The Creeps World: Close Encounters Of The Serial Killer Kind

Wagon Mound, New Mexico

Chapter Three

The Long, Hard Ride Home

Chapter Three

Wagon Mound, New Mexico

I had just had enough of life in Las Vegas, Nevada, and set out to return to Colorado after about eight hard years there. I was divorced, broken, and a single mom now, again. It was far more my pace in the Rockies, and I loved the outdoor life there too. It was home.

I loaded up everything I owned in a rolling tin can everyone typically calls a Uhaul. I attached a tow dolly to it with my SUV and set out for the open road with now two kids, two cats, and an iguana for a 990-mile drive back home to Colorado.

To a home, I fully appreciated now and couldn't wait to get back to and thrive within. That was the childhood I wanted to provide them. Roots over light shows. Snow, rather than excruciating heat. Better schooling, growing up in a more self-sustainable way of life, and having a better upbringing in a safer environment.

Spiritually, emotionally, and mentally, my soul just needed a rest.

The bullshit never seemed to cease in Vegas down to my animals too. The veterinarian had told me two weeks before I planned on leaving that I had to put my dog down due to an irregular heart valve issue and her seizures worsening. He said that the chances of her being able to make the drive would be slim to none. Altitude is a huge factor in her oxygen levels as well.

I loved her so much; this dog was like my canine best friend in the world. I trusted no one more. She taught my youngest son to walk and never showed malice toward anyone welcome in my home. I trusted that dog with my life and hated that I couldn't take her with us on our new adventure. But I also felt far less safe knowing she wouldn't go with us.

I was terrified to do this drive, but there was no way to change the events already in motion.

I knew we needed a better life, and there was no way we would find that in Nevada.

As I loaded all my stuff into the Uhaul, I didn't want to leave my mom. I was so utterly scared to do this by myself. I knew the road was not a safe place for a woman; I had already learned that from my trials in driving back from Kansas in my earlier years.

I never forgot that night and always stayed on my toes on the open roads. I dreaded this drive and loathed having to do it alone with kids, towing my truck, and a zoo all in my custody.

I packed mace and placed a few other safety items I could reach without my sons harming themselves near me. But still, it did not relieve the trepidation I had brewing in my gut.

I knew this drive was going to be one of the most trying things I have ever done in my life, but I welcomed it naively and just wanted to get it over with already; That, and praying for the dependability of good diapers and well-placed eateries along the way to keep the peace. I had a ton of snacks packed, juice as well as water, extra hot hands, and warm water socks for the iguana, even cat stress coats, cat calmer, and planned a route that allowed me to give them some time out of their kennels safely, kids included in that.

So when we started out driving, it was alright. I mean, I got lost in Laughlin. Which is the opposite direction I was heading after going over the Hoover Dam, and I was only sixty miles from my starting point. Plus, we had already stopped at one 'golden arch' because an hour's drive created a hunger in those two kids or a last-ditch effort to stay.

I was still trying to get a good time on the road and definitely was showing my best rookie road warrior moves by getting lost immediately.

I finally got into a groove with things and knew when the kids needed to stop and was making decent time - it's not like I was in a rush anyway. I could have taken a week to get there if I needed to. It was just so stressful for the kids and animals. I tried to make it fun for everyone and not a miserable new start to plague their future memories.