaky bed springs and thin mattresses. The next morning, they took their time getting up and ready as the mermaid show's first performance was not until 11 am.

The show lasted an hour. It was something right out of an Esther Williams movie. Lacey loved every minute of it. On their way out of the park, they stopped by The Fudge Shop to eat a very unhealthy lunch before getting back on the road.

Lacey could not stop talking about the mermaid show. She wished she had recorded it, so she could watch it again and again. Although Jane didn’t expect to enjoy it as much, she felt the same way. Surprisingly, the show had reminded her of what she had felt that first trip to the Louvre. It was a feeling of simple bliss. Every little girl pretends to be a mermaid while swimming in her local pool.

The girls stopped for coffee at a gas station on the way to Alabama. Jane also picked up her first spoon of the trip. She did not need one for every state they were going to, but Florida happened to be one her collection was missing. She remembered as a kid wondering why they had never gone to Disney World as it seemed every other child she grew up with had. Their trip to New Orleans was leisurely and enjoyable, passing through Biloxi, laughing and singing along to the radio on the way.

When they finally arrived and checked into their hotel, they wandered to the Saint Louis cemetery. Jane was both struck by the artistic beauty of the above ground crypts and completely creeped out by the whole thing. Lacey enjoyed the macabre of it all. It was then Jane predicted if Lacey ever got married it would be on Halloween. After they walked around for about an hour, they made their way into the French Quarter. Jane refused to be anywhere near the cemetery at dusk. There was a famous cemetery near their school in Richmond called Hollywood Cemetery; neither of the girls had been, and Jane promised to go there with Lacey someday once back in Virginia.

They had delicious Cajun food and yummy drinks at French 75
Arnauds. Even though they were months late for Mardi Gras, Lacey still managed to get some beads for flashing her bra to some guys on Bourbon Street. From New Orleans, they headed west to San Antonio, Texas. The girls struggled to find anything but country music on the radio station. Over it, Lacey turned the radio off and practiced her accents from around the world. Her Australian accent made Jane laugh so hard she cried as Lacey asked her over and over for a vegemite sandwich. Lacey pulled out some nail polish and started painting her toenails.

“Ugh, that stinks," Jane said cracking her window. "Can’t you wait to do that at the motel?"

Lacey innocently replied, “What if the check-in clerk is an Ian Somerhalder look-a-like and does not fall madly in love with me because my toe nail polish is chipping?"

“It still stinks,” Jane said, laughing. “Who’s Ian something-something?”

“Other than my future spouse, he is a super crush-worthy vampire on this show I love,” Jane gushed.

“Twilight?”

“No, those are movies. He’s on a TV show,” Lacey answered.

“Don’t you have to pay for that channel?” Jane asked.

“Different vampire show. This one is on normal TV."

“I’m confused. I didn’t realize vampires were so popular.”

“Come on. Hot, well-dressed guys who want to bite you. Never age, never play beer pong and don’t need to sleep. I think they will always be popular."

“Alright, alright.
Just finish your toenails already, and maybe hang your feet out the window to dry." Jane said, laughing.

They speed raced through the Alamo and ducked into some of the overly priced Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museums to cool off. Eventually, the girls made their way to the river walk, strolling along with ice cream and nipping in and out of shops. Jane managed to find a spoon she liked to add to her collection. Jane called her parents to say hello. Her father thought it was great fun she had two more of her missing state spoons.

He jokingly made her promise not to try and drive to Hawaii in search of that spoon. Laughing, she replied that she would not make that same promise for Alaska, though that might be for a different road trip. Lacey had tried to talk Jane into going to Mexico, but Jane had seen all of the reports of border violence when she researched it online and flat out refused. So they headed towards Roswell, New Mexico instead. Jane promised that someday when Lacey was a rich and famous actress she could take her on a private jet to Cabo. That put an end to that.

The purpose of heading to Roswell was for a laugh. And it was a decent stopping point on their way to Santa Fe. They would take some
pictures, look for aliens, stuff like that. They stayed at the Belmont and had dinner at a restaurant called Not of This World. They sadly did not locate Area 51 or any aliens. Jane was so excited to check out the very vibrant art scene in Santa Fe the next day. It was only four hours from Roswell, so they were there by lunchtime.

Enjoying local restaurants they found along their route, they discovered that authentic southwestern food tasted so much better in the southwest than the places they had back in Virginia. They started the day at the Georgia O’Keefe Museum. Jane could have stayed there all day. A sleeping bag on the floor in front of “Cottonwood Tree in
Spring,” and she would be perfectly happy. Lacey, on the other hand, made fast friends with some cute local guys and wanted to get back to the inn they were staying at to dress up for that evening. They met up with the local boys at the Camel Rock Casino, which was just north of town. Having never gambled before, both girls were a bit nervous but smartly set a limit of forty dollars each to spend.

Nervous, Jane started out on the ten-cent slots. After thirty minutes of that, Lacey talked her into playing 21. They held their own for about an hour or so, until Lacey was broke, and Jane only had five dollars left. On the way out of the casino, she put it in a one-dollar slot and won a hundred dollars. The way the girls celebrated, you would have thought it was ten thousand dollar jackpot.

Now flush, Jane offered to treat for dinner. The group went to the Juan Siddi Theater to see the flamenco dancers. Jane and Lacey had so much fun even though they had stayed out later than they had originally planned. They even considered staying in Santa Fe for an extra day, but when they both awoke the next morning, they decided new adventures awaited them elsewhere so they went ahead and hit the road.

They drove about five hours to the Navajo Indian Reservation, hiked out to the Four Corners, and took turns having their pictures taken with a limb in four different states. In Flagstaff,
Arizona., they stayed at a bed and breakfast this time. It was called the Starlight Pines B & B. The owners were beyond gracious. The room was gorgeous and the beds so fluffy soft, by far the nicest place they had stayed on their journey so far.

They took in an evening show at the Historic Orpheum Theater. The next day, they made the six-hour journey to the great city of Los Angeles, California. This was a real treat for them, as they had preplanned to splurge and booked a room at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. It cost more than any other place they stayed on the entirety of their trip but was a steal in comparison to some of the other historic hotels in LA. The Biltmore was built in 1923 and was located where the Oscar Awards concept was created. Where else could a budding actress stay? Lacey felt like she was walking into another time just walking through its beautiful arched doorway. The lobby alone was so incredible that, instead of checking in right away, they sat down in big cushy wing chairs and just took it all in.

Both girls enjoyed LA. It was different then it seemed in movies, but all the sites were there: the Hollywood sign, the Walk of Fame, Rodeo Drive, and all of the stores well over their budget. The girls, for the first time, were introduced to In and Out Burgers, which turned out to serve amazing burgers. That evening, they headed north towards Santa Cruz. What better way to watch a sunset than from The Pacific Coast Highway, the road that runs along the coast for most of California. The girls weren’t in a hurry, as the next day was a beach day.

The Pacific Ocean had much bigger waves compared to the Atlantic. They sat and watched surfers perform maneuvers that could have come out of any Hollywood movie they had ever seen or been a cover of a surfer magazine. There were, of course, also the less successful surfers. What amazed Jane were the younger surfers. Some of these kids could not have been older than eight. They showed no fear as they took the waves with abandon.

Jane watched awestruck and asked herself if she had ever felt like that. The answer was no. The whole point of this trip had been an excuse to get back together with Wyatt. She had to acknowledge to herself, if nothing else, that the closer they got to Chicago the less she felt like going there. She pushed that thought away. Wyatt was her future. If they did not get back together, what would she do?

They were too tired from all the sun to head straight to San Francisco that night, so they stayed another night in Santa Cruz and hit the road early. San Francisco was not far, and it did not alter their schedule too much by staying. Once in San Francisco, they drove down the famous Lombard Street.

They then found a centrally located parking place and walked to Fisherman’s Wharf. While touring Alcatraz, they took turns taking pictures of each other in jail cells making silly faces. They both wore headsets and the speaker had the most monotone voice. By the end of the tour, they had both stopped listening, and Lacey was inventing wild facts about the prison that had Jane laughing so hard she was clutching her sides. Their antics drew stern looks from staff, and stifling their giggles, they were on their best behavior until they returned to the mainland.

For a late lunch, they each had a bowl of clam chowder in a bread bowl. Someone along the way had said it was a wharf staple, and it was some of the best advice they had ever taken. After lunch, they had planned to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge. As they made their way over there, they realized just how big of a walk they were getting themselves into and agreed to instead walk onto the bridge then back off of it. All the walking at the Wharf and Alcatraz had taken it out of them.