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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#209: Road Trippin'

The open road is a beacon of possibility. Who knows what you’ll discover as you navigate across boundaries, familiar and unfamiliar: maybe it’s the world’s biggest ball of twine, a hidden gem of a diner, or a new truth about yourself. Whatever it may be, a road trip provides the opportunity to indulge your curiosity, going wherever the wind may blow you. There’s no limits or obstacles, only what you’re willing to do.

After all, road trips are hardly ever about the destination. The journey is what matters most, and what you discover along the way, whether you're taking a vacation or setting out into the unknown. This week, we want to explore those unique feelings that only a good, long road trip can conjure.

This week's prompts

Set your entire story in a car.

Dramatic – 96 stories

Write about two strangers who are both heading to the same destination and agree to do a long distance drive together.

Character – 32 stories

Write a story about someone going on a life-changing journey.

Adventure – 57 stories

Write a story about someone getting lost, but discovering something they didn’t expect along the way.

Dramatic – 35 stories

Start your story with someone walking into a gas station.

Dialogue – 53 stories

Stories

“An Unfortunate Situation” by Frank Lester

Submitted to Contest #209

Rivulets of sweat rolled down BJ’s sides, saturating his shirt. He removed his hat, pulled the shirt up, and wiped his hairless scalp. It didn’t absorb any moisture, but the motion gave some cooling relief. Pendulous drops of perspiration cascaded from his eyebrows, stinging his eyes. He wiped his face on his sleeve.“God almighty,” he said, sucking in a deep breath and breaking open his last bottle of water. He looked at his phone. “No damn service! Where the hell am I?” Sliding the phone into his back pocket, he shaded his eyes from the gla...

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“Shell Mound” by Molly Jarrard

Submitted to Contest #209

The afternoon sun was high in the sky and the concentrated ray beating down on my thigh through the passenger window was becoming uncomfortably warm despite the best effort of the car's air conditioning. I rubbed the spot with my hand, but it does nothing to aleviate the sting. A state park sign reading "Shell Mound" with an arrow pointing west whizzed by. Eyes wide, my head snapped to the side to see if Sarah saw it. Sensing that my alarm for weird and stupid stuff had been activated, she laughed to herself. Without even looking in my direc...

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“Pound Cake” by Haley White

Submitted to Contest #209

Despite having driven away from this place dozens of times, I never did get good at saying goodbye. It’s been more than a decade since I called this small town home but sitting behind the wheel of my SUV, I feel the lump in my throat threaten my breath as I adjust the rear-view mirror. I raise a hand in one last wave to my father as I pull away, putting the Blue Ridge Mountains behind me. Twelve hours of highway stretch ahead, and my husband sits in the backseat with our three-month-old son so I can focus on the road. Lately I’ve ...

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“Interview in a Passenger Car” by SJ Shoemaker

Submitted to Contest #209

S: May I take this seat, friend?B: Yes. Yes. Of course. I’ll just move my ba—As I live and breathe.S: Well don’t stop on my account.B: Preston Strong in the flesh.S: Never leave the house without it.B: You’re Prestige, the Honorable Strongman.S: That’s me… [pause] about that seat.B: Yes, apologies. Here.S: Thank you.B: What brings you to my–this passenger car?S: It’s a tad embarrassing, but I suppose you seem trustworthy enough.B: Careful, I’m with the press.S: Well, friends close. Enemies closer.B: Ha, too true.S: Truth is, w...

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““Thoughts My Only Companions”” by A. M. Conger

Submitted to Contest #209

“Shotgun,” said Eddy while looking down on Stu. “Don’t be a jerk. I was here first,” said Stu. “So? I was here last. Get out.” “That’s not fair.” “Don’t care.” “Come on guys,” said Ivan from the backseat. “You know your nattering makes Fred uneasy.” “Yeah, Stu, ‘your nattering makes Fred uneasy’,” Eddy mocked while gesturing for Stu to get in the back. Stu slid in next to Ivan while Eddy wiggled, gleefully into the passenger seat. Fred, a middle-aged man sitting in an outdated car, sighed loudly and put the car in drive. Rolling out of the d...

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“The Open Door” by Robert W

Submitted to Contest #209

THE OPEN DOOR It happened 40 years ago, but the memory remains fresh in my mind. A newly-qualified young barrister, living in South Wales, I was on my way to Tredegar Magistrates Courts in the Rhondda Valley for a contested motoring case. I wasn’t thrilled at the thought of the day ahead of me. Like all young tyros, I liked to win, and the case I had studied the night before was a clear loser. The client was irrationally clinging to hope against what appeared to be overwhelming evidence. He was not alone in that, by ...

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“Salt & Pepper” by DeBorah Evans

Submitted to Contest #209

SALT & PEPPER (No, not the singing group) We would have never met if my bus had been on time. Her name was Pepper. She needed me just as much as I needed her. My agency had called mid-morning to let me know I had an assignment. Temp Legal Assistant jobs were growing more and more scarce after 911. People were afraid to hire new employees just in case the United States became a target again. Excitedly and hurriedly, I dressed and practically lost my wind scurrying to the neighborhood bus stop in Atlanta. Unlike Michigan, Atlanta's ...

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“Route 2” by Rokeia Wheeler

Submitted to Contest #209

Ringing ears, a pounding headache, deep shallow breaths from snapping awake, only to still be surrounded by darkness. It all seemed so loud and quiet at the same time. “Where am I?”, Kennedy wondered as she tried to sit up, only to have something blocking her way. Feeling her way around, she could tell she was boxed in. The fog around her brain began to clear up, the ringing in her ears was getting lower and now she could hear a muffled song playing, feel the thumping of the speakers, the tired thudding ag...

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“Seeing Red” by Emily Pollock

Submitted to Contest #209

The small red hatchback sped down the back roads of Western Australia. ‘Keep it under control, Simon.’ Cherley's tone was harsh but clear from the backseat. Simon’s eyes stayed fixed on the dirt plain in front, country so red and flat that it was almost impossible to tell the road from the rest. Cherley peered through the gap between the driver’s seat and the car door; Simon’s knuckles strangled the wheel. She looked down at her own palms; one clung to the handle of the back door while the other was cradling Ally’s head, her body...

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“Season's Greetings from U.S. Route 395 ” by Todd Johnson

Submitted to Contest #209

Darkness pursued us from the south like a helicopter, its blades rotating, tearing light from the sky in shreds as storm clouds hunched over the road. Reno’s neon stain receded behind us, and the bulge of US 395 propelled me ever closer to my birthplace, to Susanville.“—and when Jesus said: ‘Lazarus, come forth,’ the dead man rose!” My father slid his palms from the steering wheel and raised them, upturned and splayed wide as if supporting the weight of two massive hanging breasts. He studied my face a moment before urging: “You see?”I nodde...

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“The Detour” by Mira Lundy Cain

Submitted to Contest #209

Neither of them could remember when the fog had set in. Was it before or after the car had veered off the shoulder? Had they seen it as they careened down the crumbling slope to where they were now? As they drove through a labyrinth of residential streets, it appeared to Douglas that they might never find their way back to the main road, the one which led out to the coastal town where they would kick off the first week of their retirement.“Take that turn, we haven’t been that way before.” Maribel issued the edict with a confidence Douglas co...

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“Late Night Gas Stop” by Alexander Hanna

Submitted to Contest #209

With the sun falling below the horizon, despair and awe filled the young woman as the warm shades of twilight lining the thin-streaking clouds faded into the country silhouette. The interstate was quiet. Only a few lonely headlights were still out. The hills arched in the distance while beams of sunlight peaked their way through to reflect off a group of still wind turbines. In the driver’s seat next to her, a man looked out his window at a farmhouse in ruins. Sizeable portions of its white paint had peeled off, revealing its brown underside...

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“Da Art of Ridin Shotgun” by Mark Ritchie

Submitted to Contest #209

November, 1994 “Dude, I’m telling you, you gotta see it. My girl Uma is in it, John Travolta, and that guy everyone thinks you look like,” Davante strains while trying to hold the smoke in his lungs, extending his right arm to pass the lit blunt to me from behind the wheel of his rickety 1986 Toyota Tercel. Between the pot and this car’s engine it smells like someone doused a skunk in Penzoil and set it on fire. I pinch the spliff tightly between my thumb and forefinger to retrieve it from his grasp. “Eric Stoltz,” I sa...

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“Orville” by Severn Macleod Gore

Submitted to Contest #209

I wasn't expecting to find a hitchhiker in the middle of the Mojave desert, but that's where he was. It was scorching hot as I raced down the highway. The air was sizzling on the hood of my car, and I had all the windows down and the AC on. Some rock-and-roll guitar riff was blaring on the radio, but it was hard to make out over the sound of wind roaring past. I could feel the leather of my seat sticking to my back through my sweat-soaked T-shirt. So, given the heat, I thought it was odd when I drove past a man walking along the side of th...

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“The Long Drive Home” by Josiah Kroontje

Submitted to Contest #209

The roadworker appeared out of the night like an apparition, one foot planted on each side of the centerline, and Pete Davidson immediatly realized he would kill him.He stomped the brake pedal and choked the steering wheel as momentum flung him into the seatbelt. The polyester fabric bit into his skin and profanities leaped into his mouth, though even now, in the maw of a life-ending collision, decades of restraint enabled Pete to kennel the curses behind clenched teeth. The vehicle skidded towards the man in the safety vest. Pete released o...

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$250

Prize money

273

Contest entries

154

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Aug 04, 2023 EST

Won by Kyle Sager 🏆

Title: The Driving Snow

Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

Read the full terms & conditions or check out the FAQ if you have any questions!

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