Highway Ends 1/4 Mile

"It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to"

At the beginning of this summer I listened to Susan as she told me all about the trip she and her girlfriends were taking out West, the stops they were making, and the sights they were seeing. It made me upset to know I wasn't experiencing the same things, or going to get the chance to do something similar. As I spoke later with a friend about the trip, driving across this country is one of those romantic, Americana experiences, one of the ones everyone longs to do and dreams of how great it will be. Well, I wanted the chance. After talking with my family and Susan about it, we came up with how I could get my trip. My dad volunteered himself for a gruling 4 day trek across, and Susan offered to drive home with me, knowing how much I wanted to.

After four full days on the road and behind the wheel, we reached our destination. The trip out West wasn't nearly as bad as everyone told me it would be, perhaps because I was at this point expecting something similar to hell contained within a 4-door sedan setting.

We went each day in California like it was the first and last, never setting an agenda and doing whatever we pleased. We'd wake up to a beautiful sky and only want to enjoy the entire day on the beach. The most perfect part about it way, 90% of the time, that's exactly what we did. I couldn't have asked for anything more from a vacation than 3 weeks or relaxation on the beach with my friends.

We went to Disney, surfed, swam, played paddle ball, and ate more tacos over the course of three weeks than I've had in the past 6 months. We kayaked around La Jolla Cove, walked along sandy shores, went to a world famous zoo, and ate some of the greasiest and most delicious food I've had in a while.

San Diego was so different from being on Long Island, or even in New York. If you're on the sidewalk and even begin leaning into the street, cars come to a halt there. They only stop here if it's a certainty they will hit you, and even then they may keep their foot on the gas. Everything happens at a slower pace. People are less uptight, more relaxed and have a "just go with the flow" sort of attitude. It was the perfect place to kick back, enjoy the sun, and forget the fact I was coming back to unemployment.

But Sept. 1 the SoCal experience came to a close, and the adventure of traveling cross country began. The trip was everything I dreamed it would be, and more. Susan was a great travel-buddy, not only because she is my girlfriend, but because she was always open to refining our plan, doing something different, or going somewhere that made totally no sense geographically. Her attitude rubbed off on me over the course of our time in San Diego, so by the time we hit the road I was not going crazy when we didn't have a completed itinerary or chose to roll up to hotels without a reservation almost every night.

For the longest time, I have begged my parents to take me to California, not only because it is a fun place, but because I really wanted to go see the Redwoods. Susan really wanted to drive up the coast and when she brought the idea up, I really wanted to do it to as well. As we planned the trip, I said, "This makes no sense! We are crazy! We are going 8 hours North and then coming back South only two days later. It's not worth it, it's just crazy."

Her only response was, "So what?"

Well thank goodness for her. After driving through the winding, hairpin turns of Big Sur with heart-stopping views of the Pacific Ocean and getting to stand amongst some of the tallest trees in the world, I can't imagine doing the trip any differently. Those two stops were definitely in my top favorites.

Outside of those two stops, I'd have to say my other favorite was the Grand Canyon. I'm not sure if it's on the same level or higher that the other two. It is extremely close and a pretty impressive list of top things seen on a trip if you ask me.

We had a few major things we wanted to do on this trip: 1) Go to the Grand Canyon, 2) Stop in Atlanta, 3) Go to Cedar Point (too soon!). We accomplished the first two and decided the rest with a flip of a coin or a passing glance at a map and a "What can we do there..?" question.

In the past 41 days I have traveled a whopping 8,930 estimated miles. On our 16 day Odyssey-like trip home, Susan and I covered a minimum of 5,043 miles and at an average speed of 70 mph, that's 72 hours spent together just in the car. I've been through or stopped in 22 different states (13 Westbound, 9 Eastbound).

Susan always referred to this summer as her "transition period" between college and joining the work force. I never thought of it that way really, but looking back I think that's exactly what this trip was to me. I came out of college restless, unhappy to be back home, working every day, and wanting freedom a bit longer. I would be lying if I said I no longer desire to have that freedom and independence, but I feel more at ease with myself. I have taken a journey of a lifetime and one years from now I will recall in conversations with friends and family.

What I've seen and where I've been over the past month plus has truly been incredible, a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, and something I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. I would be remiss if I did not thank my incredible parents, who had no qualms with me going and tried to help me in anyway, and my amazing girl, Susan, for always being patient with me, encouraging me, and putting up with my craziness. Without you three, this trip would have never been possible.

I hope you all have enjoyed reading my posts, following the trip, supporting me, and taking part in the experience with me. I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts with you all. From here I begin the much more arduous task of trying to find a job (since I haven't figured out a way to continue traveling and getting paid for it), but I am going to try to keep the blog going since I like the writing it lets me do. It'll hopefully become more topical and probably less frequent, perhaps only once a week.

Thanks everybody!

The Last March of the Ents

I am sorry to report my epic adventure is almost at an end. I write to you tonight from my bed in the guestroom of Susan's house in Cresskill, NJ. According to Google Maps, that puts me less than 40 miles from my final destination.

It's a scary realization knowing where we started, but like I said, I'll save reflection for the final trip post. Expect it tomorrow night, or most likely, Friday.

Today we explored the Old City district of Philadelphia for the better part of the afternoon. We saw the Liberty Bell, toured Independence Hall, stood next to the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin, and took a self guided tour of the U.S. Coin Mint.

It was a pretty busy, exhausting afternoon with a lot of walking. By the end we were pretty tired. I think the mileage and lack of sleep are finally catching up to us. But it was cool to walk around the place where it could be argued this country was born. Before visiting, I can't say I was fully aware of the city's extensive history or role it played in the first years of the United States. It was inside Independence Hall the Declaration of Independence was first conceived and brought to fruition, as well as the creation of the Constitution of the United States of America as a replacement for the Articles of Confederation.

I will admit it made me feel quite patriotic, stepping through the same building which played host to Ban Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams among others. Susan described it as powerful history and awe-inspiring that we were even standing in the same place as the founding fathers of this country. On the tour we saw a chair, which the tour guide informed us they are sure is an original and there since the 1770s and had been sat in by George Washington himself. That's a pretty incredible thing, to stand before a simple piece of furniture, yet know it has been there over since America was born.

I knew the Liberty Bell was in Philly, but I never really understood what the big deal about it was or why people really cared about it. I can't say seeing it in person has changed my perspective completely, but I do believe I have a new take on it. We walked through a building dedicated to it, full of history on the bell and how the crack running through it came to be. It was basically because the bell was made of a metal mixture and was rather fragile, like other bells of the time. There was a small crack in it which the city tried to repair several times over the years. In the early 1900s, one of these attempts actually made it worse, thus creating the fissure running through it today.

There were videos and texts discussing the powerful symbol of liberty in the bell, the American spirit, and how the bell has been adopted world wide for the same purpose. After getting a chance to look at it, I thing I may finally begin to see where this fascination and iconic status comes from. The break is huge, running the entire length, yet the bell still stands as one, together. I see it more as a testament to the resiliency and toughness of America than anything else.

It would have been a sin to be in Philly and not get some authentic cheese steaks for a meal, so we decided to grab a couple as dinner after our walk around before packing into Lucille. I will admit, they were much better than any ones I've had at home or anywhere else. The bread was soft, and the sandwich was hearty. The steak was almost like real steak, it wasn't chopped into a million little pieces like the ones you get on the island and the cheese was in good balance, not lazily laid over the top of it. It was delicious and writing about it kind of makes me want another one.

I think that's a pretty good summary of our final stop on the long road home and my thoughts on a pretty historic place.

Don't worry though, I still have more thoughts and photos to come.

Ok. No real update tonight because the hotel we are in...check that...motel 6 charges for internet! Those thieves. But because tonight it my second to last night on the road and i know you all want to see what we are up to, im up at 1 am writing a crazy long text message from my phone for the blog.

We drove a long way today, stopping in Hershey, PA on our way to Philadelphia. It was a fun stop, but a relatively quick one. We went on a short tour, got free chocolate, and then went a little crazy in the candy store. But we did have fun, and the smell of chocolate in that place was completely overwhelming and made me want to eat a lot of candy. After, we grabbed some food in town and hit the road.

Now we are about 20 miles outside Philly and plan on seeing some of the historic sites downtown. Im pretty excited about it and the plan is to meet up with a friend from high school for lunch.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is our last day on the road and tmrw night we will be at Susans house for the night, just about bringing our trip to a close. Ill have more reflections on everything from a real computer.

Hope this text thing works!

Just call me Santa Claus

Because I'm in a giving modd.

I put up photos from Atlanta, including World of Coca-Cola, Georgia Aquarium, and the few from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I also added some commentary to one of the photos from the Grand Canyon so you can get a sense of where me and Susan were standing when we were on the ledge taking the photos. It'll be obvious which photo is the new one. Plus, there are some others of the same area from different angles, so look for them so you can get a real feel for just how far we went and what was around us!

Damn You, Cedar Point (Cleveland Rock)

So after posting my blog last night, I decided to check the time Cedar Point opened today... And wouldn't you believe it, it's CLOSED. Apparently starting today it is only open on weekends. To say I was upset last night is a bit of an understatement. After about an hour-plus of anger management control issues, somehow I got myself to sleep.

This morning I woke up just as angry as I fell asleep and didn't start the day too well. In an attempt to salvage our dash North, we headed into Cleveland a day early (the original plan was Cedar Point today, Cleveland tomorrow) and went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We ended up spending about 4.5 hours walking around the place. There is just so much to see in there. We spent almost two hours just on the bottom floor looking at the exhibits. Fortunately, it is shaped like the pyramid it is in and the exhibits became smaller as we went upward.

I only have a few pictures from the place because they don't allow photos inside the museum. We had a nice afternoon there though, and the day wasn't quite as bad as it started. After the museum, we met up with a friend of mine who lives in Cleveland. He is nice enough to let us crash at his place for the night, and even treated us to a nice, delicious dinner in the city.

Since everything got moved up a day for the Cleveland area, Susan and I began thinking about ways to fill in the extra day on our way home (obviously we are trying to milk each day we have left on the road). After a suggestion from my friend, we decided on heading to Hershey, PA and then stopping in Philly for the night. Both of us love chocolate, so that wasn't an issue, and we thought it might be fun to see some of the sights in Philly.

So that about does it for me tonight. Hope the update suffices and you're enjoying the photos. I'll try to get the rest of what I have up tonight or tomorrow.

Battery about to d-

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Hey everyone. It's late Sunday night and we've been on the road all afternoon. I know I sucked this past weekend with the blog updates on what we were up to down in Atlanta, so as a way of saying sorry I posted a bunch more pictures. The new additions cover the North and South Rim of the Grand Canyon, the drive afterward, and our stop at the Cadillac Ranch. I took a bunch of pics in Atlanta, but alas I forgot the camera in the car.

Hotlanta was a real nice stop for us and let us catch our breath a little bit before going into the back stretch. We finally got to sleep late, had a comfortable place to stay (compliments of my uncle), and saw some family. While down in Georgia, I got to see two of my cousins as well. We went to Jill's (cousin #1 and older sister) house one night for dinner, and met up with Molly (cousin #2 and the younger sis) the next afternoon for lunch. We ended up going to the resturant she works at for dinner as well, which was a nice way to cap our time in the city before shoving off today.

The rest of the two days was spent relaxing, taking it easy, and seeing some sights in the city.

Friday we went to Coca-Cola World downtown. I had no idea Coke was invented in Atlanta. Did you? Anyway, they have this big beautiful building where you can see the history of Coke and see how incredible and ridiculously good they are at marketing and getting the brand placed just about anywhere. They also own a ton of brands. Even more than I was expecting. If you are unsure who owns a soft drink, there's a pretty good chance it's Coke.

We got to take meet the 7-foot-tall Coke bear everyone is familiar with. He tried to kick me out of the photo and steal Susan away from me. We also got to see the whole bottling process of the soda and at the end they give each person a Coca-Cola in the classic glass bottle. The coolest part was getting to try as many as 62 different Coke products. Upstairs they had 5 areas, one for each continent Coke is on, and at each station you could try different soda drinks sold in those areas. The absolute worst was Beverly, sold in Italy. You wanted to spit it out the minute you tasted it. There were some other funky ones too, as well as some pretty delicious ones. We capped it off with North America so we could end with some good tastes in our mouths.

Saturday we went to the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the country. Susan and I both agree, it did not disappoint. We were really impressed as soon as we walked in, from the main lobby to the individual exhibits and halls. They had touch pools in a certain area where you could touch the stingrays and baby sharks as they swam by. They had some really cool stuff, including tanks on the ceilings so you would be looking up as you walked through and were looking at the bottom of the fish. They had sea Totters, which were a lot of fun to see running around and swimming. It's pretty incredible how fast they go under water. There was a beluga whale exhibit and that's something I don't remember seeing at any other aquarium. They were playful, swimming around the tank, getting up close the glass, and were generally cool to see.

The most incredible part of the place was the huge tank which had 4 whale sharks (which grow to about 30 feet), two manarays (which they expect to grow to between 20-25 feet), a hammerhead shark, some smaller sharks, rays, and a boatload of fish. It was just a stunning sight to see, the really awesome. The glass alone is about as thick as my forearm is long. The exhibit contains 6.3 million gallons of water! We just sat there in awe for a while, trying to take everything in watching all the fish swin on the other side. I got some good photos of it, so I'll be sure to post them soon.

Hotlanta

After nine days of driving, spending nights in hotels, getting up by 8:30 to ensure time for continental breakfast, and changing time zones we have finally reached Eastern Time and a bed to sleep in for more than one night.

Let me tell you...It is sweet.

We made it through Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama the last two days and are now settled in Atlanta for the weekend at my uncle's place. I'll highlight for you a couple of the major things on our road here.

Before leaving Texas, we turned around and headed back West so we could go see the Cadillac Ranch just outside the city. I don't know if you all have heard of it, but its a public art display in the middle of a piece of farm land with 10 old Caddys burried hood first into the ground. It is open to the public and strongly encouraged to bring spray paint or paint and write something of your own on the cars. Every now and again the cars will be repainted in different colors so as to give a "clean canvas".

Luckily, it looks like we arrived there not too soon after a fresh coat had been applied, because there was plenty of open space on the cars. We didn't buy spray paint to bring, but while wandering around and looking at the cars, we found half-full cans left by others we could use. Walking around and taking pictures with the cars was alright, but after we started spraypainting, it was a lot of fun and a really good stop. I got some photos of some of our masterpieces, so be sure to check them out.

Next, we decided to head to Oklahoma City because there was a place from the Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives list in OKC which was supposed to have some really good BBQ. Yes, that is really how we made our decision, I wasn't lying in my last post! So we drove the 3+ hours there, all the while trying to stave off hunger and keep our appitite. We arrived at Leo's Bar-B-Que about 3:30, starving, and ready to eat. Well this place was a perfect canidate for Triple D, but the food was pretty good. Susan and I agreed it wasn't the best BBQ either of us had ever had, but it was very good. What was even better was their bananna-strawberry cake for desert.

From there we headed to Little Rock, AR and stayed in about the dankest, crappiest place I've ever had the misfortune of spending a night in. If every other building withing 500 miles was burned to the ground and I had to find shelter or else risk dying, I probably still wouldn't set foot back inside this hotel. The side doors to the place didn't even have locks. Neither one of us was daring enough to try the shower, or for that matter not sleep fully clothed. As in, I stayed in all my clothes I drove in that day...Yeah. Well, the next morning my alarm went off and we were happy to be able to open our eyes on another day. We left about as quickly as possible and hit the road. The best part of the morning, besides still being alive, was stopping at Waffle House for breakfast.

Another hard day of driving and we made it to Atlanta and some home comforts for a couple days. It looks like there is a lot to do here in the city and we are looking forward to getting out and exploring. As I write this though, I see that my uncle only has wireless and he has no idea what the password is...So I probably won't be able to use my computer and upload photos.

Oh, and for kicks last night, Susan mapped out our journey so far and the distance we've traveled. From San Diego to Atlanta, it looks like we've gone at least 3,784 highway miles, along with a couple driving around the cities we've been in, and we still got more to go!