Today I randomly opened Detour on the Eternal Road to page 97. With eyes closed, I pointed to the page. The word closest to my finger is “Bearings.” This is our prompt today.

Bearings by John W. Howell © 2026

“Are we lost?”

“No, dear. I just have to get my bearings”

“Everyone else is gone, and we are alone.”

“I told you before we stopped to eat that the group decided to continue on.”

“It is lonely without them.”

“That’s true. We’ll catch up to them when they decide to take a break.”

“So you know where they are headed?”

“Of course. We all agreed on the route. Now let me look at the landscape to make sure we are on the right heading.”

“Please tell me we are.”

“Yes, we are. There is no way to miss the Santa Monica pier.”

“Oh yes, there it is with all the bright lights. It is beautiful.”

“So we will proceed south, and I’ll bet everyone is resting near the Monterey Peninsula.”

“You are so smart to be able to navigate like this.”

“Aw, shucks, honey. It’s not my first migration, you know.”

“When will we get to the Baja Peninsula?”

“It is still going to be a couple of days. We are very lucky, though.”

“How so?”

“In the old days, our ancestors had to run a gauntlet of whalers to migrate. A lot didn’t make it.”

“That is a blessing for sure. Oh, look, I see some spouts.”

“Yup. Thair she blows. We found ’em.”