The Great American Roadtrip
Better late than never - it’s officially time to talk about my Great American Road Trip.
7 months ago I made the decision to move from my little town in Washington State to the opposite Washington, our nation’s capitol. This transition was monumental. I was 3 months post grad when I made the decision to move 3,000 miles away from home. Not only was the distance a challenge to wrap my mind around, but I knew the time zone difference would provide a unique struggle of its own.
Luckily, I am a firm believer that 1. The Lord knowing exactly what we can handle and 2. I am in my early twenties, there is no better time to try something completely new. At the end of the day, that was the whole purpose of me starting this blog in the first place: To document this exciting time of my life traveling the world and seeing what’s out there for me.
If you have followed along at all with my other posts, you would know by now that I am an avid roadtripper. And if you know this, you probably also know that my dad is a big reason for my travel bug. We’ve spent countless hours and late nights talking about our ambitions to see the next big thing. It seemed only fitting that he was the one to join me on my 40 hour drive to my new home.
Day 1: Arlington, WA to Salt Lake City, UT
Is Salt Lake the most direct route to Washington, D.C.? No. But would I ever miss an opportunity to go to my favorite state in the Union? Absolutely not. Day 1 consisted of an early wake-up call. The first leg I did solo. The first leg meaning — only the first hour. I finished packing up my car and said goodbye to my parents. Surprisingly, I didn’t cry hugging my mom goodbye. I remember feeling a sense of comfort knowing I would see her at my college graduation in 5 weeks. My first stop was Starbucks and then it was off to Seattle. It worked out conveniently that one of my best college friends was visiting home and I was able to pick her up and drive her back to Utah with me. We spent the day catching up on all sorts of things, I hadn’t seen her much since I moved out of my college house.
The drive to Salt Lake is 14 hours. It also happened to be one of my other close friends 21st birthday the same day I was driving through. So for 14 hours, I kept up an act that I was driving to Montana for the night, when in reality I was going to surprise her.
I never imagined I could fall so in love with a place. But almost immediately upon entering Utah, a weight lifted off of me and I felt like I was finally home. Salt Lake City is the perfect mixture of urban and adventurous. The snow capped mountains brought memories flooding back of rough snowboard days in Little Cottonwood Canyon and classic snowshoe hikes through Emigration Canyon. The best feeling, however, was being able to shut off my Apple Maps and take 400 S all the way home.
Seeing the birthday girls face when she saw me sitting in her house was priceless. My heart was so happy to be able to celebrate such a special day with one of my favorite people. I spent the entire next day in Utah, seeing all of my friends and stopping at all my favorite places. The next morning though, it was time to get back on the road.
Day 2: Salt Lake City, UT to Cheyenne, WY
The second leg of my trip began with a quick stop at the Salt Lake City International Airport. My dad flew in to tackle the next 2,400 miles with me. I picked him up and we began the trek up into the mountains. This part of the trip was so special. The Mountain West is probably both mine and my dad’s favorite region of the country. We stopped for lunch in Evanston, WY, the first town outside of Utah. In case you were wondering where the Jamaican bobsledding team practices for the Winter Olympics, a nice man with a law firm hosts them in this town ever year.
I spent most of this day recapping fun college memories and catching up on the last few days with my dad. When we got to Cheyenne, the land had started to flatten out. I hadn’t been to Wyoming’s capitol before, and I wasn’t disappointed. A small town in the middle of nowhere full of modest cowboys. I was soaking in as much of the slow pace as I could before my life drastically changed. We had dinner at a quaint pizza shop that was highly recommended by Yelp and relaxed from a long day of driving.
Day 3: Cheyenne, WY to Kansas City, MO
THIS was a long day. This was also a day I was equally excited and nervous for. Driving through the ENTIRE state of Nebraska. I have a dream of visiting all 50 states, and I am getting pretty darn close, but the states I was always curious how I would find myself in were North Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. Lucky for me, 2 were crossed off on this trip. There is no other way to put it: I saw all of Nebraska and I have no reason to go back. The most notable part of the drive was stopping to get gas at a station called “The Middle of Nowhere.” I of course got a souvenir, and spent a lot of time laughing with my dad about our whereabouts. Sometimes when I get road rage in DC, I remember what it felt like to be in one of the emptiest states in the country. All citizens of this great nation but living lives that couldn’t be more different. We contemplated going to Chicago for the night, but a tornado warning sent us down to Kansas City. We walked downtown a little bit to stretch our legs and grab dinner, I was extremely tired this day.
Day 4: Kansas City, MO to Colombus, OH
Have you ever driven across both the Missouri and the Mississippi River in the same day? I don’t know why this was such a pivotal moment in the trip, but once we crossed the Mississippi, I felt like we were getting so close. I really like the state of Missouri, it wasn’t as boring as I always thought it would be. In fact, there is a little bit of topography that kept me entertained. We grazed a piece of Illinois, a large chunk of Indiana, and then we were in the grand state of Ohio. These states have no significant hold on my memory. I was excited to drive through Akron, home of the Candy Apples Dance Center. We had better service this day, and my dad spent a lot of time catching up on work calls. We drove through St. Louis for lunch, stopped at the arch and saw the Cardinal’s field. Once we got to Colombus, I was in desperate need of something healthy. 4 days of driving but 5 days on the road had harvested terrible eating habits. The only place open near our hotel was a Wendy’s where I ordered a salad, reluctantly. There was no forks, so I ate it with a spoon and still felt sick after.
Wendy’s is also a special place for my dad and I. Growing up, my family rarely ate out. But whenever my dad and I wanted a little date day, we would get crispy chicken sandwiches and frosty’s from Wendy’s to kick off our outing.
Day 5: Colombus, OH to Washington, D.C.
WE DID IT!! (Sent with Confetti effect). We crossed off a lot of states on the last day: Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and finally my new home in Washington, D.C. We were only in WV for like 25 minutes, so we decided that’s where we would eat breakfast so that it felt like we could confidently cross that state off our “visited” list.
Unfortunately, we didn’t select the no toll option on maps and we got on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. A beautifully scenic route but $90 later, DC was in our sights. When I entered in the city over the summer, I only ever took the metro. It was rare that I would see the city from street view. This was my first experience driving in a huge city and it has taken quite some time to get used to. We got a hotel in Arlington, VA and then I convinced my dad to take the metro in with me to the National Mall. This was his first time ever in Washington, D.C. and his flight was in the morning so sight-seeing was a must - even after a long week. We walked to the Mall, the WWII memorial, the Reflection Pool, and finally the Lincoln Memorial.
The next morning, I dropped my dad off at Ronald Reagan Airport and that was it! It was Saturday morning and I started work on Monday. Writing this almost 8 months later, I am in awe of how my life has shaped into something I am really proud of.
The Great American Roadtrip is not for the faint of heart. But after driving from sea to shining sea, I have a new appreciation for our country, for the people in all our small towns and fields miles away from a grocery store or gas station. If you ever get the chance to do a cross-country roadtrip, I couldn’t recommend it more.
