It's been a month since we completed the road trip, and I still haven't posted the rest of the blog until now. Here it is!
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| The Entire Trip from Sacramento, CA to Fairfax, VA |
For those of you who didn’t know, my father is moving
from Sacramento, CA to Washington DC, and I’ve agreed to drive his stuff across
the country for him. I’ve blogged about my past road trips* from Boston to Atlanta in Summer 2013, Sacramento to Seattle in Summer 2014, and of course,
from Seattle to Atlanta in Fall 2015, but this road trip has its fair share of
differences, the most prominent of which include:
* If you're gonna look at only one of these, Seattle to Atlanta is the BEST best one. Read that one.
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| Not easy parking this guy... |
1) Instead of driving my own car, I’m driving a big ass
Penske (a knock off of UHaul, if you weren’t aware) moving truck AND and towing
my father’s (hideous) car. The main differences here are: (a) instead of
driving like 80 in the left lane, I’ll be driving like 60 in the right lane for
most the trip, and (b) I have to consciously be aware of ease of driving and
finding parking spots where I am able to fit, which basically means my
flexibility is limited because it is difficult to drive/park in densely
populated urban areas.
2) I have a strict deadline on when I need to get to DC
by. Specifically, I began my trip on May 5th and need to arrive in
DC by noon on the 13th. Once again, this hinders my flexibility on
how much fun I can have and keeps us moving towards DC.
3) My costs are (somewhat) covered; my dad has given me a
sum of money to cover the expenses for gas, lodging, and food. This is awesome
and a main reason I’m doing this. Although money is not a concern, the lump sum
of money means I can’t spend frivolously since it still is my money.
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| Starring David Kim |
4) Unlike all my past trips, I’m not driving solo. I’ve
managed to rope two of my best friends in the world to come with me for the
ride. David (DK) Kim—a former Juice teammate and my 14th favorite
roommate in college—had agreed to fly out to Sacramento and ride with me to
Salt Lake City, and Andrew (P) Lee—a folk legend, wannabe ultimate player, and fellow
Andover JV1 Boys Basketball Hall of Famer—had agreed to fly out to Salt Lake
City and keep me company the rest of the way back to DC. Really helps that both
of them have great flight benefits due to family members either traveling a ton
or working for delta.
I guess I’m really doing this trip and blogging because I’m
pretty bored with life, love doing cross country road trips, love having a good
story, and want to share it with y’all. Hope you enjoy! The goal is to bump my
blog viewership from 3 to 5 readers this year!
Day #1:
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| Day 1: Sacramento to Lovelock. |
The trip did not start on a good note.
When I got to Sacramento a few days prior, I realized
that the trip was going to be much more limiting than I thought. The truck, a
16’ foot guy, was bigger than I thought and the tow trailer also took more room
than expected as well. I mean, it’d be hard to fit it in two parking spots! I
was already stressed out about driving a truck and not a car and to be honest,
wasn’t at all looking forward to the truck experience.
As moving day came, tensions were already running a bit
high within my family. My dad and Baby Matthew (who is now 4 years old) had to
rush / stress pack the Penske Truck and I was doing the heavy lifting. I
already was rushed from the get-go (I moved out of Nashville a bit earlier than
I wanted to to accommodate my dad’s moving schedule), and was relatively tired
from the week before. Also rushing to spend my 2 days in Northern California to
see and say goodbye to various family members and friends in the area, all
while helping my pain in the ass dad stress move isn’t exactly peaceful.
Luckily, I was able to find a peaceful moment with my little brother.
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| Baby Matthew says hey! |
It didn’t help that DK was delayed and could not get on his flight… twice.* He was supposed to fly in on the night of the 4th, couldn’t get on that one, and then the morning of the 5th, which he also couldn’t get on. Finally, he got on a flight that arrived in Sacramento at 4:10pm on the 5th, delaying my plans a fair bit. But he did finally make it, better late than never though!
* his mom works for delta so he gets free standby
tickets… if he can get on but only if there are seats available.
After eating a yummy dinner at my grandparents’ (if you’ve
ever been there you’d likely agree), we headed off to the Penske Dealership, where
we left the loaded truck, at around 6:00pm, already about 3-4 hours behind
schedule. We learned then that one of the taillights of the tow trailer was out
and had to wait another 30 minutes. Finally, at about 7:30, we finally left
Sacramento.
The drive from Sacramento to Reno was not easy. It was
already dark by the time we reached the Sierra Nevada, and when we got to the
top of the mountain pass, it was really foggy. Like I couldn’t even see two
dash marks in front of me in between lanes. It was scary as shit; going
downhill in a moving truck, towing a car, unable to see anything, with my
hazards on. Had to have been going like 20 mph at that point, if that. Glad DK
was there, man, would’ve been freaking out!
Anyways, we did make it out of the fog of the cascades
alive, and as we descended past Reno, naturally our first stop was at an
In-N-Out in Sparks, NV, a Reno Suburb. As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t easy
to park the truck and car:
We then made a quick trip to a nearby casino, where in
about 8 hands DK flopped blackjack twice and made like $20, and I made $4 at the blackjack table too. The guys we were playing with were cool; I showed
my GA license to the dealer and the guy next to us asked me what the hell was
wrong with my (Atlanta) Braves. I know almost nothing about baseball but I know
the Braves really suck, so that was kind of cool. We ended the day at a motel
in a rural town of Lovelock, about 1.5 hours outside of Reno, at about 1 am. DK
brought his Gamecube so I beat him in a 16 race grand prix of Mario Kart DoubleDash,
which we’ve been pretty obsessively been playing the past few months. DK blew a
9 point lead with 3 races to go. Classic.
While long distance traveling alone brings its own great
benefits in terms of soul searching and self-discovery (and is something I
highly recommend everyone do at some point), traveling with a friend is really
beneficial in itself. The ability to have some deep conversations (even with
DK, shockingly), sing together at the top of your lungs and the like is pretty
great company. Especially when your friend literally finds laughter and joy in
the stupidest things: like after passing a sign that says Auburn and making a
bad joke on how we made it to Alabama already. As DK says, why not laugh if you
can? It’s a good trait of yours, DK, recognize that.
I usually like to end my blog posts with a short
reflection of sorts. The short moral of the story is whenever you do something
substantial and important, expect bumps in the road (great pun, Josh!). Doing
so helps you psychologically with your task at hand. Additionally, having a
challenge and overcoming some sort of adversity is why you take on these tasks
or goals in the first place. So instead of being stressed about it, embrace it,
see it as an opportunity to be mentally tougher, a better person. Challenging
yourselves and overcoming adversity is truly the only way we grow.
Most importantly, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned
in my adventures, it’s that the best and most memorable stories in life are
always ones in which some unexpected and crazy shit happens.* So really,
embrace the bumps in the road y’all!
*My prime example is that time we went lazy river tubing
and we crashed into the branches which resulted in half our tubes popped and
our cooler broke so all of a sudden you have a bunch of really drunk college
kids wading the river, chasing after PBRs slowly floating down the river.
Imagine how much less fun and memorable that trip would’ve been if that didn’t
happen!!
Anyways today is Day #2. I’m about to eat breakfast and DK and I will hit the road soon. We are headed from Lovelock, NV to Salt Lake
City, where we will pick up Andrew at the airport at about 10:00pm, and then
have the greatest threesome ever imaginable. I’ll give y’all an update soon!
Cheers,
-JTF
Post #2. 5.8.16. 10:30 AM MDT. Fort Collins, CO
Opening up with a few notes here:
(1) Driving a tow truck is a fair bit more difficult than a normal car. You have to make really wide turns, changing lanes in urban areas is difficult. The worst part is that when you're driving, you can't actually see the car you're towing behind you! So you just have to hope it is still there! But once you're on the freeway, it's actually not that hard.
(2) When we want to dick around a city, we unhook the car from the back of the trailer. It takes a bit of time; unhooking the tires and chains (and then having to rehook them before we hit the road), but we managed to narrow it down from about 20 minutes to execute down to ten. Definitely worth it to not drive the truck!
3) Gas Prices have consistently dropped as we have moved eastward. From $2.80 in Cali to $2.69 in Nevada to $2,39 in Utah, and now about $2.15 in Wyoming and Colorado. We'll see how long this lasts.
Day #2:
On May 6th, David and I woke up in Lovelock, NV, and hit the road. We forgot to fill up gas on the way out, and were genuinely concerned we'd run out of gas because the towns in rural Nevada are so far apart. Luckily, we found a place just as the gas arrow pointed to empty.
Anyways, we stopped in Elko, Nevada for lunch after a few hours of driving. I really wanted an elk burger, for obvious reasons, but had to settle for a bison burger. It was solid. I'm sure I mentioned this before in my last road trip blog: Eating locally on roadtrips is always better!
A few hours after Elko, David had to pee, so we stopped at Wendover, NV, which was right on the Nevada/Utah border. To my surprise, Wendover had a few normal sized legitimate casinos, which I later learned were there mainly because people from Salt Lake City would make the 1.5 hr drive out to get their gambling fix in. I had an itch to play some poker, which I had yet to do this trip, so I convinced DK to let me play for 30 minutes. I was getting incredibly lucky* and picked up a quick $100!!!
*My main hand went as follows. Went into the flop head's up with a guy, First to act. Flopped Q-3-8. I check he checks. Turn is a K. I check he checks. River comes a 4. I check he puts in 15. I push him all in. He calls. He reveals K-4, Two Pairs. My hand: Pocket Queens. $100 richer.
Anyways, after the Casino we drove to Salt Lake City and went to another In-N-Out, and then picked up Andrew at the airport.
This day was a turning point of the trip for a few reasons. First, obviously, Andrew is taking DK's place. But second, as myself and DK figured out quickly, while in Nevada/Utah, whenever we were bored or wanted to stop, we could always play some slots at a casino or eat In-N-Out. But without both of those, what awaits us next?
Day #3:
On May 7th, at breakfast I offered DK a dollar to eat a waffle (ya know, the kind you make yourself in most hotels or dining halls) in one bite, which he did adeptly. Sorry for not getting it on video.
We dropped DK off at the airport at 10:30, and then returned to the hotel, attached the car to the trailer, and hit the road, bound for Cheyenne, WY.
The trip started off pretty boringly, actually. Andrew and I left Salt Lake City at about noon and headed east. Other than a few funnily named butts*--fossil butte, church butte, and black butte--the first half of the ride was rather boring. We stopped in Rock Springs, WY, a small coal mining town, to eat at a local burger joint. We had what Andrew said "may have been his favorite burger ever." The city was ok itself, but it made us wonder: why would anyone live there, so far away from everything else?
After we left Rock Springs, the adventures began. It started raining again, for the third consecutive day on my trip. But after an hour, we realized that the rain was moving sideways... and was actually snow. And in another hour, as we were approaching Laramie, WY, all of a sudden we were in a thick snow shower. Remember, it is May right now!!!!
We had already booked our hotel room in Fort Collins at that point. We had seen various signs over the past few hundred miles saying to take the next exit if the sign's lights were flashing, which meant the next section of I-80 (which connects Salt Lake City to Cheyenne) was closed, presumably due to weather. We talked about how shitty it would be if we had to turn around or take an exit.
And what do you know, as we were approaching Laramie, the electronic billboards said: I-80 closed ahead. Must take one of the next four exits." Shit. Imagine that. In the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Stranded in a snowstorm in May. Oh yeah, forgot to add: I had no service, our car charger broke, and Andrew's phone was dead.
So happy Andrew was there... I would have been freaking out!
Luckily for us, our exit was coincidentally one of the next four exits in Laramie. The snow had really accumulated. Thank god we were headed for Fort Collins instead of Cheyenne! After picking up gas in Laramie* and learning** that Laramie has gotten snow at least once in every month of the year--even on the 4th of July--within the past several years, we headed for Fort Collins.
*Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming, seemed like a pretty cool town. As Andrew described it: "Did you see that there was a Papa's John's AND a Domino's here?"
**Anyone who has followed my blog knows that I collect $1 scratch tickets to prove I've made it into a new state. Forgot to get one in Cali, and it turns out Nevada, Utah, AND Wyoming don't sell scratch tickets!
The moral of this story is that sometimes, shit happens and at some point you can't turn back, you just have to power through. Worrying doesn't really do you anything, so you shouldn't worry. I was actually pretty scared driving in the snow, really worried how much worse things could get. But what else were we going to do? Turn around and go back? To a place like Rock Springs in the middle of nowhere?
We finally got to our hotel in Fort Collins, CO at about 11pm. Was so thrilled (and surprised) that there was a Waffle House here! A few fun notes here: First, the Waffle House here is the most expensive Waffle House I have ever been to; the All-Star Special was $8.20. Second, as I ordered my same All-Star Special--wheat toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, hasbrowns--the server asked me: "Have you ever been to Waffle House before?" I got a kick out of that. Am I a true southerner now?
Anyways, today we are going to explore Colorado. We were planning to go on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, but it's supposed to rain. Severe weather--rain, hail, snow, even the threat of tornadoes soon--seems to be following us.
Day #4:
The hike started out alright, a pretty standard hike with
great views. As we ascended however, gone went the dirt trail, which quickly
turned into a slick snow covered trail, which was difficult to navigate with
our shoddy sneakers. We were being followed a mother and daughter on a Mother’s
Day Hike, and the last thing we wanted was to be surpassed and not finish a
hike that a 50 year old and 20ish year old mother daughter combo would finish.
Our first stop was a recreational dispensary. Andrew has
been trying to get me to succumb to the recreational activities for years, and
I decided there was no better time to give it a shot. Apparently there are
different types of flowers that do different things to the body—energize,
relax, tire, etc. and that there are different types of flower best used of
different occasions. Also there are different flavors—very similar to how there
are different flavors to beer. Shows how much I know.
Day #5:
On Monday the 9th we drove from Fort Collins,
Co to Council Bluffs, IA. Nebraska is pretty much exactly what I expected it to
look like. Really flat land. Lots of Corn fields, although corn clearly was not
in season. Pretty boring drive.
On Tuesday the 10th, we decided to spend a
half day in the Omaha area before hitting the road. I’m a sucker for rivers and
(pedestrian) bridges, and I really wanted to go to the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge
connecting Council Bluffs and Omaha. So we woke up, headed for Omaha’s
Heartland Bikeshare, and rode to the bridge, across the Missouri, and into
Downtown Omaha.
On Wednesday the 11th, we
walked around University of Illinois’ campus. Nice campus, pretty standard
large state school. We did see a girl walking not a dog, not a cat, but a bunny
on a leash on campus. Super strange. Lots of people were walking up to this
picture and taking pictures. Good way to meet / pick up people, I suppose. We
also ate some Chicago Deep-Dish pizza at local pizza joint, Papa Del’s, which
was really good.
Perhaps the most
exciting part of this drive was pulling into Arby’s at the very end of it. The
entire trip Andrew had been yapping and drooling about how good Arby’s is (it’s
not good at all, really) and how it’s better than Harrision’s Roast Beef in
North Andover (again, simply not true), so I decided to give in and try to make
it to Arby’s before it closed at midnight.
Day #7:
On Thursday the 12th, we started the day by
heading towards Cuyahoga National Park, a newly established National Park. I’m
a fan of National Parks, and one day want to visit them all, but Cuyahoga was
pretty disappointing. Granted, the eastern U.S. Scenery simply can’t compare to
Western scenery, but not only was this National Park disappointing compared to
lesser known state parks out west, but it was actually less impressive than
state parks in the east. This isn’t to say the park wasn’t a nice area—there
was a nice waterfall, a nice marsh, actually a cool part with hundreds of
herons nesting high atop a handful of trees – but it simply wasn’t National
Park quality. The lady at the visitor center was so nice though. By far the
least aesthetically appealing national park I have been to thus far.
We then went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I
had wanted to go to for quite some time. But then we looked at the fees; $25
for admission plus a $10 parking fee. Given that we had to hit the road soon,
and that price seemed a bit unreasonable, we elected to pass on the museum, and
headed to the museum store instead. Lots of cool stuff—jerseys, clothes,
photos, and other memorabilia. One thing I did notice however, was a clear
underrepresentation of Patriots’ apparel there. I mean, there were handfuls of
Colin Kaepernick figurines and Jerseys but a clear absence of Tom Brady
jerseys. Colin Kaepernick! Hmm…
Post #2. 5.8.16. 10:30 AM MDT. Fort Collins, CO
Opening up with a few notes here:
(1) Driving a tow truck is a fair bit more difficult than a normal car. You have to make really wide turns, changing lanes in urban areas is difficult. The worst part is that when you're driving, you can't actually see the car you're towing behind you! So you just have to hope it is still there! But once you're on the freeway, it's actually not that hard.
(2) When we want to dick around a city, we unhook the car from the back of the trailer. It takes a bit of time; unhooking the tires and chains (and then having to rehook them before we hit the road), but we managed to narrow it down from about 20 minutes to execute down to ten. Definitely worth it to not drive the truck!
3) Gas Prices have consistently dropped as we have moved eastward. From $2.80 in Cali to $2.69 in Nevada to $2,39 in Utah, and now about $2.15 in Wyoming and Colorado. We'll see how long this lasts.
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| Day 2: Lovelock, NV to Salt Lake City, UT |
On May 6th, David and I woke up in Lovelock, NV, and hit the road. We forgot to fill up gas on the way out, and were genuinely concerned we'd run out of gas because the towns in rural Nevada are so far apart. Luckily, we found a place just as the gas arrow pointed to empty.
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| Poker in Wendover, NV |
A few hours after Elko, David had to pee, so we stopped at Wendover, NV, which was right on the Nevada/Utah border. To my surprise, Wendover had a few normal sized legitimate casinos, which I later learned were there mainly because people from Salt Lake City would make the 1.5 hr drive out to get their gambling fix in. I had an itch to play some poker, which I had yet to do this trip, so I convinced DK to let me play for 30 minutes. I was getting incredibly lucky* and picked up a quick $100!!!
*My main hand went as follows. Went into the flop head's up with a guy, First to act. Flopped Q-3-8. I check he checks. Turn is a K. I check he checks. River comes a 4. I check he puts in 15. I push him all in. He calls. He reveals K-4, Two Pairs. My hand: Pocket Queens. $100 richer.
This day was a turning point of the trip for a few reasons. First, obviously, Andrew is taking DK's place. But second, as myself and DK figured out quickly, while in Nevada/Utah, whenever we were bored or wanted to stop, we could always play some slots at a casino or eat In-N-Out. But without both of those, what awaits us next?
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| Day 3: Salt Lake City, CA to Fort Collins, CO |
On May 7th, at breakfast I offered DK a dollar to eat a waffle (ya know, the kind you make yourself in most hotels or dining halls) in one bite, which he did adeptly. Sorry for not getting it on video.
We dropped DK off at the airport at 10:30, and then returned to the hotel, attached the car to the trailer, and hit the road, bound for Cheyenne, WY.The trip started off pretty boringly, actually. Andrew and I left Salt Lake City at about noon and headed east. Other than a few funnily named butts*--fossil butte, church butte, and black butte--the first half of the ride was rather boring. We stopped in Rock Springs, WY, a small coal mining town, to eat at a local burger joint. We had what Andrew said "may have been his favorite burger ever." The city was ok itself, but it made us wonder: why would anyone live there, so far away from everything else?
After we left Rock Springs, the adventures began. It started raining again, for the third consecutive day on my trip. But after an hour, we realized that the rain was moving sideways... and was actually snow. And in another hour, as we were approaching Laramie, WY, all of a sudden we were in a thick snow shower. Remember, it is May right now!!!!
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| We were driving in the blue. |
And what do you know, as we were approaching Laramie, the electronic billboards said: I-80 closed ahead. Must take one of the next four exits." Shit. Imagine that. In the middle of nowhere Wyoming. Stranded in a snowstorm in May. Oh yeah, forgot to add: I had no service, our car charger broke, and Andrew's phone was dead.
So happy Andrew was there... I would have been freaking out!
Luckily for us, our exit was coincidentally one of the next four exits in Laramie. The snow had really accumulated. Thank god we were headed for Fort Collins instead of Cheyenne! After picking up gas in Laramie* and learning** that Laramie has gotten snow at least once in every month of the year--even on the 4th of July--within the past several years, we headed for Fort Collins.
*Laramie, home of the University of Wyoming, seemed like a pretty cool town. As Andrew described it: "Did you see that there was a Papa's John's AND a Domino's here?"
**Anyone who has followed my blog knows that I collect $1 scratch tickets to prove I've made it into a new state. Forgot to get one in Cali, and it turns out Nevada, Utah, AND Wyoming don't sell scratch tickets!
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| ugh. snow |
The moral of this story is that sometimes, shit happens and at some point you can't turn back, you just have to power through. Worrying doesn't really do you anything, so you shouldn't worry. I was actually pretty scared driving in the snow, really worried how much worse things could get. But what else were we going to do? Turn around and go back? To a place like Rock Springs in the middle of nowhere?
Side Note, One of the scariest driving experiences, was when a semi passed us coming out of Laramie. As it passed, it happened to flung a bunch of slush onto our windshield, completely blinding our vision for two whole windshield wiper swipes. Going 50+ mph towing a car and not being able to see anything is scary as shit!
We finally got to our hotel in Fort Collins, CO at about 11pm. Was so thrilled (and surprised) that there was a Waffle House here! A few fun notes here: First, the Waffle House here is the most expensive Waffle House I have ever been to; the All-Star Special was $8.20. Second, as I ordered my same All-Star Special--wheat toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, hasbrowns--the server asked me: "Have you ever been to Waffle House before?" I got a kick out of that. Am I a true southerner now?Anyways, today we are going to explore Colorado. We were planning to go on a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Park, but it's supposed to rain. Severe weather--rain, hail, snow, even the threat of tornadoes soon--seems to be following us.
Day #4:
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| Elk chilling in Estes Park, CO |
We woke up on Sunday the 8th looking for
adventure; it was only one of two days that we had available that we did not
have to use as a travel day. We headed to Rocky Mountain National Park, about
an hour from Fort Collins, hoping to sightsee. The drive from Fort Collins to Rocky
Mountain National Park is a scenic one. We started by going through Big
Thompson Canyon, which is pretty sweet. Then we passed the touristy town of
Estes Park where wild elk casually chill amongst the locals.
We arrived at Rocky Mountain Park Visitor Center* shortly
after noon. With help from the park rangers, and wanting to get into Boulder by
around 6:00pm, we decided to go on 6ish mile hike and then drive around the
rest of the park to see the views. There was a potential chance of snow, but we
figured what the hell, let’s wing it and see what happens.
*always start off a trip at a park at the visitor center,
they’re always happy to help and provide great insight on sightseeing, hikes,
etc.
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| Snowy Trails are hard to hike. |
As another couple of people passed us traversing, they
told us we probably weren’t even halfway to the top, despite the fact we were
convinced we had to be close, we decided to put up the white flag.
I know this seems a bit contradictory to what I said just
in the last post the day prior (when sometimes there is no turning back), but
other times it’s better stop being stubborn, swallow your pride, and admit it’s
time to turn back. Sometimes you have to admit that there is a better decision
to be made, or maybe that you did something wrong. The ability to know when you
have to suck it up and plow ahead and when it’s time to change course is
probably one of the more important lessons we all will need to know in life.
So anyways, we hiked back down, and the mother-daughter
combo decided to follow suit. Although it sort of sucked not finishing what we
set out to do, we felt pretty good about our decision, as it seemed that a
storm was approaching shortly. We did get a pretty sweet pic taken of us as
well:
Following Rocky Mountain National Park, we headed down to
Boulder, about an hour from RMNP. The climate change between the two places was
drastic—from 30 and blizzard to 60 and sunny—only about an hour’s away.
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| Blizzard! |
Anyways, after stopping at the store, we headed to
Downtown Boulder. Aside of Andrew’s completel inability to find wide open
parking spots—he managed to bypass 4-5 open parking spots so we drove around in
circles—Boulder was a fun experience. The downtow is super clean, has lots of
restaurants and bars, retail stores. It has a certain vibe that says young,
trendy, yet super outdoorsy and active. I can totally see why so many people
speak so highly of Boulder now, being so close to the Mountains yet a
reasonable distance from Denver. The University of Colorado campus is beautiful
too. Could definitely myself living out there one day if things fell into place
that way.
After visiting Boulder, we decided take in a relaxed
night, use our prior purchases, and watch a movie we had both wanted to see:
Zootopia. Better yet, Andrew and I actually had the whole theater to ourselves!
How romantic!
Here’s my movie review of Zootopia, which had received
pretty solid reviews from critics. On a scale from 0-10, with the “Good
Dinosaur” being a 1.5, a completely neutral average movie as a 5, and “Memento”
topping my charts at 9.5, Zootopia was a solid 7 – 7.5. The plot was fine but
nothing special, but the movie did do a good job at putting in some subtle
references to other TV Shows, Movies, and Disney Flicks that if you catch
you’ll get a good chuckle watching. The movie also had some subtle (and
not-so-subtle) moments of addressing stereotyping, gender, and race in America
while keeping the film entertaining and family friendly. Not a must see, but
definitely a should see.
Speaking of romanticism, the next morning, the custodian,
a really nice guy in his 50s, working the breakfast, who had seen us the day
prior, said to me: “if you or your partner need anything, let me know.”
Couldn’t help but chuckle a bit there. I’m all about supporting the LGBT
community and all, but maybe we are going a bit overboard here. Is there
something strange about two bros on a road trip together? Is there? (Probably a
bit.)
Day #5:
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| Fort Collins, CO to Council Bluffs, IA |
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| Driving into a tornado... |
While the day started out in beautiful weather, as we
headed eastward toward central and eastern Nebraska, we noticed that the
weather was getting rather ominous.
So for the next two hours, and for the fifth day in a row
on the road trip, we were driving in ominous weather. As if 4 inches of snow in
Wyoming, or near blizzard-like conditions in the Rockies weren’t enough, we
turned on the radio only to hear that the town we were passing had a tornado
warning only about an hour before we got there! We were joking about how we
shouldn’t follow the tornadoes… but here we were!
While driving in pouring rain / hail / thunder / the
threat of tornadoes doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, It was actually rather
enjoyable. Driving into a storm where multiple (chain?) lightning bolts strike
every few minutes was enlightening. And after the storm passed, we were blessed
with this surreal sunset as we were passing the suburbs of Omaha.
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| Sunset after the Storm |
I really wanted to eat steak in Omaha, you know since
Omaha Steaks seem like a big deal. I told Andrew to navigate somewhere good for
us. Granted, our options were limited, since we didn’t want to spend $40 on a
steak, nor did we have the ability to park our truck + car anywhere downtown.
So he took us on a twenty minute detour to a Firebirds Grill... which as we
found out afterward, is your average national chain restaurant like Longhorn
Steakhouse. Ugh.
Another fun lesson here. I’m a pretty frugal dude, as those
close to me know. But sometimes, it’s definitely worth it to splurge the extra
cash needed for an experience. I’ll always remember that time we didn’t get an
Omaha steak, instead of the time that we did. That extra $10-15 really didn’t
mean that much to us.
Lucky for us, the day ended on a bright note. As we
pulled into our hotel in Council Bluffs, IA (right across the Missouri River
from Omaha), we learned that not only did Iowa have Casinos, but there was also
a Casino literally across the street from our hotel. So much for not gambling
the rest of the trip! It makes me wonder, which other states still have
casinos?*
*P.S. Andrew is now addicted to gambling. He has
memorized the ideal blackjack tables, and has gone to a casino about 40 minutes
away from his house tens of times in the last month.
Day #6:
Day #6:
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| Council Bluffs, IA to Champaign, IL |
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| The Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge |
I love the concept of public bikeshares in cities. Beginning
with Capital Bikeshare in DC several years ago, most major cities in the
country have adopted some sort of bikeshare. It’s cheap ($5-$7 per day usually)
and really a unique way to sightsee a new city while getting a semi-workout in
also. Was pleasantly surprised that a smaller city such as Omaha had one; it
fit our needs perfectly! Downtown Omaha was a really nice place too!
Surprisingly one of my favorite cities on the trip!
 |
| A tired Andrew after a short bike ride. |
Following our excursion biking Omaha and a quick trip
back to the casino, we hit the road towards Chicago, but ultimately ended up
heading in Champaign, Illinois, since Andrew grew up as a small child there and
wanted to pass his old hometown.
We were starting to go a little bit crazy and fatigued on
the road, during a particularly boring part (Iowa) of the country. So we found
a new strategy to get by: Memorizing the lyrics to various songs that we had
downloaded for the trip. Among the songs we learned included: Mike Posner’s “I
Took a Pill in Ibiza,” Jessie J’s “Price Tag” (Andrew on the B.o.B. part), Zedd
and Selena Gomez’s “I Want You to Know,” and Kris Allen’s “Live Like We’re
Dying” Ask us to sing any of these for you and we’ll do it!
As we pulled into our hotel in Champaign, we had our
first bit of real trouble parking the truck/trailer. The hotel was adjacent to
a small strip mall and they shared a parking lot. There were three exits to the
parking lot—one was blocked by another truck, one we entered in, and the last
was actually blocked by some cones and a chain link fence. Given how crammed
the lot was and the extreme difficulty of putting a truck with a trailer in
reverse, we were in a bit of a conundrum.
So we asked the hotel manager if he could move the cones
and chains; which he could not. And there we were trying to back out of a small
parking lot.
This must have been absolutely hilarious for this
manager. Two twenty-something year old Asian dudes, driving a moving truck and
towing a car, unable to back out of a parking lot with no exits. Just really
living up to those stereotypes lol. He tried to make things better for us by
saying he’d get our paperwork ready for us when we got the truck out. How did
he know who we were? (He’d later tell us because we were the only Asians who
hadn’t checked in. Lol.
We then called it a night by going to Meijer (which is a
Midwest regional chain similar to Wal-Mart), and picking up some beer* at
1:00am, which for some reason was okay in Urbana, but not in Champaign. Weird
Alcohol purchasing laws, 2 am is super late in itself.
*Exciting anecdote here—we wanted some local beer but for
some reason kept finding only Michigan beers instead of Illinois beer. Why? (We
were looking under the “Michigan Beer” Section). Facepalm.
 |
| Deep Dish Pizza |
In the late
afternoon, we hit the road toward Akron, Ohio. Other than setting foot in
Indiana for the first time, which made it 43 of 50 U.S. States for me, and
actually winning my first scratch ticket (I won $1), it was a pretty uneventful
drive—really boring scenery, nothing of note.
Perhaps the most
exciting part of this drive was pulling into Arby’s at the very end of it. The
entire trip Andrew had been yapping and drooling about how good Arby’s is (it’s
not good at all, really) and how it’s better than Harrision’s Roast Beef in
North Andover (again, simply not true), so I decided to give in and try to make
it to Arby’s before it closed at midnight.
Anyways, we pulled
into Arby’s at 11:53pm, only to find that the drive thru was the only source of
getting food. But the Penske Truck didn’t fit in under the drive thru top, so
we stood at the drive thru like idiots waving our hands, hoping someone would
notice. Eventually, Andrew ran over to the window, where we had to explain to
the server that the truck wouldn’t fit. It was a pretty humurous exchange. All
for a mediocre sandwich.
Day #7:
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| North Canton, OH, to Fairfax, VA |
After Cuyahoga, we headed South towards Canton, and the
football of hall fame. We stop at a regional burger chain called Swenson’s, an
old school joint where you’d park your car, and eat the food in your car, with
a tray that attached to you window, similar to as if you were eating a Sonic.
The food was pretty solid; burgers were really good and a variety of unique
sides (like fried asparagus, fried mushrooms, etc.) Not as good, and certainly
not as healthy, as In-N-Out, but a solid experience.
We then went to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which I
had wanted to go to for quite some time. But then we looked at the fees; $25
for admission plus a $10 parking fee. Given that we had to hit the road soon,
and that price seemed a bit unreasonable, we elected to pass on the museum, and
headed to the museum store instead. Lots of cool stuff—jerseys, clothes,
photos, and other memorabilia. One thing I did notice however, was a clear
underrepresentation of Patriots’ apparel there. I mean, there were handfuls of
Colin Kaepernick figurines and Jerseys but a clear absence of Tom Brady
jerseys. Colin Kaepernick! Hmm…
After leaving the store we decided to throw around on the
field outside of the Hall-of-Fame. Then we hit the road, DC bound!
We arrived in DC
that night. A great trip, no major car issues, and I only tried to kill Andrew
twice.
I’m so fortunate I had (another) a chance to tour the country, sightsee.
And this time I got to make the trip with company, which is definitely safer and
more entertaining, although it certainly makes it more difficult to blog in a
timely manner. If you ever get the chance to drive cross country, especially if expenses are covered, definitely do it. And invite me. Because I'd probably want to join you.
Thanks again for
following along. Till next time,
-JTF
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