An important aspect of life after high school is having the freedom to do what you want. The road trip is a symbol of freedom and good, good times. If I had never gone on road trips, I would have never known the sweet joy of synthetic-pink pecan logs (three cheers for genetically engineered pecans!) and over-sweetened, over-sized coffees.
Road trips are reverse peepholes into other peoples’ lives. You can drive down Main Street in Nowheresville, USA, and learn more about what it means to be American than you will in any social-studies textbook. Heck, I advocate a requirement of an at-least 200-mile road trip before graduation.
What makes road trips so perfect? Stores named after their owners (Elroy’s Equestrian Outlet, for example). Diners on wheels. The stunning magnitude and frequency of pancake houses. (Do we really need that many pancake options?) Also: observing what people can do as you drive by (face contortions by kids are the best).
All these add up to make for great road trips. And don’t forget the random stops that deviate from your original itinerary! There are wax museums of famous people, wax museums of local heroes (detailed biographies available at ticket counter), places that declare themselves as the largest something-or-other in the world, such as the largest used-tire model of the Eiffel Tower, and other off-the-map locations advertised on hand-painted plywood boards.
Eating while on the road also breaks up the trip into segments and helps organize the days. Stay away from chain restaurants and “catch,” sometimes literally, the local cuisine. One restaurant I visited throws hot rolls to customers when they come out of the oven. They really throw them! This is very fun, especially when the rolls smack people in the head, like the man sitting a row in front of me experienced. Just try to eat the specialties from where you are: cooked alligator-tail appetizers in Florida, fried catfish fillets in Missouri and, my favorite, moose hamburgers in Maine. Some of the difficulties that occur on the road trip are the most fun. Last Thanksgiving, on our way to Kentucky, my girlfriend and I drove 20 miles down a small two-lane highway that dead-ended at the top of a riverbank. There was no bridge. There was a ferry service, but it of course wasn’t running that month. It was nearly midnight, and we could actually see our destination on the other bank of the river. What should have been a 15-minute boat ride turned out to be an hour’s drive to the next bridge.
So if you see me balancing an over-sized coffee and pink pecan log while driving to the world’s largest wax museum of American pancake houses, smile and wave. Or at least make a funny face.
Can’t stand candy-coated advice? Matt Hammond is here to help! He’ll give you the real deal when it comes to college, careers and life. E-mail your questions to [email protected]
