Final Thoughts

I am sitting in my office on an uncharacteristically slow Monday afternoon, so I thought I should finally finish this journal of my summer (as it is now September with October slowly approaching - where did this month go?).

It is hard to now start summarizing my thoughts about my trip, because it ended about 7 weeks ago (with those weeks being inundated with all things Res Life) and has been mainly pushed from my everyday thoughts.

Even now, it is hard to summarize what the summer meant to me. When school was starting here again and students came back, their first question often was "How was your roadtrip?" And while I mostly answered that question with an "awesome" or "fun", I really found that words couldn't accurately describe everything I did or felt.

I made this dumb looking collage with a map that Vil (my friend in New Orleans) gave me. I tried to add some postcards and other pictures to it, but it just ended up looking cheesy! And I am not sure if I will hang it up. Despite the lack of pictures that I took, I am perfectly fine with the small amounts of material items that I got from the trip.

What I do have are collective memories and experiences. My Aunt Terry described it best to me - she said that "[she] doesn't have a memory of certain places because [she] has never been there, and now [I] have the ability to connect with people on a different level". I didn't realize it when she told me this in the summertime, but this idea is so true. I have already had countless experiences of being able to connect with people because I have eaten shaved ice in New Orleans, spent the night in Gallup, New Mexico, been amazed at Big Horn National Forest, been to the Loyola Maryland campus, etc. And it's only been about 2 months! It is a great way to connect with people and share common experiences.

So, the trip started as a way to fill my 8 week vacation from work, grew into an opportunity to see old friends and new areas of the country, and ended as a personal growth experience that I don't think I could accurately articulate.

Thanks for reading this (I mean you, Mom, Dad, Aunt Terry, Uncle Dave, and random friends who I mentioned and thus had to check and see what I said about them). This blog started as a way to keep in contact with my parents and became a really fun way to share with others what I had been up to.

So, here's to the end of summer 2010, and who knows what 2011 will bring!

Joey

Photos

And now some of the sparse and random photos taken throughout my journey that I have neglected to share until now. Be warned, they are out of order and not of high quality!

In Milwaukee, Adrienne forced me to pose with the "Bronze Fonz" statue downtown. I bedrugingly agreed.

A picture from the Grand Canyon that really doesn't do it justice!

Another Grand Canyon shot. I tried to purposefully include some of the trees and brush to give some perspective to how massive the canyon is.

Mt. Rushmore. If you remember (which you probably don't), I was surprised by how small it was in reality. I was also a bit underwhelmed! Nevertheless, I had to take a picture.



Big Horn National Forest, which was one of the greatest surprises of my trip. This was just as I entered the forest on the west side before going through the snow-filled pass.

The Field of Dreams! Still looks the same (but of course I came too early in the summer for there to be corn in the outfield).

Another shot of the cavern I came into in Big Horn.

Falls in Yellowstone. I forget the name of them!




Final reflections to come later when I also want to procrastinate from work on my desk.

Day 59: San Bruno, CA to Spokane, WA

Hello? Is anyone out there?

If you are still reading this after two months of inactivity, I commend you. And question the amount of time on your hands. In any case, I feel that I should actually go ahead and complete this for the sake of tieing up all loose ends.

So, on July 28th (almost one year exactly since I made the exact trip), I left San Bruno (where I rgew up) and drove up to Spokane (my current home). This trip was a little different, as I had less crap crammed in my car, knew where I was going, and was going to tackle the 16 hour drive in one day.

I woke up at 5am, both by my alarm and also my dad alarm clock - thanks pop! I said goodbye to my groggy parents, loaded the last few things in my car, and set off on the road. The first few hours were pretty nice on the road, as there were relatively few cars around and I missed any sort of Bay Area traffic. It was also spent trying to figure out how to work the new CD player that my dad had installed in my car. After 16 hours I (sort of) figured it out.

Anyway, I drove up through the East Bay and into inland California on I-80. I then got onto I-5 and shot up California. This part of the drive is super boring, as you are just coasting along in a valley, going by some small towns (Zamora, Williams) and not much else. I finally made it to some beautiful scenery courtesy of Mount Shasta and Lake Shasta. The lake was formed in a large crater that was left by Shasta's last eruption, and so there are all these pockets and weird waterways that you can see driving by (and plenty you can't, I'm sure).

After Shasta, I quickly made my way into Oregon. I stopped at a rest stop in southern Oregon, got out of the car, and heard...absolutely nothing. It was pretty awesome! I was taking the eastern Oregon route, which means I was not going on the main roads, but still, pretty cool. I also had to remember to contain my excitment about seeing cars with Washington license plates, as we were now a state away.

I made it to Bend by around 1pm. Bend is this smaller town (but big for eastern Oregon) that is surrounded by national forests (and is only 2.5 hours from Crater Lake). Very pretty place and about a half way point for me. I stopped and got lunch here (I think - I am fuzzy on the details). I also loaded up on caffeine. I am not much of a caffeine drinker in real life, but that day was certainly an exception.

One quick side note about Oregon - every gas station there is full service. Meaning that self-serve gas is against the law. It is a little weird to get used to, especially when the people helping you are in their 70's and are clearly tired from the long day of pumping gas. And it is also against the law for those people to accept tips! Crazy.

After Bend, I made my way through Eastern Oregon. More smaller towns, more boring stuff that I quickly erased from my memory. I finally made it to The Dalles and the Columbia River, which I got to travel eastbound next to for a couple hours - so freakin' beautiful. This was also the trail that Lewis and Clark took out west.

Due to this being a rather unpopulated area, and due to me drinking lots of caffeine, I arrived at the Tri-Cities in southeastern Washington at around 6:30pm having to pee as badly as I can ever remember. I'm sure you wanted to know that! I gased up here again, caffeinated myself, and got back on the road!

The last part of this drive from the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland) to Spokane is no doubt some of the most boring country to drive through. I think what made it even more unbearable was that I was tired and so close to getting back home. And I thought about calling someone to pass the time, but my phone was on one bar and I had lost my car charger! Whoops. So I was pretty crabby at this point - good thing no one was there to see me.

Finally made it back around 9pm into Spokane. Such a glorious sight! I love driving on 90 east into the city of Spokane. You see all the lights and buildings along with evergreens everywhere and it just looks awesome! I got off the freeway exit that I had gotten onto 59 days ago and headed east from there- crazy to think about! Anyway, went and got my keys from Nicola, stayed and chatted for awhile, then went back to my apt and passed out!

I will post some of the few pictures I took on my trip later (and ones people gave me). Then some final reflections and that's it!

Host Superlatives

Based on the advice of Adrienne, awards for all my hosts are below!


Best Glimspe into Her World Award: Jenny (Omaha)
Based on my weekend in Omaha I have a real feel for how Jenny lives! We went to Hy-Vee, bought some half-priced books, watched some Ice Road Truckers, BBQed some food, and overall had a good time!

Most "Not like a guest, more like a roommate" Award: Pat (Baltimore)
My 5 days and 5 nights in Baltimore made me feel like I really wasn't even a guest at Pat's at all - it just felt like I was a roommate there for awhile.

Most Accomodating Award: Megan (Dayton)
Seriously, I spent a total of 8 nights over three weeks in Dayton. I stored a lot of my crap there, I left my bed unmade in the living room, I was in and out at very odd hours, and yet Megan was more than happy to have me!

Hated being a Host, but Stuck with it Admirably Award: Jack (Corpus Christi)
I am pretty sure Jack was not thrilled with having 5 guests staying in his one bedroom apartment for 4 days, and yet he did well with putting a grin on and giving us a fun 4th of July weekend.

Nicest Guest Accomodations Award: Amanda (Nashville)
My own bedroom, nice big bed, and lots of free air conditioning in the sweltering southern humidity? The best three nights of sleep in awhile!

Best Planned Activities Award: Adrienne (Milwaukee)

Who would have thought in Milwaukee there was so much to do? A softball game that had action, suspense, and romance, a spy restaurant lunch, car parking adventure, Brewers game, and best of all, Club Paragon! A very fun time with very funny friends of Adrienne's too!

Most Whirlwind Hosting Experience Award: Vilija (New Orleans)
Vil had so much planned for me to do in New Orleans, and we jam packed it all into about 40 hours! We went through so many parts of the city and saw so much (incuding the swamp), and I was impressed with how she kept us touring without tiring us out!

Coolest Apt Award: Bowen and Spoon (DC)
A top floor apartment on Capitol Hill, just blocks from the Capitol, with a porch, nice new amenities, and lots of unprotected wireless accounts to steal - I don't think it can be beat!

Best Storytelling Host Award: Clare (San Antonio)
Sorry but no one else has Clare beat on her stories. She has an uptight mother from Long Island (complete with accent), a penchant for dating Latino men, and she is a Zumba instructor. You just can't compete with that.

Shortest Stay Award: Kelly (Santa Monica)
I was only in her presence for about 12 hours, but it was still a fun trip with my cousin and in LA.


Thanks to all my hosts - I am appreciative of them giving their space and time to me as I dumped my way into their lives for a short period of time. I can return the favor if you are ever in Eastern Washington and need a bed for a night or two.

My thoughts on driving

During my roadtrip, I got a lot of questions concerning driving - "Are you sick of it?", "Are you going alone?", "How are you doing with it?", etc. And while I am no expert in driving, I thought I could share my opinion on driving over 9500 miles in about 40 days.

First off, I have to say that I never got sick of driving. There were points in the second half of the trip that I got bored, but overall I got used to spending days in the car. I had a total of 15 "driving days" with an average of 550 miles and about 9 hours each day. I think this helped to break up the days, as I only spent what is considered a working day on the road, and depending on what time in the morning I left a certain space, I could be assured to be at my destination in time for dinner.

My car was essentially jam-packed and ready for the trip. I had my trusty huge snack bag which I managed to pick through for the entire trip (note for future road trips: don't buy things like trail mix or power bars that have chocolate in them when you are driving through super humid areas). I also had a 5 gallon container full of water which was more of a saving grace than I thought; it was convenient to be able to fill up my nalgene whenever I wanted to.

I ended up really enjoying driving by myself. While the company would have been welcomed at points, it was also very nice to travel alone, because that meant that I got to decide everything (I really am quite stubborn). When I stopped for food/gas/bathroom/random journey or not was entirely up to me!

Music turned out to be a bit of a problem. Nana does not have an antenna, as it blew off in Kansas last summer when driving from Ohio to California. As well, Nana likes to eat CDs that are put in the cd player. So my music selection consisted of select radio stations when located near a city (I got really good at seeing a skyscraper and instantly searching for stations) and the music on my ipod. While I enjoyed my music for the first couple of weeks, it got pretty monotomous after awhile (as did radio actually too).

I thought that I could pass my time in the car by talking to people on the phone, but that didn't always work out, because who knew that northeastern Wyoming doesn't have perfect cell phone reception? Boo. Whenever I did get a chance to talk to someone while driving, it was a good way to pass the time but also a distraction from noticing my surroundings.

And I know it is illegal in many states, but I have found an effective (and somewhat safe) way to text while driving. I take the phone (I have a flip phone) and hold with both my index fingers and thumbs at the top of my wheel. This way, my other 6 fingers are on the wheel and steering the car, and my vision is facing the road and I can still pay attention to driving (as much attention as can be expected).

I have also come to several realizations about driving on this trip.
-The best way to describe my driving is "absent-minded". In the past, I have been called "bad", "aggressive", "speedy", etc. But really, it's that I just don't pay a lot of attention to the driving process and all of my surroundings.

- Every state has bad drivers. While every state likes to brag (or not) at having terrible drivers, I can attest that they are everywhere. Bad drivers might look different in different parts of the country, but they are there!

- There are many lifesavers to a long drive - rest stops, travel plazas, cruise control, and funny signs at the end of the highway. And air conditioning.

- It says something about our country's dependence on oil when driving across the country for 5 weeks was much more economical and feasible than taking the train, bus, an airplane, etc. Seriously, I did the math, and I would have spent way more if I had flown everywhere, needed a lot more time to take the bus, and would have had to cut out certain cities if I took the train. If our highways are the veins of our nation (and from the amount of work I saw on them this summer due to the National Reinvestment and Recovery Act, they are), then we have to go back to the drawing boards to figure out how to wean off of our oil addiction.


That's enough rambling from me - if you read that all, you are a good person!
Joey

Day ??: In the Bay Area

I have been back at my parents' house for a little over a week now (I have to refrain from using "home", as I firmly do believe that Spokane is my home now, even though San Bruno used to be!). I haven't updated this, mainly because I haven't done enough to warrent a post. I have been alternating being very lazy (sitting around, reading, watching tv, scaring the dogs) and seeing friends and family members. It has been nice to see old friends and reconnect, even if it does remind me that they are living their real lives here and I am the guy who pops in and out throughout the year. I guess I need to be ok with that since I chose to live in Spokane!

It goes against my nature to try and schedule time to see lots of different people, but I've really had to do it since I have been home in order to see everyone I want/need to see and still stay sane! I feel more organized that I do at work even.

Anyway, I do promise to update later with some overall ramblings about my journey and some other interesting things, I swear!

Day 39: Santa Monica, CA to Forestville, CA

Hi again! I am very late in updating this (even though the only people that read this are my aunt and uncle and parents, and I have seen them a bunch).

Woke up early on Friday (earlier than cousin Kelly at least, she sleeps late) and went out to the Novel Cafe in Westwood to meet my buddy Jeff Callaghan for lunch. Jeff and I went to high school together and also worked at camp together. He works as a Development Coordinator for a theater company down in LA, and he is one of the most hysterical people I have ever met - very sarcastic, witty, and quick. Since he lives in LA, we only get to see each other during holiday times (I guess that is deal with most of my friends), and it was good to see him.

After that, I went to the Santa Monica Nissan dealership to get my car looked at one more time (see entry from day before). They were able to diagnose the problem this time, but they couldn't fix it, so it was a little for naught. Oh well!

It was finally around noon that I got on the road. My itinerary for the day was simple - drive up to Northern California and surprise my folks! They had thought I was coming back on Monday (today) from my trip, but instead I was coming back before the weekend. I drove up I-5 and through the middle of California (aka boring) for a long while. I then went through the Bay Area and was on my way up 101 to my parent's cabin at the Russian River.

At this point no one knew I was coming home early except my brother, aunt, and uncle. My mom was already at the cabin, and my dad was coming up later in the night. As I was driving up 101, I was near Santa Rosa (only about a half hour away) and got into the left hand lane quickly. I saw a car coming up behind me and thought they must have been pissed that I sort of cut them off. Then I realized that the car, license plate, driver, and dog in the passenger seat looked awfully familiar. It was my dad! I decided to call him since the surprise was up. Our conversation is below.

Dad: Hi joey!
Me: Surprise!
Dad: What surprise? Where are you?
Me: Uh, look ahead of you.
Dad: That's you?? I was just cussing you out for being out-of-state and cutting me off.

Gotta love it. Anyway, he followed me into the cabin, and I was able to surprise my mother (she cried in the driveway, of course).

So now I am at home and am on "vacation" for the next two and a half or so weeks! Will update this periodically if I do anything fun (or want to recount any particularly memorable parts of the trip).