Prologue - The Vagabond Couple's 2nd trans-America road-trip: The Key Turns

Elephant Butte, Monument Valley, Navajo Nation (Arizona), USA

Hello traveler! My name is Shehzadi, which literally translates to "the king's daughter", thus "princess". I am a Toyota Tundra, a twin-turbo V6 heart wrapped in steel and my purpose was redefined one June morning in Hyattsville, Maryland. My humans - the ones I call The Vagabond Couple - loaded my bed with bags that smelled of adventure and coffee, patted my dashboard and pointed my grille west. This was not just another trip. This was The One. A 31-day, 9,000-mile loop around the vast, breathing body of a continent they call America. My elder brother, a monster first-generation SVT Raptor, named Storm Trooper, who was built for desert racing, had done a similar 7,500-mile road-trip with my humans before from Maryland to Banff and Jasper in Canada and back, but it was my turn now for an epic adventure.

For 9,000 of those miles, I was their rolling home, their shield from desert sun and mountain hail, their trusted steed on winding switchbacks and endless interstates. This is our story, told through my wheels and their wanderlust. It is a story of where the pavement ends and memory begins.

Riding to Boquillas, Mexico across the Rio Grande river from Big Bend State Park, Texas, USA

We slept like stargazers in a sea of flying saucers - our last night in Roswell (see Landing in ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO – UFOs, Aliens, Burgers & Americana on the Outskirts of Reality) was surreal in the best way. Between the cow-abducting dreams and Zog (our souvenir grey alien) perched on the nightstand, it was hard not to chuckle as we packed up and fired up Shehzadi for the next leg of our epic journey.

We waved goodbye to the high desert quirks of New Mexico and again steered Shehzadi south on US-285, toward the heart of Far Western Texas. Our destination? The far-off frontier town of Terlingua, perched near the Mexican border, nestled against the mighty spine of Big Bend National Park. But first, we stopped in the proud little town of Pecos, Texas, for lunch - and unexpectedly, to meet a legend.

Carnival cruise ship sailing from Miami - the gateway to Caribbean adventures Photo: Carnival Cruises

Fresh off exploring the jungles and canals of Panama, we traded rainforest humidity for a different kind of humidity entirely - flying from our perfectly ordinary Washington, DC suburb to the land of neon, art deco, and tropical heat: Miami, Florida! Florida's famous Magic City sits on what geologists call the Miami Limestone formation, basically a giant hunk of ancient coral reef that decided it wanted to be land instead. How ambitious!

The next day, our Carnival cruise ship, the Carnival Imagination (what a name for a vessel!), sets sail from Miami. Watching that massive floating hotel navigate out of the Port of Miami - which happens to be the world's busiest cruise port - is like watching a ballet, if ballerinas were 100,000-ton steel giants.

Here's a fun geology fact: the Caribbean Sea we're sailing into sits on the Caribbean Plate, which is slowly crashing into the North American Plate. This tectonic drama party created the islands we're visiting and also explains why there are occasional earthquakes in the region. Don't worry, cruise ships are basically earthquake-proof floating resorts!