I was seated on the wrong side, but I was very much in the right. My experiences were from my father, who loved to take my siblings and I on road trips across the country. Hours of my childhood were spent in this hunk of metal, looking outward to vast plains and frost-topped mountains standing in the horizon, where the undiscovered lay.
	The vehicle was worn from years of battle, the backs of the damp seats muddied with children’s footprints. In between the seats, where no hand dared to reach, was a homogenous mixture of lint, tissue, and crayon. The car reeked of the smell of wet kids right after a soccer game. All this damage was sustained from a younger version of myself, which is why it seems to draw up so many memories.
	Despite what the car signals, I was merely an upgraded version of my childhood self. Gaining in maturity and experience with every additional patch but maintaining a sense of childish curiosity. Perhaps this was why I wanted a job that involved travel.
My father signed me up for driving lessons as soon as I was able; it was a “life skill”, he stated. Soon, the movements of my hands and feet were in unison, as driving became second nature to me. I remember my father seated to my left, driving on an empty interstate that led to nowhere. Watching the dancing grasses in the fields of Oklahoma, my childish self wondered if the world had an end at all.
	Seated to his side, I followed him everywhere he went. His path was mine; I didn’t know where we were. All I knew was that we were surrounded by nature, boundless and borderless. The undiscovered lands, for what I can tell, could just be minutes ahead.
	My license was in my wallet—I checked, twice. I checked the brakes and the mirrors, twice. This was the first time driving my father’s car; I practiced driving in my instructor’s. I felt my fingers on the smooth rim of the steering wheel, worn from years of use. A few quick breaths were enough to calm the waters inside me. This was the beginning. My sweaty palms turned the ignition. The car roared like a beast, tamed but ferocious nevertheless.
	I instinctively turned my head to my left. The undiscovered land was closer than ever. I heard a warm, fatherly voice to my right.
	“Where to?”