Reflections on a Cross-Country Adventure

When we realized our recently college-graduated son would need a car during his summer internship in San Diego, my husband and I decided to accompany him on a cross-country driving trip. We had been almost nowhere since before the pandemic, so we welcomed this bucket list trip.

In mid-June, we took 10 days to drive the Southern route, minimizing the number of miles we would need to cover each day, with time to do something outdoorsy and fun in each locale. The idea was to leave the car with our son, then rent a car in San Diego to visit friends and family in LA, and fly home. Best laid plans …

Highlights

It was a thrill to discover cities that I normally would never have reason to visit. I was impressed with how well laid out and sophisticated Knoxville, Little Rock and Oklahoma City were, with pockets of artsy, eclectic areas.  We found vegetarian and vegan options everywhere we went (but a bit harder to find in seedier than expected Memphis). We were enthralled with the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City – it made my Westerns-obsessed husband especially happy. Cadillac Ranch (see photo above) was the only highlight in Amarillo, although seeing cowboys herding cows among the many wind turbines was quite a site. We took some amazing hikes, such as in a state park in Little Rock and the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. We got to visit Bill Clinton’s childhood home city of Hot Springs, Arkansas, also a national park. We loved seeing the signs for changing time zones as well as vast solar farms along our route. Witnessing newborn sea lions in La Jolla was so special and unexpected.  In addition to listening to the many podcasts I subscribe to (subject of next month’s blog) during our drive times, we listened to Barack Obama read much of his 900-page book.

Low Points

While the East coast experienced better than normal cool weather during our time away, the Southwestern areas we went through were shocked by excessive heat. It was nice having the flexibility to modify what time of day we did things, but we couldn’t avoid some sweaty hikes.

We might have spoken too soon about how well our 2013 Kia SUV was doing, as no sooner had we arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona, when our engine went kaput. Fortunately, we were on a secondary road and could coast into a gas station that happened to be right there. A nearby Pep Boys manager kindly contacted an auto shop nearby to help us. We were incredibly lucky to get stuck in Flagstaff, which was a comfortable 80 degrees or less, with a quaint downtown and good restaurants.

We experienced first-hand the impact of the pandemic on rental cars, supply chains and staffing. It was impossible to locate a rental car large enough to lug our son’s stuff.  After much effort and drama, we finally secured a UHaul truck (much larger than we needed) that was 2 hours away, meaning a 4-hour roundtrip trek plus loading time before we could move onto our next location – a day late.  Although we had to alter where we spent our last two days of driving, we still arrived in San Diego on the appointed day.

From a staffing point of view, we had to wait two hours in a line to rent a car in San Diego because Thrifty only had one person working (until I posted a public tweet that seemed to work — two more people showed up to work the counter). I guess automatic daily cleaning service in hotels is now a thing of the past — this is now by request only.

Impressions and what I learned about myself

I’m ashamed to admit I’m somewhat of an East Coast snob.  I discounted what turned out to be some really lovely cities. I found myself very attracted to smaller cities like Knoxville and Little Rock, who had adorable downtowns, fantastic river front parks, delicious restaurants and little traffic. Even Oklahoma City had a very artsy area with wonderfully trendy restaurants. I actually could see myself living in some of the places we visited, especially since I hadn’t felt the right-wing zeal that I was expecting.

What I learned about Americans: they don’t seem as obsessed with Donald Trump as I’d feared. While we saw some Trump billboards in southern states (and one Biden one in New Mexico), it was incredibly refreshing that politics never came up in our many (albeit superficial) conversations we had wherever we went.

What I learned about myself: my type A personality could be tamped down. I was pretty mellow about what we did and where we went, and only complained a little during our last, oppressively hot hike in the Petrified Forest National Park. I was not the horrible back seat driver I am known to be, helped by doing some watercolor painting in the back seat (thanks to water brushes that prevent messes).

I realized that situational circumstances matter enormously to how I react to a situation. I am proud that I didn’t freak out as I normally would when our car broke down. We could have easily gotten stuck in one of the many sweltering, down-on-their-luck towns we had recently been through. Rather than complaining about our situation, we just felt relief that we got stuck in Flagstaff. Our Kia did a yeoman’s job of getting us 2,300 miles as we put it through its paces – often driving 80+ mpg (the speed limit was often 75) in 100+ degree heat. I kept my cool even when we had to call numerous places to finally locate our UHaul and arrange, at the last minute, to fly our son to San Diego (UHaul’s only take driver plus one). It was wonderful to travel with two people who always stay calm, so it was only me that could have shook things up. We all were determined to avoid letting two bad days mar what was a fantastic 14-day trip.

Weather matters! It was a shock to arrive to the crisp, cool and wonderful weather of San Diego and then coastal LA. You would never know there was a severe heat wave happening in much of the surrounding areas. It is truly bizarre for East Coasters to go somewhere where the raincoats we bring everywhere would never be needed. While I cherish the results of so much East Coast rain – gorgeous flowers and trees and no fear of drought – I loved not having to worry about rain contingencies. Plus, I love succulents. I was thankful no wildfires or earthquakes impacted us – my two biggest fears.

Final Thoughts

I highly recommend a cross-country trek – as long as one takes a new-ish, rugged car and plans for at least 10 days to drive from one coast to the other.  Seeing our varied and fascinating country in a slow, unstructured way felt like a gift. Oh, and if you’re a +50-year old woman, it pays to have a portable, battery-operated fan to allow for restful sleep in what I’ve found to be inadequately air conditioned hotels.  

From this pandemic, we’ve all learned how precious it is to travel and capture memories with people you love.  I am so grateful that my husband and I got to experience this memorable trip with our son, especially as he enters the great unknown of where he will live and work. 

A huge bonus was seeing friends and family along our route — my college roommate Carolyn; nephew David and his bride Abby; past D.C. friends Michael and Margaret; childhood friends Lauren and Barbara; cousin Aliya, Zach and tiny baby Aria; and cousin Marlene. Thank you all for being available and wonderful hosts. Traveling is made even more meaningful when you get to see folks you have not seen in a while, in their environment.

Post-script about our Kia:  it remained in Flagstaff and Kia took full responsibility to not only replace the engine, but also transport it to my son in San Diego. Hopefully, he’ll get a few weeks’ use out of the car that was the reason for our trip. 

Helpful resources for a driving trip:

Google Maps to plan the route

Trip Advisor to identify where to stay and stuff to do at each stop  

Waze app for optimized, up-to-the-minute driving directions

Yelp app to find restaurants

IExit app to find gas, restaurants and other information as you’re driving

Gasbuddy app to find gas stations along the route

https://AtlasObscura.com to identify unique places to visit in any location