it's top of mind. 2 close friends of mine just did. one completed his trip a couple of months back (& has subsequently documented it in the coolest website ever of all time). the other is on it now.
back in the day, 2 other buddies, dennis & roth, jumped in an old 4-door vintage sedan, hit the road & didn't stop. ever, actually. all i remember from that were calls from the road: new orleans mayhem, the boys picking up new riders. then the infamous call from montreal. up background chatter, loud rock, dennis yelling into the phone, monologue as follows:
deb! de-e-e-eeeb! montreal! you gotta get here! you'd love this place. everyone's hot. i walk into the bar & go up to the hottest bartender. you wouldn't believe it. i look at her & she gives me the sexy eye. then she says, "oui?" they don't speak english! deb!
yeah. my road trips were never quite so... dramatic. but then again. they were family-oriented.
my parents & my brother & i, 2 summers in a row, when i was 10 & 11, went on 2 road trips. in the "green gypsy", our cousin's broken down old van. first trip was over the lower western quarter of the us. with our cousin from israel, uzi. yes, his name is uzi. all food that wasn't good for you he referred to as "twinkies".
to start the trip, the green gypsy broke down in the middle of the mojave desert. in the blazing sun. uzi, israeli that he was, undeterred by 110 degree heat, took the entire engine apart & put it back together again. of sorts. that said, things were never the same since. that van was fraught with problems.
but what we saw...
bryce canyon. zion canyon. hopi indian reservations. rain dance. petrified forest. grand canyon. trailer parks... campsites. it was an adventure. but i think my brother & i were too young - or too spoiled by city life - to appreciate the magnitude of all that we were seeing. we focused on stupid little things. so if it was too hot for us kids & the neolithic monstrous wasps & mosquitoes were attacking during a meal, we developed family coping mechanisms. i.e. the "i'd rather..." game: "i'd rather be here than the best thai restaurant in chile." "i'd rather be here than the best russian restaurant in indonesia."
you get the picture.
2nd trip took us to yellowstone, glacier national park, grand tetons, banff, lake louise, vancouver, seattle & portland. though portland is a blur b/c the van broke down outside of town & we were stuck there for 4 days, staying in some god-awful rendition of a motel 6 or some such shit. but the rest. walked into a field of elk, got close to very young bucks. was approached by 2 big horn sheep who inspected me for a few minutes before moving on. watched glacier ice break off & crash into the water. made snow angels. made jokes about mispronounced french for grand tetons. don't ask. marveled at the milky turquoise canadian waters.
as i scroll endlessly through the documentarian artistry of my friend's website & getting envy-inspiring texts: "st. louis! memphis! staying on plantation" from my other friend, all i can think about is hitting the asphalt. in a grand torino. or a '64 gto. yeah. gto.
looking back on it all now, i wish i'd been evolved enough to take it in the way i would now. i get so stuck. work work work. blog. post. comment. blah. when did living for today involve just getting through today? i must be trippin. just the wrong kind.
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