The long empty gravel roads, one corner after another. Literally no other traffic. Just you and an open road. You’re nervous and shaky, like always, but you’re not scared. You’ve driven this road so many times, you know it by heart, and it never gets old. You know the speeds, the angles, the bumps, everything. No surprises.
90 miles per hour, the gravel pulling you everywhere. The road, black as coal, snakes out in front of you. 70 miles per hour around a long right, your car is at a constant 20 degrees with the ditch. Then a sharper left, slightly downhill. Avoid the inside of the corner, those bumps will pull you into the ditch. Completely sideways, gravel pinging off the bottom of your car, dust piling up on the windows like a sandstorm. Open straight away, thick black cloud of dust behind you, back up to 90 miles per hour.
The road narrows. Massive trees close in and loom over the road, blocking out any sky or light that tries to slip through. Nothing but left, right, left for the next half mile, allowing you to see only about 50 feet in front of you. With barely enough room for two cars on the road, you don’t go slower than 45 mph. Four way stop ahead, take a sharp right at 45 mph, perpendicular with the ditch before you’re even in the