Since I was attending school in southern California, many of my road trips were along Interstate 40. Driving along the historic Route 66 was a joy -- most of the time. I loved seeing the desert in New Mexico, the mountains (and inevitably snow) around Flagstaff, and the rolling fields through Oklahoma and Texas. Normally I allowed 3 or 4 days to make the trip. There were a few times where I was stupid though.
In their great "wisdom", my parents sent me to California in a Ford Escort Hatchback that had been retired as the family car. They were certain everything was okay since they had replaced the engine in the car. For a Christmas present, my family flew my roommate Andy to Arkansas and we drove back to Malibu. The desert was not kind to the Escort, but we finally made it in one piece. A couple of years later, Andy and I had loaded the red beast down with luggage and equipment to drive out to Pasadena for a performance before heading to Arkansas for a break. While we approached the 101-405 interchange late on a Friday afternoon (non-Californians should read that as INSANE TRAFFIC), smoke began to billow from the car. That's actually a bit of an understatement.....the thing blew up! We managed to get to the side of the road, got a tow to a garage, called a cab and loaded the essential equipment. We made it to the performance minutes before I needed to be on stage and then headed back to Malibu to call my parents; I wouldn't be coming home anytime soon.
Over the next few weeks, my parents purchased a new car for me and instructed me to try to get the garage to take the Escort for scraps. They refused! That tells you what a nightmare this car truly was! In the end, they took pity on me and allowed me to pay the cost of the tow to the junk yard to get it out of everyone's hair. My car was in Arkansas and orientation was starting in a week. I was a student leader of orientation and could not be late!
My parents and I decide that I can rent a car to get to Arkansas. They'll take the rental to Memphis on Monday by which time I'll be back in Malibu if everything goes according to plan. Somehow, I convinced my roommate along with another of our fraternity brothers (Andy Hughes) to make this whirlwind trip. Since none of us were 25 yet, we couldn't rent a car.....but another friend, Heidi, came to the rescue! So on Friday afternoon, the three amigos left Malibu and drove non-stop to Crawfordsville, Arkansas. We arrived around 1am CST; we woke my parents, got the nickel tour of the car, grabbed a quick bite to eat and loaded the Mitsubishi for our return trip. An hour later, we were back on the road. Despite a flat tire in the Dallas area (really!?!), we pulled into Pepperdine on Monday morning at 8am. We dashed to our rooms, showered, and started welcoming a new class of students to the campus.
You would think I would have learned my lesson, wouldn't you? I didn't. Later that fall, a friend and I would drive home for Thanksgiving and got back to Malibu on Monday morning. There were trips up and down California, a few dangerous jaunts into Mexico (another example of my youthful stupidity), and more trips to Vegas than I care to remember. (Most of these trips involved various fraternity brothers as well....I'm beginning to notice a trend!)
I still love to travel by car. My traveling partners have changed a bit.....now I drag my parents around with me.....but we still have a lot of laughter in the car and make memories that will last a lifetime. It's time to pull out the road map and figure out where I need to head on my next adventure. I'm open to suggestions!
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