Corporate America Runaway

Fourteen days, twelve states, and approximately 4,100 miles. Coast to Coast…what a fun voyage! There were so many things that I enjoyed about the overall voyage – a chance to see the diverse cultures within my own country, to challenge some of my perceptions, and to eat copious amounts of fried food…what more can you ask for?!

I looked at the trip as if it were a movie preview; it gave me a small taste of what it was all about and I could decide if I wanted to go back and see the whole thing sometime. With just two weeks time, you aren’t really able to get in depth into any one area. The trip helped me see an area, get familiar with the activities there, and take a mental note on how I would want to spend more time in the area in the future. One of the ‘previews’ that I loved was the Grand Canyon and all of the Utah National Parks. We actually were able to see many of the sites; however, we didn’t really get to experience them. I was longing to put on my hiking boots, backpack and get dirty and sweaty; or sign up for a week long rafting trip…but there was no time for that…it was just a preview. The full movie would have to be seen at a later date.

I feel lucky that I was able to do this trip with Kathleen, it provided us a chance to reconnect since we’ve both been out of the country for a long time. It’s not often that you get to spend 14 days with a friend in a car; thank God that we got along! Granted – we did have some fights – mainly over directions at a time when our blood sugar was low; but we persevered, got on the right track and made it to a Sonic burger diverting a full blown screaming argument!

Some of the most fun we had was going into gas stations and picking out junk food for the trip; items that we hadn’t eaten since we were teenagers. But if you’ve ever been on a road trip, then you understand the need to munch. We had a never ending array of munchies and bad food consisting of HoHo’s, beef jerkey, M&Ms, fruit pies, chips, cheetos, fig newtons, chex mix and fruit loops. This may be why our complexions were all of a sudden back to looking like a pimply 14 year old by the time we arrived in California.

The most expensive part of this trip was the cost of fuel – especially since we were driving an SUV. Since rising gas prices seem to always be in the news, I decided to conduct my own research. Every time we stopped for gas, I recorded our price so that we could determine the cheapest and the most expensive state for gas:
Washington DC – $3.53/gal
Virginia – $3.21/gal
West Virginia – $3.43/gal
Kentucky – $3.25/gal
Tennessee – $3.09/gal ****Cheapest!
Oklahoma – $3.25/gal
Texas – $3.29/gal
New Mexico – $3.35/gal
Arizona – $3.25/gal
Utah – $3.47/gal
Nevada – $3.59/gal
California – $3.99/gal *****Most Expensive!

You spend a lot of time looking out of windows when you are driving hundreds of miles a day. You have a lot of time to think while looking out those windows. I used this trip to make some big life decisions; decisions that I couldn’t seem to make while I was sitting in my apartment. Somehow, sitting in the car for hours provided me a change of scenery, and a chance to map out a plan for my near future. I saw many strange sites out the window, including 23 Walmarts. I also saw signs; some funny, some bewildering, and some that I used as ‘sign therapy’. They were the signs that actually put a few things in perspective on my path to making life decisions and prompted me to act.
Sign in Tennessee: “ You can’t plow a field just turning it over in your mind.”
Sign in Utah: “If opportunity doesn’t knock, then build a door.”

The one sign that we seemed to see most frequently was the road crossing signs. You know the ones, _(fill in the blank)_ Crossing – warning you of what may be crossing your path ahead. Up until now, I was very familiar with the Deer Crossing signs; however, this cross country journey opened my eyes beyond leaping deer in our path. We saw crossing signs for all kinds of animals: elk, cows, pigs, donkeys, steers, and even tractors. The things that actually did cross our path were only deer, cows, and dogs. However we both screamed when we were driving along a desolate highway in Utah and all of a sudden a huge vulture that was on the side of the road happily munching away at road kill was startled by our car. It started to fly away with the LARGE piece of road kill in it’s claws, The road kill was too heavy for it, and it dropped to the ground next to our car as we sped past. The vulture just about dropped it on our car! Luckily it was a failed bombing attempt!

Overall the trip was great. Sure, we were able to accomplish our goal; moving Kathleen’s car to the west coast; however it was much more than that. I was able to see places I’ve only heard about, and determine where I wanted to come back to. I was able to drive again (woohoo…it was fun being back behind the wheel)! I tried new foods, and gained a few pounds and pimples. I went to states that I had never visited before. I was able to spend time with a good friend, and I was able to make new friends. Finally, I was able to put my life in perspective again. These are the things that make a trip successful.

Thanks Kathleen!

Photo: Pacific Ocean along Highway 1

Happy Cows Come from California

When I lived in California there was a commercial that ran frequently for the dairy association. It had cows in beautiful green pastures with rolling hills; the tag line was “Happy cows come from California”. I had never really given much thought to it – until we entered the rolling green hills of California.

We decided that our last day of travel should be a memorable one. As we looked at the map we had two options – taking interstate 101 up to San Francisco (about 4 hours of driving) or taking scenic and famous Highway 1 up the coastline to San Francisco (about 6 hours of driving). I’m sure you can guess what we chose. We felt that a fitting way to end the 2 week trip was to enjoy our surroundings, take our time, and simply soak it all up. Plus, surprisingly neither one of us had ever been on Hwy 1 south of Big Sur, so it was a chance for us to see something new.

As we took off from our interstate hotel and drove into the California countryside it was as if I went from a Lawrence of Arabia into the Sound of Music. There was a notable change in our surroundings as we sped towards the Pacific Ocean; there was moisture in the air! Over a week ago when we left Oklahoma and entered into Texas Kathleen said, “This is the last time we have moisture until we hit California.” From that point on we were applying Chap Stick, eye drops and nose drops as the desert landscapes sucked the moisture out of us and left us looking and feeling like raisins. As we were driving through the flat, stark desert lands, we would have gripping conversations to pass the time such as “Do you prefer tropical-humid-heat to desert-dry-heat?” Personally I think they both suck, one is terrible for my hair and the other for my sinuses – you really can’t win. However, today it was nice to simply change from one to the other – especially at this time of year. California is pleasant at this time of year – green, fragrant, and in bloom.

We drove through the rolling green hills and we were both rather speechless staring out at the picture-perfect countryside. Cows dotted the hills standing out against the vibrant green meadows. I kept thinking about the Happy Cow commercial – I felt that it was definitely ‘truth in advertising’. Hell, those cows looked so happy to be grazing in the green hillsides that I wanted to be want of them! They looked as if they didn’t have a care in the world; the warm ocean breeze blowing through their ummm….hair? They were taking their time munching on grass which I thought to be similar to humans having a wheat grass shot at Jamba Juice. Life seemed pretty good for them.

As we drove further West, pretty soon, we could go no further; we had arrived. We stopped the car and stared out at the Pacific Ocean before us. This was a powerful moment. The skies were blue, the sun shining, the temperature perfect, the ocean breeze lightly blowing; it was one of those overwhelming moments of perfection. I thought to myself ‘I can’t believe that we just drove from across the whole country’. There was something very meaningful about it; my reaction actually surprised me. I have looked at the map of the United States a million times, but it was no longer just a piece of paper, now it had meaning to me.

We saw signs for the Hearst Castle and neither of us had ever been there before so we decided to stop for one last roadside attraction. William Randolph Hearst built this amazing 90,000 sq. ft castle/house (a testament to someone with too much money) along highway 1 near San Simeon. We drove into the visitors center and it felt as if I had entered Disney Land. A huge parking lot, shuttle buses, beautifully manicured lawns; no, there wasn’t some dollar bill mascot. Unfortunately the prices were like Disneyland too – $20 for an adult ticket. Now I had a dilemma. For someone with no job you start to evaluate and make decisions on things in terms of value…such as – do I really want to see the house of a rich man for $20 or do I want to have a nice lunch on the coastal highway with a glass of wine?

Photo: Our lunch view…much better than the Hearst Tour!
Kathleen and I visited the gift shop and the museum – but passed on the tour of the house – opting for lunch instead! We hopped back in the car and drove north on highway 1 stopping to photograph some of the vistas and smell the wildflowers. We found a cute, picture-perfect place to stop for lunch. It was charming; a little restaurant and bar perched on the cliffs over the ocean. We took our time soaking up the sun and enjoying California wine (thank god as I was getting a bit tired of Bud Light) and healthy salads. We reminisced how we had survived the fried food of the South and how nice it was to be back in a state where the only salad wasn’t Iceberg lettuce and a tomato!
Click to enlarge all of the California wildflowers!

We drove into San Francisco and there it was…the wall of fog that defines San Francisco. The fog in San Francisco creeps over the hills like an eerie, slender hand grasping your shoulder, giving you chills literally. When I lived there, I was one of the strange people that loved the fog, it was different yet dependable…every day at 4PM in the summer, it came rolling in. It was so different from where I grew up in the Midwest. Driving out of the perfect California, sunny day into the grey fog bank of San Francisco seemed like a fitting way to end the trip.

We made it!

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