Personal Narrative-Expansive Desolation

Expansive Desolation I received a call from a friend asking if I was willing to go help him do some work at some land his family owned. It was located quite a distance away in a place I had never been before. I agreed to go using it as an excuse to get out of town for a couple days. We arranged to meet at his house in the early morning hours of the next day. The trip started like any of my previous ones. I was set to leave in a few hours without being prepared to do so. I was only going to be gone for the weekend so I did not need to pack that much. I shoved a couple changes of clothes and in a small bag and hurriedly ran out the door. It was still dark outside the only light coming from the dimly lit moon. It was a short drive to my friends house the streets just appeared as endless stretches of black without anyone in sight. I pulled into his driveway which was illuminated by light coming from an open garage. We began loading up the truck for the long journey. The only sound being
made was the shuffling of our feet on the hard concrete below. We climbed in the truck and the vast silence was immediately filled with the loud roar of the engine cranking. We turned out of the lit driveway and began driving down the endless black roadway. It was about an hour later and I noticed the sky starting to show small specks of orange and yellow as the sun began to rise. The landscape around us began to light up with bright green fields that seemed never ending. The next few hundred miles just seemed to be a repeating pattern. Flat roads that went on for miles and the large areas of green on both sides of the truck. I awoke some time later and was met with a completely different experience. The green was replaced with the tan color of sand with large pieces of rock scattered about. The flat endless roads began going up and down in elevation and winding left and right through the scattered rock. We eventually pulled off the road onto a small path of dirt barley wide enough for the truck. He stopped the truck after traveling a short distance down the path. There was nothing around.
A soft whistle from the wind echoed across the barren landscape. The dirt path started extending in every direction on the rocky terrain. The only sign of life to be found was small splotches of green foliage sprouting out of the ground. The heat seemed to be coming at you from every angle. The sun was so bright I did not dare look up. We started walking toward a small rocky hill that was off in the distance. The uneven rocky surface was unpleasant to walk on compared to the flat dirt back on the path. The loose rock was sliding underneath our feet as we climbed higher. We reached the top of the hill to see the emptiness of the landscape continued on for miles. There were many hills like the one we were standing on scattered about. The bright sun highlighted the entire area. It was something I had never experienced before. A place that was void of life and lacked the bright greens of the grass and trees I was used to back home, but was still
captivating Im glad that I came here and was able to see a different part the world and experience what it had to offer. Its amazing how a place full of so much emptiness is so full of life. It is a reminder that everything is special in its own way.