All About the Journey

I don’t know about you, but as someone in the middle of a master’s program, with a new puppy, a fairly new job, anxiety about driving, and a decently time-consuming workout schedule; taking two and a half weeks to drive across the country and back seems pretty ridiculous. Yet, it is one of the best decisions I have made as of late, second only to bangs because those look fantastic. As soon as a family friend announced their engagement, my mom and I decided that we would turn it into an opportunity to road trip together, something that the two of us haven’t done alone in at least a decade, and at this mileage only as a whole family when we were all young. So just four days in, here is the story of our travels so far: Michigan to Oregon.

For the first day, we kept the trip short. I had clinical class to finish up before we got on the road and we wanted to ensure we could make a quick stop in Illinois to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew. While that drive is just around five hours, it was honestly the hardest drive of the trip: weather delays, tornado watches, and the persistent construction traffic in Indiana led to a high stress situation. It is really not comforting to be driving in a downpour and have the Google navigation app interrupt your music to report “traffic may be affected by a tornado watch”. This caused my mom quite a bit of anxiety but we got through and the skies were blue by the time we got to their house; allowing for a great dinner out and getting the ice cream through the drive thru window and into the car just before the next round of storms started to fall from the sky.

This was just the start of our trip but it is always so special spending time with those we love. Plus, when in the outskirts of Chicago it is important to embrace the atmosphere with Lou Malnati’s. Even though the later storms brought out the tornado sirens, we were able to make the most of the visit, just some of the night was spent in the basement.

The next morning, my mom and I packed up again and headed on the road toward Iowa. We discovered a Black Bear Diner (originally based outside Mt. Shasta in California) and knew that would be our breakfast location. Traditionally, she, my dad, and I would go to the Black Bear in Gilroy, CA for breakfast every Saturday after my brothers went off to college. I would always get the massive pancakes with over easy eggs and bacon, my dad would do the same but over hard, and my mom would get a burger and seasoned French fries. This was not the case for our order this time, as delicious as that sounds, it is just not the nutrient dense meal we crave now.

Here’s what I learned about Iowa. It is the longest no stop state in the I-80 route. We went so long having to pee without a rest stop or even a fast food restaurant to grab some food. We tried at one point to stop at a local restaurant but it was a weird situation and no one came over to grab our orders and after about 10 minutes we left. So, unfortunately no food was consumed until we got into Nebraska and found a Fazzoli’s and were served massive amounts of carbs. Nebraska was also extremely limited in rest stops and just basic scenery to distract from the endless miles, but ultimately we ended up in Ogallala, NE for the night. It’s always fun to try to find a local restaurant for food and we stumbled upon a Nebraska chain, which seemed to be the only thing open after 8 PM, 3 Margaritas. Sadly we did not have the energy or desire to sample a margarita but we did enjoy the food and I was delighted to see a vegetarian burrito on the menu. While it wasn’t my favorite meal ever, it was definitely needed for both of us to have a little reset on the day.

After a quick hotel breakfast we got back on the road. Although the rest of Nebraska was kind of a blur, I do remember a long stretch of one lane construction traffic with no exits for rest stops. At this point in the trip, the two of us had rushed into quite a few bathrooms, hurrying to relieve the amount of hydrating we had done. Once we were through Nebraska, we made it into Wyoming which brought up a hilarious quote from my mom!

“We aren’t even 10 minutes into Wyoming and there have already been 3 Jesus billboards.”

Regardless of personal religious beliefs, that does seem a bit excessive if you think about it. But maybe they stand by the philosophy of a no isn’t truly a no until you’ve asked 7 to 9 times. Anyway, Wyoming was reminiscent of our childhood road trips as we went past the overpass museum we had gone through many times, the rest stop with the Lincoln memorial, some stunning views, and lunch at Carl’s Jr.

Not too long after, we took a short adventure through Utah. Aside from a change in scenery and some desert allergies on my part, the Utah experience didn’t bring much excitement. Soon after we made it to Idaho to finish out our longest day of driving. I’m not going to lie, we were pretty over the drive at this point. I was however very grateful for the distraction-free environment to work on homework and listen to lecture. Especially knowing that a majority of our trip was centered around visiting with friends and family, I wanted to have my stressors and responsibilities complete and out of the way.

My uncle suggested a taco place in Boise, ID where we were staying, however by the time we got there we really just wanted something simple and easy where we could also have a drink… and Applebee’s was right next to the hotel. I am very happy to say that they’ve really upped their game (or we were just exhausted and starving) and I got a salmon rice bowl with cucumbers and avocado!

With a short drive day ahead of us, all we had to do was get through Oregon to my Grandma’s place! That seemed easy enough, but it turns out Oregon is a wider state than I remembered. Plus, going through the mountains unlocked some new anxieties in me. We had very little cell service, the roads felt small, the winding path up and down hills was intimidating, and there were so many semi-trucks and logging trucks. However that was ignored often due to the stunning views of evergreens, Mt. Shasta in the distance, lakes and rivers amongst the stones, vegetation growing back after fire destruction, and sunshine and blue skies. Overall, my mom did an amazing job driving and I am so grateful for her expertise and strength! Plus, we made the whole drive without annoying each other or bickering!