Unlike most of my friends in college and high school, I never got to have the fun trip to Cancun or to the Bahamas. Don’t feel too bad for me, going home to Los Angeles was always nice, but this time around I wanted a trip. Not just any trip though, a road trip.
The Plan: Travel from Chicago, Ill. down to Memphis, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Orlando, Fla.; Nashville, Tenn.; and then back to Chi-town.
The Company: My grad school partner in crime, Kim Dunbar. We’ve known each other since our first class in grad school, but didn’t become good friends until over the summer after our dear mutual friend Christiana Johns left Chicago. It seemed only fitting that we traveled down to see the girl who brought us together.
The Challenge: According to our AAA TripTik, Kim and I will be spending a total of 41 hours and 16 minutes in my car (see The Ride). The question is not if, but WHEN will we want to kill each other? As a novice road tripper, I’d be dumb not to expect it…though I sincerely hope it won’t happen.
The Ride: Old Faithful, a 2002 emerald green Volvo S60. It got it’s name because despite a fire extinguisher exploding underneath it and ruining the engine, it managed to get me from Los Angeles to Chicago in 2008. Since then, it’s overcome numerous problems like flat tires, engine failure, and ignition problems like a champ. Chevy may be like a Rock, but Old Faithful is like titanium (take that Chevy!).
We’ll leave this Friday, March 18, in the afternoon, for the first leg of our journey, an 8-hour drive to Memphis, Tenn. I seriously cannot wait!
Please follow along on my Wordpress Blog at aclarkcorner.wordpress.com.
