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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

“And Miles to Go Before I Sleep” by Sarah Xin

Submitted to Contest #209

The couple is young, with rosy, supple cheeks and wide grins. Happy. In love. The woman, brown hair and warm eyes, is beginning to show, and the glow of an expecting couple surrounds them. His last owner had been happy, too. They need a bigger car for the little one on the way, they tell the salesperson, who smiles and congratulates them. The three go inside to discuss terms, and then the couple returns with keys. The first drive home shows that they are also gentle, as happy people often are. Brakes, pedals, wheel, seats, doors—all tr...

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“Carpool to Heaven” by Sue Hunter

Submitted to Contest #209

When Tabby imagined going to heaven, she had envisioned a golden staircase leading her toward the perfect sky, with angels and saints greeting her every step of the way. So she didn’t understand why she was walking along what looked to be a desert road. A tumbleweed danced by her feet as she continued to walk down the straight, sandy path. The road wasn’t packed enough to support her weight. With every step, she sank into the sand. Without her walking stick, she feared it would only be a matter of time before she fell. If that wasn’t bad en...

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“His Sign Read ‘WEST’” by John K Adams

Submitted to Contest #209

His Sign Read ‘WEST’ Warning: Characters in conflict. Mentions of violence. In the pre-dawn light, Mason threw his duffel bag into the pickup truck bed. Muttering under his breath, he slammed the driver’s door and the engine roared to life. Jamming it into gear and barely tapping the brakes, Mason squealed into the street. He gunned the engine into the entrance ramp. This was no joy ride. About to merge, he spotted a hitchhiker standing in the gloom. His sign read ‘West.’ “Perfect…” Mason pulled over and honked. The hitchhiker ran. He open...

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“Trust No One” by Claire Burkhalter

Submitted to Contest #209

Walking in the dark is not my favorite thing to do, so when I found a gas station with the lights on, I breathed a sigh of relief. I walked in, not expecting much, and asked the clerk where a phone was located, as a sign outside said there was one. He pointed towards the back of the store, clearly annoyed. “Hey, Mom. My car broke down and I checked everything. My phone died permanently, so that’s why I’m calling from a payphone, so I don’t have much time. Can you or Dad come pick me up and take me the rest of the way to Pinebrook? I’m not f...

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“Old Man” by Lindsay Flo

Submitted to Contest #209

“I’m taking the summer off,” Lia told me. “I need to start over. I need to leave the past, and if I can’t do that in here”—she touched her fingers to her heart—“then I have to do it geographically.” We were licking our wounds at a bar. Slouched over lacquered pine, this sounded like a good idea at eleven on a gloomy winter night. I told her I would come with her. “Really, Nick?” Lia gushed, her voice as sweet as whatever it was she was drinking. Like strawberries and candy. “I would love that.” We dreamt up all kinds of starry-eyed pla...

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“Road Less Taken” by Richard Seven

Submitted to Contest #209

“I'm headed to Spokane. That on your way?”“I can take you two-thirds of the way. To Odessa. There are people there.”That was good enough for me. I crawled into the passenger seat of the bare, early-model van and tossed my duffle onto the middle row of seats.“Thanks, man. You’re the first ride I’ve seen all morning.”“Yeah,” the driver said. “They call this the other-other-other Washington for a reason.”The highway, which spans 130 miles, pierces eastern Washington state’s Big Bend country. It's flat, straight, sparse and wide open. It cuts th...

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“The All-Consuming Fire” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #209

Here is what I want to tell you: on a cold winter’s morning in Ford Lakes, I saw something so strange, that I could never tell another living soul. And I never have. Until now. But I think you need to know—the whole thing—I think it’s important. If this story is to be a book that contains the net of all my deeds, you’ll want to know the history of my condition. I know, I know. Only fools search out danger and go in for lost causes. My mother always said that. And she said it to you too, not just me.&nb...

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“Little Green Men” by Jonathan Page

Submitted to Contest #209

No one ever believed us about alien night, but they always wanted to hear the story. I’ve told the story so many times now over so many years, that sometimes I wonder myself. But I always call Luke and he confirms it. We were both there. It happened. Just as I remember. It all happened just in the order that I had always told it: the ghostly fog on a clear night. Then the bright pulsing neon lights—green, then blue, then yellow, then red, and finally green again, a deep, penetrating neon green—filling the sky,...

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“Mike's Gasoline Alley” by Kimberly Walker

Submitted to Contest #209

Mike's Gasoline AlleyWhew, it's scorching out there today, and Betsy is running hot! Is Mac here today?"What, you didn't know Mac retired."This isn't Mac's gas station anymore? Wow, I thought Mac would die under a chassis before retiring."He almost did; Paul found him unconscious two weeks ago in the bay, barely clinging to life, suffering from a heart attack. Lucky too, because I wasn't working that day. No telling how long he had been down there. God was looking out that day. Danny is negotiating a buyout with his father and trying to...

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“Big Country” by Anna Forsyth

Submitted to Contest #209

The plan was to recreate Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty’s road trip from Kerouac’s On The Road. Jack said he wanted to be Hunter S. Thompson instead. I told him that was the wrong book. We had a fierce argument for three miles (passing by roughly twenty thousand corn fields) until I realized he was just trying to piss me off. He threw his head back and laughed, closing his eyes briefly to enjoy the morning sun before refocusing the road. I yanked on his ear and he laughed again, running his hand through his bleached blonde hair; he was too b...

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“Just Another Family Car Trip” by Diane Tolley

Submitted to Contest #209

Traffic has slowed to a crawl. Not a usual thing for a small, semi-hard-topped, two-lane, secondary road twisting through the foothills of Southern Alberta. The Stringams join the end of an already long line of cars. Dad peers ahead through the windshield. “Huh. Weird.” “What on earth could be causing this?” Mom spits on a Kleenex and starts to scrub the face of her youngest son, Blair, perched on the seat between them. “Careful with that chocolate bar, son, you’re getting it on your father.” “Can’t see, yet. But the line will be strai...

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“Weightier Concerns. ” by Lara Deppe

Submitted to Contest #209

Weightier Concerns. There was a swooshing that she could feel more than hear. She had just escaped her new-off-the-lot Ford focus when she returned home from work. She looked left, right, and finally down to her feet where her black satin half-slip underneath her favorite skirt had slid to her ankles. One more step and it probably would’ve wrapped around her ankles, caught on her high heels, and laid her flat on her face. She immediately looked around to see if there were any spectators on the premises to see it. She sighed in relief - ther...

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“The Gas Station” by John-Paul Cote

Submitted to Contest #209

Grace entered the gas station. Broken windows and the door swung back and forth in the wind greeted her. A light covering of radioactive dust coated everything in the store. The dust had long ago bleached her hair blonde. She pulled down the handkerchief that had been covering her face and lifted her sunglasses. The leather jacket she wore was covered in patches. She had taken it off the body of some preppie biker wannabe. The denim overalls she had on were rugged and well-worn. Leather cowboy boots tha...

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“Gender Reveal” by Alex Flores

Submitted to Contest #209

The slam of the car door instantly cuts off the music coming from the backyard. Slumping into the driver seat, Gustavo waits. Feeling the glare of Gloria’s gaze, he knows this routine. No words at first, just the stare. He stares ahead through the windshield, knowing Gloria won’t say anything until he does. Gustavo’s impatience, along with his irritation at Gloria, overtakes him after a few short moments. “Well?&nbs...

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“Home in One Piece!” by Julie Grenness

Submitted to Contest #209

Hilary, aka Hilaria, shrieked with joy. Queenie, her cat, startled, then glared. Old Ben, her television addict husband, still snored, did not even notice. Hilaria did her happy jig, all cellulite wobbling. She so did not care about this apathetic response. She and her friend, Josephine, had won! What had Hilaria won in her lucky undies? Why, a free flight to Sin City, and a free hire car to drive to Sin City Craft Emporium, the biggest wool shop in the whole land. Bliss bombs time! Josephine was Hilaria's particular friend in their older la...

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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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