Daddy Daughter Road Trip

That’s right. Addy and I are hitting the road tomorrow. For Indianapolis. To visit my brother and his family, including one of Addy’s favorite cousins, Miss Riley Roo!

Traveling always makes me at least a little nervous, although it never used to. I used to find it much more exciting. Not sure when that changed. When I became a father? Before then? I’m not really sure. I just know that it makes me uptight now. And, taking a trip as a single parent is even more nerve-wracking. You have to be responsible for everything. You really appreciate how having a spouse made it easier. There was two of you to make sure you that you didn’t forget anything.

But really, other than critical medications, what could you possible forget that couldn’t be bought on the road or once you get to where you going?

Of course, it also means that I do all the driving, there and back, about five hours each way, which really isn’t that much, especially when you consider that I made a 13 hour car ride from here to Iowa a few years ago. (I took an alternate route. Don’t ask.) Still, there are more comfortable rides than my Honda Civic. But it’s got cruise control, so I got that going for me.

At least Addy is old enough to pack her own bag. Sort of.  I guide her along and check her packing but mostly I try to leave to her. She’s 9 after all.

But then, I’m 42 and I could really use someone looking over my shoulder when I’m packing. And I did…but not anymore.

One thing that makes traveling a lot less stressful is a GPS, which I’ll be using on this trip. It’s Colleen’s but she’s graciously allowed me to use it. Thank you! It’s so much better than trying to read a map while you’re driving, or trying to memorize the directions. You don’t have to make as many stops. Chances are I’ll get one for myself after I move out. Should probably get my own suitcase too. There’ so much stuff that I don’t have…

Anyway, I’ll probably be up for a little while, running through a mental check list, to make sure I don’t forget anything. And, oh yeah, now that I think about I need to get gas on my way out of town. But I’m sure that I will forget something. I usually do. REMINDER: packs snacks!

Ahhhh, I love the open road.

Look at the sky! And no traffic up ahead.

These pics are from 24, a smaller interstate highways that I picked up in Ft. Wayne. I took this route instead of the turnpike, I-80, which is often overcrowded with traffic, especially near Chicago. I hate traffic, especially while driving my fuel efficient but small car, a Honda Civic. It can be intimidating, if not down right scary. So you can see why I liked driving this road so much. At some points there was not only no traffic up ahead but also none behind either as well as none coming at me in the opposite direction lanes. Very cool. Although a little eerie in away, especially when I could not get a cell phone signal. And all I could see was corn fields.

There was more than just corn fields, though. Lost of nice scenery — trees and fields and pastures with animals. Farm country is cool. This photo doesn’t really do it justice. I took it through the windshield (as I did with the other two) while I was driving — you can see the reflection in the glass there. Of course, I do not recommend that anyone take pics while driving. In any case, it was a nice drive, more leisurely and a lot less stressful as far as I was concerned, if longer, almost 13 hour total in the car instead of 8 the other way. But why is it always necessary to “get there” in such a hurry? Isn’t the journey a big part of the fun? It is for me anyway.

Iowa Road trip pics – Indiana Rest Area

I like silos – the corn and wheat kind, not the nuclear missal end of the world kind. Those suck!

Rest area just in Indiana. I took the pic of corn/grain silo from this rest area. I’ve always like rest areas, ever since I was a kid. It was one of my favorite parts of family trips to West Virginia. But then I liked almost everything about long distance trips in the car. They were exciting and I guess kind of romantic to me, then and now. And rest areas were curious to me because it was a place where all the anonymous people in their cars on the highway could converge. And when I was a kid people often talked to each other, my dad would sometimes anyway, chatting with other men driving their families along the interstates.

I once had an idea for a story that was set at rest area but as with mot of my ideas I never wrote it. I think I recently ran across a short novel or perhaps story collection or something that was entitled Rest Area. So there goes that idea.

The resident squirrels and chipmunks at this rest area had gnawed a hole in this garbage can lip to gain get food. They’ll probably all end up with high blood pressure and other related heart disease.

These little purple wild flowers were in abundance, not only at this rest area but along the interstate as well.

Well, thank you very much. It’s good to be here. So where are you all from and what do you do for a living?

Road Trippin’

In this Sunday’s New York Times, Michael Paterniti, author of Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein’s Brain, has an OpEd piece entitled “Goodbye to the Great American Road Trip,” in which he bids farewell to this supposedly American rite of passage from his vacation local on Chebeague Island off the coast of Maine, a 15 minute fairy for Mr. Paterniti, which he and his family chose to downgrade to from a road trip through Spain. Bummer. A road trip through Spain would have been cool. But, hey, an island of the coast of Maine ain’t nothing to sneeze at either.

Anyhoo…it got me thinking about my own upcoming road trip this summer. I’ll be traveling to Cedar Rapid, Iowa for the fourth of July to visit my cousin. With gas prices so high I’d debated taking the trip at all, but then I figured that gas is only going to get even more expensive and this may be my last chance to take road trip for some time.

Mr. Paterniti predicts the road trip will soon be a thing of the past, and he says good riddance to them. I am inclined to agree with him on the first point, but not the second. Sure, a road trip can be tedious and tiring, especially if you have a break down that leads to unreasonably expensive repairs, but I still love them. I always have. Ever since I was kid. The nights before my family would drive to West Virgnia (from Michigan) to visit relatives for a week or so, I’d be so excited I could hardly sleep. And even though I’d be tired in the car I would not sleep, could not sleep, my attention so fixed on the sites outside my window, the places, things and people we passed. Sure, it was mostly small Ohio towns farm fields but I loved soaking it all in. And even now at 40, the idea of taking road trip has me giddy.

Of course, I’ll be doing what I can to save money. I’m forgoing use of our new, comfy Honda Accord, for the smaller, bumper Honda Civic, because it gets better gas mileage. And because I’ll still be dropping a pretty penny on gasoline, I’m packing plenty of food so that I won’t be tempted to waste money on gas station bottles of Coke and 99 cent Grab Bags of Fritos.

Although if I happen upon the every elusive Hostess Berry Fruit Pie you can bet I’m buying it.

Alas, though, I’ve discovered these are not readily available in the midwest and Great Lakes region. I did find them on my trip from Las Vegas to Iowa, when I helped my cousin make the drive to relocated from California to Iowa, but they disappeared after Colorado, replaced by Peach. Don’t get me wrong, I’m big peach fan, just not in a fruit pie, you know. Still, one can hope.

Also, to conserve gas I’m planning to stick to the speed limit as much as possible. Driving faster burns gas. I’m planning on taking off early Wed morning. And taking a route down into Indiana to Ft. Wayne and then taking a smaller intrastate highway west in order to avoid all that mess that just below Chicago. That shit is fucking crazy, and scary.

I’m bringing my camera to take some pics. Of what exactly, I don’t know. We’ll see.

I don’t know if road trips are an American rite of passage, but I dig them. And I think it will be a shame if they become extinct.