When I travel, I can't escape the fact that I am surrounded by other travelers. My mind likes to fill in the gaps and write stories about these people whose paths I briefly share.

 

In this thread, I'm going to post a picture and you'll respond with a sentence describing their journey. Where are going? What did they leave behind? What did they pack, what did they forget? Are they traveling for love, to seek out loved ones or they escaping the past and memory? Hopefully, we'll get enough posts to create a story. If a picture prompt seems to be lagging, I'll make a new one.

 

Let's meet these people!

First Traveler

 

The desert knew his name and called to him as he slept, filling his mind with terrible silence and a vision of a place nestled in the sand and stone.

"maybe we should have rented a U-haul," thought John Jode IV as he left the orange groves of California...

On his way through the desert...

But, as images filled his mind, he knew he wouldn't be returning with the U-Haul.

He only hoped he wouldn't end up carrying his life around on that bicycle before he got where he was heading.

He just wanted to go out into the world and have fun.

But the weight of possessions ruled him even now.

Experiencing everything was his main goal.

But the promise of eldritch knowledge drove him relentlessly, sleeping only brief snatches, his mind slowly unraveling as he pursued the vision within the sands.

Why the vision required a mattress and bungee cords he shuddered to contemplate.

It probably involved bedding the Yctrgxl, the vulture headed maiden of sorrow.

And if what he'd heard of her love for German engineering was true, he well might need a quick bicycle getaway.

On his way to Santa Cruz..

He spotted what looked like... But no... It couldn't be

But it was! It was... Prompt #2

 

 

He pulled over and got out, his mind reeling.

It must be a mirage, he thought... His fondest desire...

Ice cream and bad puns in a strange shack somewhere in the desert! How bizarre! As he opened the door, a bell rang from inside and he entered, confident that his path drew him here.

 

What could possibly go wrong?

True... It was odd that he was entering the creature's gizzard that way...

The waitress worked behind the counter, her dulcet voice chiming through the owl's belly. She wore a pink dress that flared below the waist and he found his eyes wandering over the strange valleys of fabric. She turned to face him and his knees collapsed for her eyes burnt deep into him, the eyes of a carrion bird. It was Yctrgxl, the vulture headed maiden of sorrow.

(Ok, I need to play by my own rules. O.o;;)

He suddenly wished he'd thought to bring sheets for the mattress.

He shook those thoughts away and looked for the door, but it was not where he thought it would be.

He was sure it had been there just a dream ago.