When I go on my road trips, I occasionally think of this trip I took with my parents back in the mid 1980s.  I'm reminded of that night when I'm alone,  traveling a quiet and dark stretch of road. I lived way out in the country near Panoche Junction, California.   If you google maps it, you'll see that its literally in the middle of nowhere central California.  Panoche Junction (PJ) is essentially home to thousands of acres of farmland and orchards on the west end of the great central San Joaquin Valley and a massive Interstate 5 highway that links Mexico to Canada with few exits or rest stops.  West of the I-5 is the foreboding mountain range known as the Diablo Range.  The Diablo Mountain range, or Devils Range as some call it, is well known as being home to early Indigenous people for over 50,000 years, as well as settlers and famous bandits that would arrive in early Californian history.  It is a harsh mountainous landscape that stretches from the SF Bay to the southern end of the Salinas valley.  The hills have many hidden gems as well as dark secrets buried within them.  Human bones and ghost towns are also left behind that I will talk about in greater detail another time.

My parents and I would make this 2 hour trip back and forth from PJ to San Jose California to visit family. If you've ever traveled along that stretch of I-5 at night, you can imagine how quiet and remote it was back in 1986.We had a mustard yellow 1978 baywindow transporter at the time.  Two bench seats in the back and some small curtains mom sewed up a few years before. It was a Friday. Dad had to work until 6 pm so we waited for him to get home, and mom already had the bus packed when dad got home.  After eating a light dinner, we hit the road about 8 pm.  We got onto the Interstate at Panoche road going northbound.  Dad was up front driving with mom on the passenger side chilling.  We had been on the road for about 30 minutes and now found ourselves alone on I-5 with no cars in front or behind us for miles.  It was dark outside, but the moonless sky was clear and starry. I was a 9-year-old kid playing with my G.I. Joe action figures and Hot Wheels, moving back and forth from the back bench to the middle bench in the dimly lit interior. That was totally normal in the 80's.  The radio playing whatever was on at the time. There weren't any cars behind us so all I could see was the reddish glow from the brake lights illuminating the back curtains and the occasional glow of headlights lighting up the interior, from the oncoming vehicles traveling southbound.  That's when I saw it. I glanced down toward the bottom edge of the window trying to make sense of what I was looking at.... Stay tuned. I'm going to need to get this off my chest soon.