10 Shocking Road Trip Revelations From Last Week
I learn something new each time!
Last week, Dave and I completed our sixth road trip across the country! We drove from our home in Yucca Valley, California, back to my high school hometown of Muncie, Indiana to kick off our three-week holiday visit. It took 30 hours, four days, three hotels, two bags of inexplicable Nerds Gummy Clusters (him), and, regrettably, two packs of Marlboro Menthol Lights (me).
Every time we do this, I learn something. The road reveals all! And this time, I had ten shocking revelations:
10.) Our desert Dark Sky Communities might do more harm than good.
In San Bernardino County's Morongo Basin, we have light pollution ordinances in effect to keep the night sky dark. It's lovely if you've come to camp at Joshua Tree National Park - you'll get stunning shots of the Milky Way. But when you're on a dark desert highway, cool wind in your hair, it's just you, the open road, and some asshole’s LED headlights blinding you for miles on end. Great.
9.) Interstate 40 is really, really long.
We were on it for days!
8.) The town of Seligman, AZ inspired the town in the Disney Pixar movies “Cars.”
Have we been here before? Dave and I wondered, cruising past a funky little Western town that looked imported intact from a spaghetti Western. Well, as a matter of fact, we had - but not from the direction we were going this time. It turned out that we recognized the campy, frontier vistas and storefronts from their adaptation in “Cars.” Huh! You just never know what you might find.
7.) You can still get some kicks on Route 66.
If you like jazz, you can probably trace most of this route through song lyrics:
Now you go through St. Louis
Joplin, Missouri,
And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty.
You see Amarillo,
Gallup, New Mexico,
Flagstaff, Arizona.
Don't forget Winona,
Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.
Won't you get hip to this timely tip
When you make that California trip
Get your kicks on Route Sixty-Six.
They're all still there - though I have my opinions about the prettiness of Oklahoma City nowadays. (Sorry, Sooners!)
6.) I could live in New Mexico.
Endless red-rock vistas and towering mesas - plus the remarkably low cost of gas, compared to California - had Dave and me thinking we'd be perfectly happy living in the Land of Enchantment. All that big, wide-open sky! As long as we were still within an hour’s drive of a Panera and a Bath & Body Works. I mean, you can take the girl out of the Midwest, but you can’t … Ehh. You know.
5.) There's a town in Oklahoma that has almost as many stray cats as people.
We spent one night of the trip in the panhandle hamlet of Guymon, OK. Oddly, it was the second night we'd spent there this year! On both occasions, I noticed a tremendous amount of feline activity. The first time we were there, I counted almost two dozen stray cats roaming the town's streets, and this time, I saw five. How peculiar.
4.) Kansas is the worst state in the country.
It takes centuries to get through Kansas. It's the flattest state, the most boring state, and, for my money, the most obviously economically devastated state. In Kansas, we saw the saddest, grimmest towns we'd ever come upon, with fallen-down stores and homes that seemed collapsed and even condemned, but were still visibly occupied. It was terribly sad. I was so glad to cross the border into Missouri and say to Dave, “Well, Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!”
3.) Gas-station pizza is some of the best I've ever had.
If you're traveling in the Midwest and you get a hankering for a slice of hot, gooey happiness, I've got you. You want pizza from Casey's General Store. Go in and grab a couple slices of cheesy goodness. You'll be glad you did.
2.) “Home” is a state of mind!
Contrary to the saying, you can go home again. You just need to accept that places always change, and nothing stays the same - just as you have changed while you've been away. So it may not be just exactly as you left it, but that's okay. In fact, it's a good thing! After all, who are you to demand a town stay frozen in time as, what, a monument to your childhood? Especially when you aren't even there very much? Embrace the fact that your hometown changes to meet the needs of those living there.
1.) When it comes to superstore shopping, Target has nothing on Meijer.
Meijer is the greatest store in the world. When you're in Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, or Ohio, do me a favor: stop in a Meijer.
Shop in wide, well-let aisles with people who aren't assholes (for those people are at Walmart). Savor your favorite Starbucks beverage as you maneuver an especially nimble cart around attractive, well-organized displays! Revel in the comfort of national brands and local marques alike as you find delicious food, gorgeous home decor, and trendy or classic clothing for the whole family in one convenient place! Really: if Meijer doesn't sell it, you don't need it.
What will I learn on the way back to California in January? Stay tuned!
My Step-Grandfather is from Kansas and he basically said that the goal of anyone growing up in Kansas is to leave Kansas.
New Mexico is a fascinating state, it's an anomaly in many ways. It's a blue state but it's also a poor state. It's also a state that is fairly low-cost and is a tax-haven. It seems to have a lot of interesting art and culture it also has a 30% child poverty rate and high crime, about twice the Amount as Kansas. What is notable about Kansas is that while the overall poverty rate is a little lower than New Mexico it's much more worse to be poor in Kansas to make matters worse for Kansas a lot of the people leaving the state are middle class which is probably why it looks to be in decline.
Very entertaining, Sally! Well done. (Just give up smoking...)