A slow wind blew across the blacktop surface of the gas station. I stood by the car while Sterling was inside the little general store across from the pumps. A hose ran from one of them into the shiny red car, delivering the fuel we would need to get across the rest of the San Palomino Desert.

I looked out across the dunes again. The sun glared off them, but I had some cheap novelty shades I had picked up at the last rest stop to keep most of it out. Inside the car, on the passenger seat, was my journal. It was an old thing, bound cheaply and red on the outside. Inside was my scrawling writing that filled up the pages with everything that had happened since I came to Fillydelphia. My mother had given it to me the day I left on the train bound for the big city.

Now, it was as filled up with my words as the land around me with grains of sand. It was a funny thing to hit the end of it; to know that I had come such a long way when just going to the city had seemed like such an adventure. A blew a few wispy strands of hair out of my face. Now it was Fear and Loathing in Las Pegasus.

A bell dinged and Sterling returned to the car. He had a bag with a few snacks and other stuff as well as something I had requested. He pulled it out. It was a cheap blue journal, with a quality that could be expected from buying it at a roadside station.

“You sure you wanted one?” he asked me. “I mean, we can probably find a nicer one at a bookstore back in Fillydelphia—”

I took the book from him before he could say anything more. It had creamy white pages on the inside and a place to write my name. I grabbed a pencil off the car’s dashboard and scribbled “Minty Flower” into the space. There. It was mine.

“The thing about a journal is,” I began, “the most important part is what’s on the inside. The rest doesn’t really matter.”

“I guess.” He took the pump out and screwed the gascap back on. Soon, we were both inside the car again and pulling away from the lonely station. “So what are you going to call this one?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know yet. This one’s going to be different, I’m sure of that. That last journal was all about Fillydelphia and what I did there, but now I’m tied down to one place. I think this journal will be about that: exploring outside one little city.” I smiled. “The world at large.”

Yeah, that's it folks! It's been a wild ride writing this story over the past year, and I hope you all enjoyed riding alongside me. If you want to read what happens when Sterling and Minty make it back to Fillydelphia and all the adventures they'll have there and in the world around them, check out the sequel, The World At Large.