Journey.

Most people saw the commercial as just another commercial. My family saw it as a challenge.

My brother, the smartest and most adventurous person I know, began to search the Internet for clues of how we could take part in this “journey.” He soon found out that Dodge was going to hide 3 new Dodge Journey’s in the US. If you found one, you could keep it. They pay tag, title, and tax. Cool, right? The first one was hidden on the west coast, the second in New England, and the third—the Midwest. Well, I know what your thinking… “The Midwest is such a vague term!!” Yeah, my thought, too—until I saw the commercials.

The commercials were clues. They showed the small SUV driving past things like Yukon’s flourmill, Dairy Best (a restaurant in Clinton), the El Reno marching band in a parade, and the Elk City Route 66 Museum. This was when we realized this Dodge vehicle wasn’t just hidden in some random town in the Midwest; it was hid in western Oklahoma. In the week leading up to it, Tanner was brushing up on the rules of the game and how to play. Rules were simple: Clues would be released at 9:00am (and it would be about a location 300 miles away), 10:00am (150 miles away), 11:00am (50 miles away), 1:00pm (20 miles away), then more later on if the car had not been found by then. Clues were pictures, or little pieces of trivia about the Midwest that weren’t easily found on the Internet. The commercial I mentioned earlier though was the main clue.

Friday night before the “search,” Tanner watched the commercial over and over and decided he knew where he would look if he were to go on the hunt. So it was decided… The Boyd’s would embark on an unknown journey the next Saturday morning.  

We woke up the next morning and debated whether or not we really wanted to go. I mean, come on… there’s a car hidden in the middle of nowhere; thousands of people are searching for it. There would be no possible way we could find it. We had all basically given up on the idea of “heading west” to find a crazy car. Well, all of us, except my brother. Tanner demanded we go. We said no. So then my incredible brother made a very profound statement.  

He said, “We’ll never find it if we don’t go look for it.”

Yes. That was it.

Plain, and simple… but ridiculously true.

So, we piled into our precious minivan and headed out on a journey.

We drove for an hour, the whole way debating on whether or not we had completely lost our marbles.  (I know I lost mine a long time ago, but hated that the rest of my family was now “crazy” like me.) When we got to Elk City, we were faced with the decision to keep going straight or head north towards the Black Kettle National Grassland. It was rumored that the car was hidden somewhere in that area, but on of the clues was a sign that is right off the TX-OK border. Tanner called the shots, and he said we should head north towards Sayre. We stopped right outside of Sayre at a small little gas station. I was tired, hungry, and no longer had cell service. Needless to say, I was cranky. I wanted to turn back and head back home, making a quick stop at my favorite store in downtown Elk City. Tanner, eyes glued to the live feed, was adamant about continuing on our “no-end-in-sight” journey.

The whole time the search was taking place, there was a live feed of this car out in the middle of nowhere with a cowboy that would randomly go polish it. (Cool, right? … or weird..) Anyways, this cowboy had a giant dry erase board and would write helpful hints on it. If you were watching the live feed, you would get hints about the whereabouts of the car. Tanner was convinced he knew exactly where it was.

So, I kept my mouth shut and we began to drive. Not down real roads anymore, but on dirt roads. I do believe we passed every single oil derrick in Western Oklahoma that day. Tanner was piecing all of these crazy clues together, and I thought he was ridiculous. (**side note: if anyone so desires to be on the Amazing Race and is in need of a partner, you should consider my brother. He is amazingly good at stuff like that. SO… if you want to win, choose him.) He decided that we needed to head down this one road and meet back up to the highway. After getting back on the highway, we headed north for what seemed like forever. We turned around at the next crossroad. The Boyd’s had officially given up. We were all tired and hungry, too tired and hungry to find the silly car.

We decided that we would stop by the Black Kettle Museum on our way home. (We had to include something educational in our day!) While there, Tanner found out the Dodge Journey had been found. You know where? Exactly 1 mile down the crossroad we had turned back around on.

WE WERE ONE MILE FROM THE CAR WHEN WE GAVE UP.

Needless to say, we were upset.

We drove home in silence, until my brother spoke up.

He said, “Guys, we may not have found the Journey today, but I think we found one of our own.”

It was so true. We hadn’t found what we had set out to find, but we had found so much more. My sweet family had laughed, sang, complained, ate chips, laughed some more, and just enjoyed “family time.” Not all families get to enjoy that time. Not all parents would take their two teenage children on a crazy road trip down dirt roads in western Oklahoma. Not all teenagers would want to spend their entire Saturday with their parents.  We all survived—and had a total blast!

Now, I realize that you probably will never have the opportunity to go on a random search for a car, but you do have the opportunity to spend the day with your family. With that being said, take the time to “hang out” with your parents and your siblings. You will enjoy it, and they will appreciate getting to spend time with you.

(Now, I could go on this tangent about “not giving up” when things get tough… but we obviously did give up. And good things came out of our giving up—I mean we didn’t win a car, but we won so much more!! So, I guess giving up could be a good thing? Maybe..? Okay, I’m justifying it. Sorry. Don’t ever give up!!!)

So, lets wrap this up.

Spend time with your Mom & Dad.  Spend time with your siblings. They really do look up to you. Don’t take them for granted. You will be happy you weren’t “too cool” for them one day.

Also, never turn down the opportunity for a journey. Always be adventurous.

Over & Out.