The Great American Road Trip: Day 7

7:45AM
We're off to a little later start than usual this morning after discovering that Mark's garment bag with all of his dress clothes for his job this summer is missing. After mentally retracing our steps, we figure it's either at a gas station or a rest stop in Arizona. Or a trucker found it and is looking rather sharp this morning. The probability of recovery seems low.

Needless to say, Mark is not in a good mood, but I guess I can't blame him. The car has been completely silent for the past half hour and I don't think Tyler and I are brave enough to break it. This could be a long drive.

We are headed to Wickenburg, AZ for a quick visit with Grandpa Chuck, Grams Helena, and my Aunt Sara. Then we are off to Joshua Tree for our first night in California baby!

9:19AM
Mark just finished calling all the gas stations and no leads. But on a brighter note, I just talked to Grandpa Chuck and I couldn't be happier to go visit them! This group needs a little grandparent cheer right about now. My favorite part of our five minute phone conversation was when he was giving me directions to Route 60 and asked me if I was familiar with mile markers- those green signs with numbers on them. I love grandparents.

6:37PM
I'm in a bad mood, so I'm hesitant to even write, but I don't want to leave out the highlights of the worst day of our trip thus far. The high point was definitely visiting Grandpa Chuck, Grams Helena, and Sara! We met Grandpa Chuck at his spacious house and got the tour before we headed off to meet the girls at a little Mexican restaurant for lunch. Yes, that was probably the first and only restaurant we'll stop at for the rest of the trip. After our nice, but brief, lunch we headed out towards Southern California.

The real bad mood set in upon entering Joshua Tree Park, where we are camping for the night. The park office was closed and our map really doesn't give a detailed overview of the park, so we drove blindly into the desert on a road with barely any cars for about a half hour before I put the car in park in the middle of the road, frustrated. I got out and let Mark take over. He drove about 45 minutes further into the desert and as I watched the gas gauge empty, I grew sick to my stomach. Right before I hit full on panic mode, we pulled up to a park exit sigh and into a small town that had a gas station. I've never been more happy to see a gas pump in my entire life! Unfortunately, there was still a lot of bad energy in the car. I was frustrated with the desert. Mark was still frustrated about his lost clothing. And Tyler was frustrated with Mark and my frustration. But Tyler got behind the wheel and managed to finally land us at the Indian Cove campsite in Joshua Tree.

Tyler and Mark have already set out on a walk to explore the area. I decided to stay in the tent and sulk. Everybody can use a good sulking now and again. Additionally my legs hate me thanks to the 9.2 mile joyride I took them on yesterday. OK before negative Nancy writes a novel, I'd better put the pen down for today and hope for a cheerier disposition tomorrow.

9:00PM
After a little brooding, I gave Joshua Tree a chance and left the tent. It is actually beautiful here. I've never seen such amazing rock formations. My biggest complaint now is that campsites in the Mojave desert apparently don't get water. My fear of dehydration has led me to make the gross decision not to brush my teeth. I feel them rotting already. I hope my friends still love me with a gummy smile.

The Great American Road Trip: Day 6

6:30PM
What an amazing/exhausting/terrifying/challenging day! Today we woke up around 4:45AM, not realizing that we had gained another hour with the time change after entering Arizona. (I've never had so little sense of time or day in my entire life...) Anyway, we packed our bags with lots of water, PB&Js (lunch of champions) and as many granola bars as I typically eat in a week at home... and headed off to the Bright Angel Trail that goes down into the Grand Canyon.

I will admit during the initial descent into the canyon I was pretty terrified considering I was wearing my traction-less New Balance sneakers and sliding all over the place. I swear one wrong step and you go hurdling 300 ft down the cliff. Yesterday I saw a sign posted that says not many people fall over the edge of the trail, but those that do- die. They sure know how to ease my fears here at the Grand Canyon. But since I've been initiated as a "bro" on this boys only trip, I didn't really have the option of backing down. And of course, Tyler and Mark wanted to go on the 9.2 mile hike rather than a nice yet challenging 6 mile hike.

So we were walking down into the depths of the Grand Canyon, some of the most beautiful views a girl could ask for and my eyes were glued to the dirk path. And let me tell you there was a lot of dirt. By the end of the hike I looked like I had a bad Lindsay Lohan spray on tan. It was not attractive.

Back to our hike: It took us 3 hours to get down to the Indian Garden level (the second furthest stop on the trail). And while the recommended time allotment to climb back up was twice the amount of time it took you to go down... we made it back up in 3.5 hours. The driving force behind our fast climb was Tyler. He was a speed racer who barely broke a sweat.

His climb approach was more of a sprint and stop approach, while the rest of the climbers seemed to go with the slow and steady approach. We were in competition with this one guy for the last 3 miles of the climb. We would race ahead of him and then while we were catching our breather sitting on some rocks, he would slowly make his way past us. It went on like that for awhile and he continued to come like clockwork, but in the end- we beat him. I think Aesop may need to amend his fable. The hare totally would have won that race in real life.

While I don't have the time to elaborate on this part of the story, I'll just quickly mention that Mark almost didn't make it out of the canyon. His leg started cramping up on the upward climb just as I finished the last sip of my Gatorade, which would probably have done the trick. By the time we had 1.5 miles left to climb, he couldn't bend his leg. It was painful to watch. And after being yelled at for trying to help, Tyler and I trudged on in silence. Tyler sprinted off ahead, while I watched with baited breath as Mark teeter near the edge of the trail.

Thank god we were able to laugh about this later.

The Great American Road Trip: Day 5

6:30AM
Thank goodness we are leaving this creepy land of isolation. But I will say that despite my disdain for this place, I slept like a baby last night. However, I think that may have been more of a result of having the tent all to myself, rather than having anything to do with the geography. How did I get a princess tent all to myself you ask? Well, luckily part of the whole "roughing it" scheme the boys are taking part in includes sleeping outside under the stars. Which actually sounds quite nice until you think about all the critters that could pay you a visit in the night. Tyler was chatting it up with the one lone couple staying in an RV near us and they mentioned to be careful of bears, scorpions, and--wait for it--TARANTULAS! After hearing that, you could have paid me to sleep outside! But anyway, they seemed to enjoy it and we all awoke in good spirits. Now we are off to the Grand Canyon and Melanie's sweet voice is gracing my ears. I really missed her yesterday.

9:23AM
We just stopped in Albuquerque and let's just say it wasn't quite my scene. Tyler went in with high hopes of Albuquerque being his dream locale. However after driving through, I think he downgraded it from great to good.

During our brief stop, we headed to a Starbucks. I know that doesn't sound like "roughing it" to me either, but Mark needed to check his email. I guess it has become near impossible to put the real world on hold for more than a few days.

Anyway, the Starbucks crowd was quite interesting. The word of choice was "dude." Imagine bikers and women with their hair down to their butts. I sat outside at a table just reading my book, wondering if I could ever fit in in Albuquerque. It would probably take a few years to grow my hair out, but I'm sure with a little effort I could incorporate "dude" into my vocabulary. You never know, a little Albuquerque might do me good.

10:38AM
We are on the historic Route 66. I was just informed that without this road The Grapes of Wrath would not exist. Sadly, I think my life would be better off without Steinbeck's torturous novel. I remember when that book was assigned for summer reading. The pages just seemed to go on forever. The feeling of reading that book is rushing back now as we drive along seemingly endless Route 66.

I guess now would be a good time to mention that I listened to a voice mail from my mother in which she said, "Hey Katie. Just wanted to call and get an attitude check. I hope it's positive."

9:08PM
We made it safely to the Grand Canyon and seeing if for the first time was unreal. There's just canyon as far as the eye can see. However, just looking out over the edge reminded me that I have a minor fear of heights. Not to mention, it was so windy at the lookout point that I thought I might blow right over the edge.

I also had the pleasure of seeing a beautiful sunset over the canyon. However walking back from the lookout point, I got my first camping injury. Mark and I were walking back on the side of the road--me wearing proper footwear and him wearing flip-flops. And of course it is me who slips on the gravel and goes down scraping up my leg pretty nicely. Battle scars to prove that I too can "rough it."

Anyway, I need a good night's rest. Apparently we are going on some 6-12 mile hike tomorrow...

Will I survive?

The Great American Road Trip: Day 4

7:12AM
Goodbye Quartz Mountain! We're on the road again after a somewhat restless sleep. It was one of those nights where I felt like I was awake the entire time just waiting for the sun to come up. And I think we were sleeping on a very noticeable hill, so I kept sliding downwards and had to re-maneuver my position every five minutes.

So today's destination is good ole' New Mexico. Thankfully I talked the boys out of going out of our way to visit some UFO museum, however we are driving without the GPS lady. And without Melanie, these two really could be headed anywhere. They love to tell me they're "winging it." In fact, just as I wrote that last sentence, we had to make a u-turn because we were headed north and not south according to the sun.

Melanie has been replaced by the sun.

Great.

8:22AM
"Women." That is the response I get to my pleas for Tyler to slow down. Excuse me if driving over 100 miles per hour scares the hell out of me. We are on some random road in Oklahoma that may or may not lead to 40 West. I'm going to die out here in farm land in the middle of nowhere. This very well could be my last entry. Tell my mom and dad that I love them very much.

8:53AM
Welcome to Texas. Drive friendly- the Texas way.

We are in Texas and I am still alive. Yee haw!

2:28PM
What a beautiful afternoon! Sunny skies all around. Today we made a stop at Palo Duro, which was a state park in Texas with an amazing canyon, which I drove down into! That's right, me, the person afraid of driving steered that Jetta down into a canyon! Once we were down in there, we made PB&Js for lunch to fuel up for our afternoon hike. We followed the Sunflower Trail (on which we saw no sunflowers...) on a nice two mile hike through the canyon. We saw lots of lizards, but to the boys' dismay, no snakes. We also saw an endless supply of teenagers, who must have been let loose from some unchaperoned field trip. They were everywhere and they were annoying. I hope I didn't sound that annoying at that age, but I'm quite sure I did. I feel like that's a sign of getting older when you start to lose touch with your youth and notice the immaturity of those around you.

Wow, I'm 23 and I already sound like a bitter old woman.

3:40PM
Welcome to New Mexico. The State of Enchantment.

6:37PM
I actually have no clue what time it is here, but I've decided 6:37PM is a good estimate. We are currently in the desert of New Mexico at a place called Santa Rosa. It is almost completely deserted here, and I can see why. It's hot and barren--the kind of place where all you can think about is drinking water. My mouth feels dry and I just drank a whole bottle about 10 minutes ago.

When we first got here, we optimistically put on our bathing suits and set off for a lake we saw off in the distance. We took the "Shoreline Trail" thinking it would lead us there. However after a mile of meandering through rocky desert, the lake continued to look miles away. Eventually we just decided that it was a mirage and turned back for the campsite.

I am still wearing my bathing suit and it is starting to depress me. This whole campsite is starting to depress me. I'm not a fan of this intense solitude. Being left alone with just your thoughts is kind of scary. I can understand why Tom Hanks befriended a volleyball.

Maybe I'll make friends with a cactus.

The Great American Road Trip: Day 3

7:00AM
Departing our Arkansas campsite, headed for Southwestern Oklahoma! I actually enjoyed our brief Arkansas home. I slept surprisingly well last night. I think the secret is the colder temperature. I love a cozy sleeping bag in the frigid air. I also found the best and most strategic sleeping spot in the ten: the middle. (Except when it rains because of the leak in the roof that drips dead center...) But here was my logic: I'm sleeping in a tent with two snorers and two rollers. If I put them both on the outside, they'd naturally roll away from me and their snoring would balance itself out.

I was mostly right...about the rolling anyway. I don't think there's a solution to the snoring, other than trying to beat them to sleep, but they both seem to fall asleep within minutes after the tent chatter dies down. For all I know, I could snore too, so I won't complain.

As we are driving right now, I figured out why it is that I love the morning drive so much--the music. Morning time seems to be the only hours of the day when the music is played at a reasonable volume. A time to let my ears recover from the blasts of the previous day. Although yesterday when I was driving with some rap song blasting and the windows down in South Memphis, I did feel pretty baller.

9:12AM
Welcome to Oklahoma. Discover the excellence. Entering Cherokee Nation.

1:02PM
It's been quite an Oklahoma day, starting with a mid-morning stop at a casino right off the main road. Unfortunately we were kicked out soon after entering. I'm not sure how old you have to be to gamble in Oklahoma, but we apparently didn't look that age. The fact that Tyler and I left our IDs in the car probably didn't help.

Next stop--Oklahoma State Capitol building. We enjoyed my delicious sandwiches on a picnic bench out front of the pretty, yet seemingly deserted park out front. Then we managed to navigate to the Oklahoma City Memorial where the Oklahoma City Bombing took place. It was a beautiful memorial with two large gates flanking a big reflecting pool.

Now were' back on the road. (Enrique Iglesias is playing up front. Interesting choice coming from these two. I'm continually surprised.)

9:04PM
Today was amazing. Our campsite is at Quartz Mountain, so immediately upon arrival we grabbed water bottles and head out for a hike! The problem was the "trail" we took didn't exist after 5 feet, so here we are climbing large boulders, just headed in the direction of up. Of course I was freaking out the whole way thinking I was going to either die or be eaten by a rattle snake. However, my biggest injury turned out to be a cactus spike to the finger. The scariest part of the whole adventure turned out to be coming down the mountain. It seemed a whole lot steeper upon our descent, and I pretty much crab walked my way down the entire thing.

After a celebratory walk back to our tent, during which I've never been happier to be alive, we met our campsite neighbors. In the friendliest of chatter, they informed us that our car was about to be towed if we didn't find the ranger and tell her we were planning on camping here tonight... oops! After taking care of those arrangements, we set out for a swim.

Nothing like a brisk dip in the lake! Alright its likes out time in Oklahoma. Sooner to bed, sooner to rise.

The Great American Road Trip: Day 2

7:02AM
On the road again! Destination: Arkansas. Last night was pretty uneventful. No bears! Woo! My biggest problem was that our campsite was slightly titled downwards so the entire night I was squished against the edge of the wet tent. But in the grand scheme of things, waking up with a soggy sleeping bag isn't as bad as getting eaten by a bear in the middle of the night, so all in all I'd say it was a good night.

1:15PM
We just stopped at Graceland after following the GPS woman blindly through Memphis. But alas, she brought us upon this great American tourist trap. We paid $10 to park and then realized it would cost another $26 to take the tour of his mansion across the street. Instead of getting sucked into another ploy to take our money, we decided to run across the four lanes that stood between us and the king. We made it across and gazed over the wall surrounding his estate covered in Elvis graffiti. While I couldn't see much, I did spot two horses grazing in the yard. I may have just seen the very descendants of Elvis' own horses. Amazing.

1:37PM
Welcome to Arkansas. The Natural State.

Just crossed the Mississippi River! I was also just named MVD (Most Valuable Driver) for the day for my long haul across Tennessee.

2:42 PM
I just woke up from a nice little nap. Except when I opened my eyes, we were at an old gas station in the middle of nowhere, with a large truck that looked like it may have exploded and was still smoking. However, the police car and old time fire engine just stood there watching the whole scene. Despite this somewhere disturbing awakening, it was nice to stretch my legs and treat myself to my first DDP (Diet Dr. Pepper) of the trip. They can rough it as much as they want, but they can't keep me from my beloved DDP.

3:34PM
They just turned off the GPS lady up front. I've been informed that we are just going to "wing it" in search of Central High School. Apparently it was a school that was historically significant because of the Little Rock 9. The governor wouldn't allow them to go in so Eisenhower had the 101st Airborn Division escort them into the school. So I guess I'm about to see an important site in the Civil Rights Movement. Who knew this trip would involve some learning?

4:15PM
Just got back in the car after poking around Central High School. It was actually a pretty cool stop--made Graceland seem pretty trivial. And we even managed to find it without the GPS lady. I guess this is how road trips were done before technology came along. But don't worry, as soon as we got back on the road her comforting voice came back into our lives.

I just asked Tyler if he had a name for his GPS lady. His response, "No. I don't think so. Why?" Mark threw out the name Melanie, Melanie it is!

8:03PM
We made it to our campsite in Arkansas this evening with no problems. This one isn't very far off the main road, so we weren't meandering through curvy country roads like we were last night. However, this campsite has its own quirky personality. First off, let me state that we are the only tent in the entire campsite. Every other plot has a huge RV with satellite dishes and ugly lawn ornaments. It's mostly older folks and they all seem to be quite friendly. In fact, I saw one lady making her way over to a neighbor's with an ice cold pitcher of ice tea and a stack of cups in tote. I guess that's how they do it down south. Anyway, despite some menacing clouds this evening, so far no rain has come to fruition. All three of us even had the opportunity to get a run in! I was able to get in 5 miles, but by that time I felt like I was running circles around some of the cute old couples walking their little dogs. They kept asking me if I was tired. I kept smiling and telling them I was almost finished! I can't tell you how great it feels to get out and move your lets around after being in a car all day!

Oh! I forgot to mention our "McDonald's meal" of the evening. (Mark McDonald has got to be sick of the McDonald's jokes at this point in his life, but I couldn't resist!) Anyway, we had a delicious meal of spaghetti and hamburger meat. Camp cooking always impresses me. However, my inability to cook in a normal kitchen makes cooking over a propane tank look near impossible for me. I have taken on the more approachable chore of making the sandwiches for lunch the following day. Sandwiches I can do. I've figured out the perfect ratio of bread to turkey to provolone. A small, yet victorious feat none the less.

Alright well the boys have both gone off to shower, leaving me here all alone at twilight, arguably the scariest time of day, so I'm going to go hide in the tent until they get back!

The Great American Road Trip: Day 1

8:30 AM
And we're off! Two guys, a girl, and a whole lot of classic rock.

To recap: Yesterday as of 3PM, I was officially invited to join my brother (Tyler) and his friend Mark on their trip driving cross country to California! OK, invited might be the wrong word seeing as I shamelessly begged and then broke down into tears when my request to tag along was met with a big fat NO. But seriously, a three person road trip is so much better than a two person road trip. I think I brought some pretty valid arguments to the table, such as the two person camera dilemma. When you go on a trip with only 2 people, inevitably you end up with lots of awkward pictures with just one of you in the photo because you get tired of hunting down strangers to get the both of you. And while I don't think it was my rational arguments that won Tyler over, I think he will appreciate their value over the course of the next 10 days.

Speaking of the next 10 days, let me give you the little details of the trip that I know so far. (After writing that line, I realized that I didn't even know our destination for tonight... I had to shout up front above the blasting ACDC to ask!) So tonight we are headed to Tennessee for our first campground where we will set up this supposed 3 person tent... I had nightmares all last night about the tent not being big enough to fit all of us and me being kicked out and left to sleep outside with the bears. Needless to say, my last night in my bed wasn't too restful. As for what else I know about this trip--We are driving to San Francisco, CA to drop Mark off for his summer internship. I'm also jumping ship in San Francisco to fly home sweet home. Tyler made it very clear that he wants to drive the entire way home by himself. His plan sounds miserable to me, but he says he wants to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with driving cross-country all by yourself. I still think he's going to change his mind and realize how long and boring the trip back will be. I think my parents have that same feeling because they told me to hold off on buying my plane ticket. We'll see what happens. I think after camping for 10 days on the way out there, I'm going to be ready to fly home!

9:22 AM
The boys finally decided to close their windows. In an effort to be a pleasant trip goer, I've decided to try my hardest to be agreeable and maintain a positive attitude. Unfortunately in this case, the victim is my hair. The wind-blown look on an already frizzy haired individual is not a good one. No matter... who knows when the next time I'll see myself in a mirror anyway!

1:56PM
Poor Mark. We switched drivers about 20 minutes ago, but being the lucky person I am, the exit I decided to get off at put us in a small town overshadowed by a menacing mental institution. Oops! They really should list that as one of the attractions on the road sign. Anyway, needless to say, we weren't in that town for too long. A quick bathroom break and we were back on the road. In the midst of the hurry, Mark took my spot in the driver's seat without readjusting the seat that I had moved to accommodate my short legs. While this position wouldn't look painful for most people, Mark is 6'4" (I am 5'5"). Despite urging him to pull over and fit it, he says he's fine. We'll see how fine he is later on 3 hours down the road.

2:15PM
Tennessee Welcomes You. The Volunteer State.

2:57 PM
Tyler selected Fergalicious from Mark's iPod? Maybe there is more to these two than just classic rock...

3:59PM
The rain has officially begun. After an entire day of ominous clouds, they decided to unleash their water weight as soon as we get within 10 miles of the campground. Putting up the tent should be an interesting challenge... Not to mention rain= no windows down, and no windows down= can't breath kind of hot (Apparently A/C costs you precious gas, who knew?). I miss my crazy wind-blown hair already.

8:03PM
Wow, the first evening of camping and already adventure ensues! After driving about 20 miles off the main road to get to the park, we finally pulled up to the check-in cabin. At which point, we met the most expressionless woman I've ever met. She gave us a 5 min spiel about how Cades Cove is a natural habitat for black bears and all food must be kept locked in the car at all times unless you are eating it. Anyway, as she's explaining all of this, I am having a mild panic attack, to which she paid no attention... didn't miss a beat in proceeding to tell us the check out procedure for tomorrow.

So after pulling away from my new best friend, we made it to our campsite just in time to put up our tent and throw our sleeping bags inside before a torrential downpour/thunder and lightning extravaganza decided to grace us with its presence. We spent the next 30 minutes inside our tent that was smelling of wet feet and boy already. When our air supply became on the verge of unbearable, we caught a wafting scent of the delicious dinner taking place at the campsite next to us. They have one of those canopies that shelters their picnic area. With all three of our stomachs growling, that scent was all the motivation we needed to send us sprinting towards the car to search out some covered area to cook our food... Well I also forgot to mention that the tent was leaking through the roof... another reason to seek refuge elsewhere for awhile.

After a couple of loops around the campground (a couple of loops is a nice way of saying that Mark was a horrible navigator without his glasses on...) we finally found a sheltered picnic area. We noticed that it looked kind of crowded, but we figured that was because everyone was in our same predicament. We were wrong. Apparently the nice people of the Baptist Church in Forrester, NC had reserved the area for their church cookout. However, the three of us looked so pitiful with our Gaterades, smushed buns, and propane tanks that they said they wouldn't mind us using a table and joining them. We looked so helpless in fact that they began offering us burgers, hot dogs, condiments, the works! Too bad the boys shot them down with claims of wanting to "rough it" and "do it on their own." To me "roughing it" is sleeping in a tent and living out of a car. If someone wants to offer me a free meal, I'd gladly accept!

However, this is their trip, so I played along with the survivor men and ate my surprisingly delicious burger without any add ons from our new Baptist friends.

Alright the sun is going down and so must I. Hopefully I won't have any bear stories to share tomorrow morning!