I have always enjoyed learning and finding ways to improve myself. So, to begin another chapter in my life and to continue my education, I plan to take a soul-searching road trip with one of my best friends, Taylor. Whitman said it best in “Song of the Open Road” when he wrote, “Now I see the secret of the making of the best persons, / It is to grow in the open air”. The open road provides another means of learning, something not found within the walls of a university. It also possesses a different pace –from a fixed position to being in motion –and an ever-changing environment. While our lives in college were scheduled around class times and deadlines, our introspective road trip will not have such a rigid schedule. We will be able to travel, experience, and learn at our own pace. A road trip holds vast possibilities, but in order to benefit from those possibilities, we will have to be just as open as the road. Like life, a road trip will allow us to choose which paths to explore and how the subsequent experiences will affect us. So, a road trip is not only an experience; it’s a chance for personal growth, another way to gain perspective and independence, and an opportunity to strengthen a friendship.
For the past couple of months, Taylor and I have been talking about taking a road trip to California the summer after my graduation. We chose California for the following reasons: (1) its rich culture and diverse environment (2) the San Francisco Bay Area is home to one of our favorite artists, Les Claypool, (3) my buddy Chris lives in Napa, and I haven’t seen him since he graduated from UT last spring, (4) and I would love to hang out with my paternal cousins in Los Angeles, whom I’ve never met. Maybe getting to know my dad’s side of the family more will help me to better understand who I am. In addition to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Napa (CA), Taylor and I will be stopping in Lubbock (TX), Albuquerque (NM), Grand Canyon National Park (AZ), Las Vegas (NV), and Phoenix (AZ).
Taylor and I will be taking our road trip during the summer because we’ll both be out of school. So, we’ll both be in the same frame of mind –ready for a break, a change of pace, and wanting to get away from small town mentality (or Texas in general). Taylor and I share other similarities, including: we both grew up in Frankston, and share the same opinions about our hometown, we’ve never traveled together, and we’ve never been to any of our projected destinations. Along our journey, we hope to be exposed to different worldviews and terrains in order to adapt and grow as individuals and together as friends.
To understand where we’re going, you should know where we came from –Frankston, TX, which is where we will begin our journey. Where the Sam-Hell is Frankston, you ask? No worries, no one ever knows where it is. Just know this sleepy town, in our opinion, is a place where religion is the law, the number of funeral homes exceeds the number of libraries, pre-existing ideas go unquestioned, and where curiosity is considered an act of decadent deviance. In other words, Frankston embodies everything we want to move away from, and strangely enough, it’s a big motivation for our road trip. As opposed to the stifling mindset of our hometown, the open road symbolizes an open mind – something that we were not accustomed to while growing up. The open road would provide opportunities to discover new philosophies and ideas, challenge societal conditioning, and transcend the confines of rural, east Texas.
Song of the Open Road
The Road Trip:
We plan to bring the bare necessities: comfortable clothes, socks and shoes, plenty of quarters for laundromats, toiletries, bottles of water, cigarettes for Taylor, camping supplies, and possibly our bikes. Riding our bikes will be an easier and cheaper way to maneuver around, especially in a highly congested city like LA and San Francisco. We’ll also bring both of our cameras (two cameras is better than one), a video camera, and a laptop for documenting purposes. Our trip funds will come from three different sources: my parents, Taylor, and me. As a graduation gift, my parents have agreed to contribute some money to help pay for some of the trip, and I will be supplying money from my savings account (I’ve been looking for a good reason to tap into that account). Because Taylor is supplying our means of transportation, I don’t expect her to pay as much as me. The gas alone will probably cost roundtrip around $500, food will cost roughly around $300, and hotels/hostels/motels will cost $316. An additional $601 will be used for recreational activities, and an extra $300 should cover our nights on the town or other frivolous spending. Overall, we’re looking at a $2,217 trip.
This projected road trip will last 12-14 days. Taylor has had her job for almost two years now, and she will only be able to take off a maximum of 14 days (on paid vacation). As mentioned before, we will begin our journey in Frankston, as a motivation and reminder of why we’re taking this road trip, and we’ll be traveling in Taylor’s Kia Soul (which I think is rather appropriate). Our first stop will be Lubbock, TX where we will see the Buddy Holly Statue and the West Texas Walk of Fame. Because my sister and her husband live in Lubbock, we’ll be able to stop, rest, and hopefully grab a bite to eat for free. The following morning, we’ll continue our trip to Albuquerque, NM where we will take to the sky in a hot air balloon ride ($320). Who says a road trip has to be confined to just the road? Thankfully, I also have family in Albuquerque that would gladly provide Taylor and I with a place to stay and food. Both of these stops will considerably reduce trip expenses.
From Albuquerque, NM we will cross over into Arizona, and head to the Grand Canyon National Park. We’d like to see the Grand Canyon because it’s one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but also because of what it symbolizes in the film, Thelma & Louise. For Thelma and Louise, the Grand Canyon represented ultimate freedom from their lives back in Arkansas and the people they use to be. The film’s definition of a road trip, as a vehicle for change and transformation, mirrors the definition of our road trip. We, too, want to step outside crippling walls and oppressive mindsets so that we can express ourselves and grow as individuals and together as friends. (Don’t worry, we have no plans to kill someone, rob a convenient store, run from the police, or to commit suicide –not exactly the change we’re looking for.) We don’t have any family that lives near the Grand Canyon, so we will stay the night at the Grand Canyon Lodge at the North Rim ($126).
From the Grand Canyon, we’ll cut across Nevada’s border and head towards Las Vegas. If there ever was a city that was the exact opposite of Frankston, Las Vegas aka “Sin City” is most certainly it. Taylor and I will probably spend two nights in Las Vegas. We’ll meet new and interesting people, see a Cirque du Soleil show one night ($172), try our hands at some blackjack or poker, take pleasure in Vegas’ nightlife, or just drive down the Vegas Strip admiring all of the neon lights, fountains, and hotel casinos. Both of us have never had the privilege to visit the Sin City, so to experience a totally new environment will allow us to gain a fresh perspective. Also, I’m sure the Sin City will test not only our limits, but also how responsible we are. Fortunately, my grandparents own a time-share in Vegas that Taylor and I will be taking full advantage of, and this will cut back on the trip’s overall. From Las Vegas, we’ll head in the direction of Los Angeles, the City of Angels. We’ll be staying in a hostel located between Sunset and Hollywood Blvd for two nights ($140), and hostels house all sorts of travelers. So, it will be interesting to encounter other likeminded travelers. One day will be spent hanging out with my paternal cousins in Studio City near West Hollywood, and the next day we’ll relax on the Santa Monica beach to unwind and reflect on our travels (Taylor’s surfing lesson: $109).
After we have recuperated with a good night’s rest, water to rehydrate ourselves, and sufficient food, we’ll start making our way to the San Francisco Bay Area. Hopefully by this time, we haven’t lost our fervor for the open road or lost sight of one of the main reasons we decided to take this trip. If so, we’ll reinvigorate our senses with the funky, cool sounds of Les Claypool, and meet up with a fellow Primus admirer –my good friend Chris. Chris knows his way around San Francisco, and we’ll all three spend the day exploring San Francisco and soaking up the rich culture that cultivated one of our favorite artists. That same night, we’ll drive to Napa and crash at Chris’s place. Chris’s family owns a winery, and he’s offered to give us a free tour of the vineyards. On top of touring an actual vineyard, I’ll get to spend some quality time with one of my good friends for a day.
The next morning will begin our return back to Texas, and we’re hoping to make the drive back in 3 days. We’ll drive from Napa to Phoenix, where we’ll stop at a cheap motel for the night, continue from Phoenix to Lubbock (stay another night with my sister), and then make our final stretch from Lubbock back to Frankston. We’ve allotted to extra days just in case something happens along the road that might set us back, or if nothing happens, two days to recuperate and readjust our sleeping schedules.
This journey illustrates our definition of a road trip in numerous ways. We’ll be traveling alone, with no parents to tell us which way to go or what to do, and we won’t have a professor to tell us what we should remember. This will give us the sense of independence and freedom we’re searching for. Not to mention, what we’ll observe and encounter on the open road cannot be taught in the classroom; therefore, our road trip will offer another method of learning. Our journey will completely remove us from everything our hometown stands for by placing us in completely different contexts and permitting us to discover new philosophies and ideas from the people we meet. All of these factors collectively will spark a change within ourselves –personal growth– and will transform our friendship forever.
