Well, I suppose it’s been on my list for a while- one of those places that sort of has to find you rather than the traditional vice-versa. For all the time I’ve been out exploring the Wayside, I’ve managed to avoid ‘The Dead End’ until I came upon it accidentally a couple days ago, having turned left in one of those really quaint neighborhoods where the roads tend to meander rather than run straight because they all have the land to accommodate aesthetics over efficiency. That left took me up a near-single lane street, past a few houses, before I came to ‘The Dead End.’
Before I came to it the first time.
‘Beware ‘The Dead End,’ which has terminated the trips of several promising travelers. It is a place with many entrances and very few exits, and it traps visitors at random, then releases them in far few numbers.
‘The Dead End’ can be avoided with a little care. Some travelers reject modern GPS navigation but this is your primary method of prevention. ‘The Dead End’ only manifests in established dead-end roads, meaning that a device, operating with the latests information, should be able to steer a vehicle away from anywhere that might possible serve as an entry point. There have neen no reports of temporary closures due to weather or construction spreading ‘The Dead End,’ though detours provide ample opportunity to confuse a traveler, and to point them toward ‘The Dead End.’ When in doubt, it behooves the traveler to pull over- to stop in the road, even- rather than proceed toward ‘The Dead End.’
Understand that this advice is meant to serve as a guide rather than a guarantee. The only true method of avoiding ‘The Dead End’ completely is to stay home, but that would be tantamount to the same thing.’
I imagine if I came to a barrier and dead end sign in the middle of the freeway in any other context, I would have been confused and maybe scared. Maybe I would have plowed right through, having been midway to reaching something dropped on the passenger floor, fully comforted by the knowledge that highways and interstates can take me many places but basically never to full, unexplained stops.
But it was dark when I arrived here, at the latest manifestation of ‘The Dead End,’ and I was already suspicious from a day of ‘accidentally’ taking wrong turns every half hour or so. The cherry on top was having to reverse down a one-way street for several minutes before backing into an intersection for a hurried three-point turn, before getting back on ‘the right track’ and immediately running into a new dead end street.
Now, even my GPS tells me there are no known paths forward, only a series of blockages. Some close by. Some a few miles out. I set the GPS to my home address for the first time in nearly a decade and I receive the same results, only the dead ends are closer now.
No way forward.
No way back.
I U-turn and head back toward Cedarville, the nearest town. Halfway there I come to a point where the shoulder and the land beyond seems flat for a while and I carefully navigate the camper off the pavement and onto the ground. The suspension struggles with the sudden change in terrain, but I carry on, hoping that the earth won’t shake my home to pieces. I cut across the field and squeeze through the trees beyond and drive over more grass, turning to make my way up the shallowest hill and then back down. The camper threatens to topple several times, but soon I see a new road ahead. I pull on, and reset the GPS. After a minute, it confirms.
I’ve shaken off ‘The Dead End.
Home, from here, is only an hour away. It’s very tempting, suddenly. More tempting than it has been in a long time. Still, I shake my head and check the guide and input a new address, this for a place called ‘The TikTok Factory.’
Can’t imagine this one will be my cup of tea, but I don’t have it in me to complain. I turn on the radio, and go.
-traveler
