“In August 2002, I made almost the exact opposite trip Julia and Terence take in In the Belly of the Beast: Instead of heading east to west, I drove from Iowa, where I’d been in graduate school, to Washington, D.C., where I was moving to be the writer in residence at a boys’ high school.
“Alas, I was not driving a Lexus—instead, I drove a 10-year-old Ford Taurus station wagon with a U-Haul hitched to the back. If we got up to 55 miles an hour, it felt bold and risky.
“My friend Susanna kept me company as I hunched over the steering wheel through state after state, my belongings bumping along behind me. As we approached D.C., I was increasingly obsessed with (1) not getting lost; (2) on the Capital Beltway; (3) in the dark. I proceeded to do all three, and we made several full-circle trips in thick traffic. I couldn’t help wondering if the entire move was a mistake. But then we finally found the correct exit, we took it, and I started my new life in Washington. I lived there for three very happy years.”
