Finding my inner road trip

In college, a road trip was a piece of cake.

It was so easy. It required a gas station credit card and someone with a car. Lucky for me, I had both. I was never as a loss for a road-trip partner. As an undergraduate, at a minutes notice, we would leave Flagstaff and head down to Sedona, Arizona. The drop in elevation, about 2500 feet, would generally raise the temperature about 20 degrees. Nice. Many an afternoon was spent at Oak Creek Canyon "studying" while we chit-chatted and drank beer in the heart of red rocks country. Of course, one of my most memorable events was driving to Southern California in search of an In-N-Out burger. Hey, the food in the cafeteria sucked that morning. So, "Barstow for Burgers" became etched in my mind. Brenda, of course, was there to cover duty for me that night at the dorm. We actually never made it to Barstow...but we did finally eat at McDonald's in Needles, CA.

In graduate school, new and even more exciting road trips took place. Let's see, Portland Maine (The Lucky To Be Alive) trip, Good Harbor Beach, Margate New Jersey, New Paltz, NY, New Haven, CT, and of course NYC. Always fun, always last minute. Always affordable.

Now, with so many weekends planned, the spontaneous road trip is harder to come by. I think that makes me relish it even more. The last excellent road trip I took was to York, Pennsylvania the week in between jobs. It was sunny and cold and perfect driving weather both directions. Of course, we stopped at Tom and Arlene's Diner in Port Jervis, NY for the famous "Meaney Burger". I highly recommend Tom and Arlene's diner--although I've never actually met Tom or Arlene.

This trip, while not spontaneous, should prove to have many spontaneous moments along the way. Only 9 hours until my flight leaves. My bag is packed, the iPod is fully loaded. Let's go!