Road Trips

It's not a road trip without construction

                                                   

When I asked Emery what he wanted to blog about this week, he didn’t hesitate to say “road trips.” I supposed it made sense because I was in the car on a road trip, but I’d like to think he put just a little thought into his answer as summer is often the time many take road trips and he certainly would know having been on a few already this summer.

I love road trips but my experiences with them have changed over the years in profound ways. When we were younger my sister and I shared the backseat—her on the seats, me on the floor, and my parents in the front seat seemed a world a way. I read a lot, squinting in the dark to try to get the end of a book. The most memorable trip we ever took was when my dad was transferred from Italy to England and we drove across Europe. Getting lost in Paris still remains one of my most vivid trips from that era.

As a teenager, road trips became the norm. As a member of the marching band, I spend a lot of time on the road in buses. I think that’s all I want to remember about that time period.

Then, after college, my dad and I took what became yet another memorable road trip. I was looking at grad schools in the Midwest and my dad took the opportunity to show me places from his childhood. And, yes, many of those places are gone, or were in the middle of cornfields. After that trip, I was so tempted to write a top ten list on surviving a car trip with your dad and sending it to Seventeen magazine. We travel much better now—in fact, he’s my preferred road trip companion as we take turns driving and when we’re not driving we’re napping or trying to find a baseball game on AM radio. It’s peaceful and at a pace that works for me.

When I road trip on my own; however, I channel my father’s parents’ approach to road trips. You leave before the sun rises, pack a breakfast and snacks, and head straight for your destination—no delays with side trips to attractions or stops for long meals or shopping. Sometimes, the journey doesn’t matter more than the destination.

Emery's Side
I think my favorite part about road trips is not the driving itself, but the stops. On almost every road trip we go on, we have either breakfast or lunch at cracker barrel, a place i find to be my favorite place to eat when on a road trip, as long as its not too crowded, which it often is at some hours. Another one of my favorite stops is resting for a longer trip at a hotel. Its nice after a long day cramped in a car to stretch out on a bed, look out the window or have dinner at a nearby restaurant. Its the best feeling to be warmed under the thick covers as cold air blows from the ac.