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Every time that I start on any trip, road trips in particular, I always get this feeling that i was born in the wrong decade. I feel like roadtripping across the US, is something that should have been experienced in the 40s and 50s, when Route 66 was still alive and running, and Route 40 was just an idea. A time when gas was ridiculously cheap, and you loaded up your Chevy and hit the road. This feeling was probably not helped by the fact that I was reading "On The Road' by Jack Kerouac, someone who i feel would have been a very close friend of mine, had we lived at the same time.
So here is the map for our entire trip.It is 3,225 miles long, and if we never stopped driving, and had no traffic, it would have taken 51 hours. Now that's a trip.
We passed through 12 states in all.
We also set a goal for ourselves, of not eating at or buying from a single chain. No McDonalds, No Safeway Supermarkets, No Starbucks, etc. 7 days. Most people laughed at it. We accomplished it.
Day 1: New Jersey to Memphis, TN (1076 mi, 17:20)
We were going to sleep Sunday night and start very early Monday morning, but decided leaving at 7pm on Sunday night would work out better, and would give us time to stop a bit on the road to Memphis. As you can see though, this is just about 1/3 of our entire road trip, compacted into one full day. So Chaz takes the wheel first, and I say I'll get some sleep so that I can take over around 12;30 am. But you know that never happens, and the excitement of being on the road again keeps me up. So I take the wheel around 12:30 and Chaz passes out, leaving me alone at the wheel driving through the foggy Appalachian mountains in West Virginia for part of the night. At one point, feeling groggy, I notice that I am about to pass the last rest stop for the next 35 miles. I wave it off, I can handle it, I'll stop at the next one.
10 miles in, and I feel like I'm going to fall asleep at the wheel. I try everything to keep myself awake. Windows down, music as loud as possible without waking Chaz. Ha. This does not work well. I somehow make it to the end of the 35 miles, and pull into the rest stop. I pass out in the front seat and we're sleeping at a rest stop (no comments Gallagher) for 2 hours. We finally get back on the road around 6 am and pull into Lexington, KY around 8am. We walked around the town and I could start to feel that we were in the South. We stopped at a little mom-and-pop diner, and ate a greasy southern breakfast out back in an alley which tables. Great people and Great food, and then we were off again to Nashville.
I had really wanted to spend more time in Nashville, seeing the Grand Ole Opry, some museums, and just getting a much better feel for the town, but we didn't have that much time.
The first thing we did was head to the top of the hill in town and look down on everyone from the State Capitol Building. After a quick stop looking around the main square of town, we had to hit the road again, as we were expected in Memphis by nightfall.Route 40 is weird in that, for the most part, you're driving straight through wilderness, or what seems like it, which makes anything that appears look even weirder. Case in point: 3 hours from Memphis, we stop at this weird little gas station in the middle of nowhere. Chaz buys Peanut Brittle (what the hell?) and I deal with an old backwoods Southern woman who has split personalities (a total bitch, and a sweet southern belle). We arrived in Memphis around 6:30pm, 24 hours and 30 minutes after we left New Jersey (Time zones!). We stayed with Chaz's relatives and finally got to sleep after that hellish day of traveling.
Day 2: Memphis, TN
After that ridiculous day of travel, we took a whole day off and explored the town. I don't quite have many pictures developed yet for this part of the trip (I'm slow in getting them developed, and yes I do still shoot on 35mm). Started off the morning playing some lawn ball game, taking in the sun, and then headed to see the home of the king, and wander around Graceland.
You know, I'm not the biggest Elvis fan ever, but this was definitely worth the afternoon that we spent there.For the evening, we hit up B.B. King's Bar on Beale Street (think a toned down version of Bourbon Street in New Orleans). the house band that was playing was amazing, and really set that tone with their dirty blues that we were truly in the South.
Day 3: Memphis, TN to Longview TX (412 mi, 6:36)
This was going to be more of a fun day of driving, since we would only be on the road for technically 7 hours, we were able to stop and see more. Our first stop, and something I've wanted to see for awhile, The President William Jefferson Clinton Museum! It was great to see a lot of memorabilia from his presidency, and it definitely made me a little bit nostalgic for a time when we didn't have an absolute idiot in office. One of the most interesting things in the collection was a breakdown of how the White House prepared to welcome Czech president Vaclav Havel and his wife. From the invitations, to the letters to Lou Reed, asking if he would come and perform for the visitors (Velvet Underground apparently being a huge influence
on a much younger Vaclav Havel as he stood up against the Soviets). There was also a walk in re-creation of Clinton's conference room which allowed you to sit in his seat. I could not miss this opportunity. But on the road again young readers!The next stop was a short stint in Shreveport, Lousiana. This city, and it's sister town across the river Bossier City, are the gambling capitals of this fine state. Not knowing this ahead of time, I have to see it was quite weird to be driving along in the bayous and swamps, and then all of a sudden see bright flashing lights telling me where I can lose all of my money. With this new bit of information, we found a casino that would gladly take our money, and I lost $20 on the slots.
We had set out from the casino in search of a good place to eat for the night, and of course were confronted with a number of chain eateries. The rain had started to come down, and it was hard to navigate through this pretty dark town. Eventually, we stumbled on what looked to be like an old down home cooking sort of restaurant. We got out of the car, into the rain, walked through the muddy unpaved parking lot and into the restaurant...to discover that it was a 5-star, high class place, with a dress code. Imagine how out of place we looked.
After quickly leaving that restaurant, we stumbled upon a bar where we had Po' Boys and watched South Park with the bar tender. Even sat next to someone in the bar who was from Los Angeles. How weird. We left and headed into Longview, TX to rest for the night at Chaz's uncle's house.
Day 4: Longview, TX
What can I say about Day 4? Jet Skis on a beautiful lake. That is, until this thunderstorm rolled in from no where. Jack Kerouac while sitting by the dock. Good ol' BBQ. Relaxation. I'm Pretty sure this is what heaven feels like.
Day 5: Longview, TX to Santa Fe, NM (769 mi, 12:19)
Starting out early in the morning we hit the road and passed through Dallas in a short while. Now, I do have to say something for people who have never traveled through Texas before: This state is ridiculously boring for the most part. Why, you may ask? Well because for the most part, Texas has large open plains, with nothing much to see. So you'll be driving for about 20 hours and maybe, just maybe you'll have seen a tree.What must be said about this part of the country, is that with no terrain, when you look up at the sky, it's almost disorienting because it's so huge. Also, storms blow through here quickly, almost without notice, and they tend to be pretty wicked. We stopped for some more BBQ at this great little place in Amarillo, which put us back on Route 40. The place is called Dyer's. You should check it out. if you're not impressed with their amazing BBQ sandwiches, you will at least get amusement from the bathroom sinks that are in the shape of Texas. I'll post a picture of one of these soon.
After we cross into New Mexico, we stop for gas, on Old Route 66 (it runs directly next to Rt. 40 for the most part, and it's really about the size of two cars pressed against each other.) I knelt down and kissed the "Mother Road". It felt good. At this stop, the gas pumps looked as if they were from the 40s. The old mechanized digits on the front, ticking every second that you were pumping gas. We also watched a massive storm form on the horizon. Pretty amazing scenery.
After this short stop we tried to haul it all the way to Santa Fe, and almost didn't make it. On the road through the mountains, we were riding on the E for quite awhile. Luckily a gas station came out of nowhere and saved us. Sante Fe wasn't so much a fun town though. First of all, we did show up pretty late at night to find anything. We were starved, tired, and just wanted some sleep. We found a reasonable motel on a main road and headed in. While moving all of our stuff from the car to an apartment, this Mexican man appeared out of the bushes near our door and quietly walked past us. Just weird to see a man come out of nowhere, in the dark, in a town you don't know. Yeah.
Day 6: Santa Fe, NM to Flagstaff , AZ (383 mi, 5:25)
This part of the trip was fairly uneventful. Leaving Santa fe was pretty amazing. In the early morning light, the mountains around that town look gorgeous. As we moved further along, we hit the Continental Divide by late morning. For those that don't know what this is, the Continental Divide is the diving line in the US where rain that falls to the west of it flows to the Pacific, and rain that falls to the eats heads to the Atlantic. It also has a really kitschy gift shop.The only stop for the day was at something that I wanted to see on my first cross continental road trip: Meteor Crater. This park is off of Route 40, and is along a winding road that heads far out into the desert plains. Off in the distance, you can see a slightly raised part of land with a building attached to it, and that's about it. So we pull up, and of course there's a pretty ridiculous entrance fee. We also find out that because of the high winds on this day, that we can't walk around the crater's edge, but there is a number of outside observation decks. Stepping outside, we were hit hard with 70mph winds. It was tough to stand still and take photos of this massive crater.
It's approximately 1 mile wide, and deep enough that if you put the Washington Monument in the center, its tip would barely reach the top. Taking a look through the binoculars, you could look at the crater floor, and it was odd to see it look like a completely different planet. Now with this picture in mind, try to imagine what this area must have looked like a split second after impact. Everything within a few miles had to have been instantly incinerated. The sound, the force, I can't even imagine what it was like. I think I'd consider it an occasion to wear party hats.Made of titanium.
Or something that wouldn't burn easily.
So inside, we check out a bit of the displays and such, and then there is this guy. This tour guide. This work of art. he starts giving a big speech about the crater to, let's say, 50 people, which quickly dwindles to about 5, and that's including Chaz and I. He starts talking about this crater as if it was punched into the earth by the Fist of God Himself. You could really tell he loved this place. Oh, and he also told us about the gift shop whenever humanly possible.
Seriously.
He would show us this part of the meteorite (solid metal. only about the size of 4 footballs, but it weighed almost a ton. No lie.) And then he'd pull out a piece of rock from his pocket, no larger than a diamond on a ring, and he'd say.
"kinda like this rock here. Pretty neat, huh? You could get yourself one of these rocks for...for about two dollars in the gift shop downstairs. Sounds pretty good, huh? Hmmm?"
And there'd be silence. This happened at least 10 times. no lie.
We ended up talking with this guy in the gift shop for a few minutes. Turns out he actually lives at the crater! Next to the museum building is basically a set of dorms. That he lives in. He told us how he barely ever gets away from the park and into the closest one-stoplight town. That the burger his friend bought him was the first one he's seen in months.
This guy. Lives. AT. The. Crater.
It explained so much. I wish I had a photo of him. He'd be worth the trip to middle-of-nowhere Arizona. But enough about this guy (though we could discuss him for weeks). On to Flagstaff.
The last time I was in Flagstaff was 2 years ago while on the same road to Los Angeles. Last time, Dan and I didn't have enough time to really do anything (oh we were pretty exhausted too). But Chaz and I made it a point to go out. After we checked in, we asked the guy at the front desk (about our age), about good places to eat and go drinking for the evening. He mentioned this excellent Mexican place (which we went to, and yeah, it was pretty spectacular). Also turns out that he's originally from New Jersey, and even better, He's from Deptford, which is right around the corner from our old college. How weird. It's incidences like this that make traveling and exploring the world so incredible.
After dinner, we head to a bar by getting a cab. Our cabbie was incredible. 20something college guy who talked like a surfer. Hilarious. he drops us off at a bar that he thinks is good and that most of the college kids from Northern Arizona University hang out at. We order these giant liter mugs of beer which ends up causing two college students to chat us up. These two kids were pretty cool and ended up taking us to another bar, which was even more ridiculously packed with college students.
In the end, it was lucky that we had a cab driver that night, because otherwise I'm sure one of us would have a DUI.
Drink tally for the evening for myself:
2 pints of beer
1 liter of beer
2 shots (one was definitely tequila)
1 long island iced tea.
Goodnight Flagstaff.
Day 7: Flagstaff, AZ to Los Angeles, CA (608 mi, 9:37)
Oh man. Finally. The last day, and obviously the one that would feel the longest. We woke up pretty early in order to get to the Grand Canyon early enough. It was just as gorgeous this time as it was when I visited two years ago. Though, now that we were visiting in September, it was a lot less crowded and a lot cooler out, which made the 3 mile long hike a lot easier.
Everyone along the route was really pleasant. Chaz ended up speaking German with some girls on the path. I met someone from Philadelphia. I also heard the Phillies had made it into the playoffs. All around, a nice relaxing hike through this amazing natural wonder.
We had dinner in a neighboring town with a view of the forest and mountains and were back on the way.
So the rest of the route, not gonna lie, was pretty ridiculously boring. Right, Chaz? "True". See? So you're thinking "Yeah right, Jack. Nothing happened on the last 5 hours of your journey."
No. For real. It's desert, and it was night time. And we just wanted to get to Los Angeles real bad, and shower, and relax, and go to sleep.
We got into LA around 1230am on October 1st, 2007 and our first order of business was to go to Swinger's in Hollywood (my favorite diner in this town). And that's what greeted us here. French fries and a lemonade at a place in Hollywood.
Anti-climactic? Sure. But it's not always Point B that is most interesting. It's usually the trip from A to B that you always remember.
Hmmm. You know. I may have taken a long time to write this whole blog, but just think of the tens of minutes you killed reading it.
While you're at it, you might as well leave a message. Don't be lazy or anything.
Oh, so last word of advice: Travel.
Do this trip. You have to. I almost think it should be a requirement for American Citizenship.
Sure, you have to know presidents and our history, and say the Pledge of Allegiance and know our state capitals, etc. But the last part of the checklist should be "Load up your old '55 Chevy and set out across America.'
You shouldn't even be given a license until the moment before you're ready to head out on the road trip. Doing this cross country road trip is essential Americana. You find out what really makes up this country, who we really are, what's really out there, how many different types of people there are, and also how immensely large our country is.
Until then, you'll just have to read about it in books like "On The Road" and hear the truths of what the Mother Road tells us through word.
