Rebuilding Rob

Think back on your most memorable road trip.

People in the eastern United States talk about making the drive to California as if it’s the Great American Road Trip. I’ve done it.

Many moons ago, 2003 to be exact, I was student teaching at a junior high just down the road from the high school where I’m teaching today.

X1 and I were married at this point. I was getting ready to finish up my teacher certification. On the other hand, X1 was getting a little trigger-happy and was ready to take a full-time position pretty much anywhere.

She was offered a teaching position in Vacaville California, which is nearly 2500 miles from my current location. She accepted the position, and plans had to come together very quickly. We had decided that she was going to take the job in California, while I would finish student teaching in Michigan. At the end of my semester, I would make the move out West as well. Or so we thought.

In order to get her out there, we would make the long commute; the ultimate road trip to California. This is a trip that every American who has ever driven a car and lived east of the Mississippi River has fancied themselves partaking in one day.

The drive would take us through a total of eight states, including Michigan. Unfortunately, our commute had us going around Denver and Salt Lake City. We passed through Chicago; which is to to say that we saw the city via I-94, which isn’t much.

I had never been out West before this trip, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was shocked that as we drove through Colorado, I would walk up and down a few hills at the rest stop checking out the ideal photo locations, and I found myself breathing heavy. I’m probably not in great physical shape, but I wasn’t exactly immobile 20 years ago either I’ve always heard the stories about NFL players, gasping for air whenever they’re playing at Mile High Stadium, just because the air is thinner. This is the first time I experienced anything like that myself Another thing I wasn’t really fully ready for was seeing signs indicating that certain sections of the freeway would be closed during extreme weather, such as snow. All I could think to myself was. What happens if somebody times their trip badly and gets caught off guard?

Of all the states we drove through, Wyoming scared me the most. There’s just so much of nothing in that state. Maybe I’ve seen too many road movies, but all I could remember, thinking is myself is there’s an awful lot of places to bury a body here

We stopped for, if I recall correctly, just one night at a hotel. It is simply way too long of a drive to do straight through. Looking back, I wish that I had taken more photos. Granted, this was at a time before camera phones, when Digital photography was just coming of age.

We did spend a day running around San Francisco before I took the flight back to Michigan. I made a point of at least passing by San Francisco’s Oracle Park, but the photos may have been buried on some random CD somewhere.

X1 had made arrangements to stay with a teacher at her new school before we had even arrived. I was going to leave the car with her and fly back to Michigan from California. I remember saying goodbye to her at the airport and wondering how we were going to do this for three months being 3000 miles apart.

The best way I could describe myself getting on the plane and flying back to Michigan would be “halfhearted”. as corny as it sounds, I just felt like a big piece of me was missing. We had talked the next day a few times, both crying quite a bit. I think we were already both having second thoughts on this decision. I was trying to be encouraging, but at the same time trying not to push her to do something she didn’t want to do. We had both come to the conclusion of. If we can’t do this, we’ll figure something out to get you home.

The next day, I went into work. During one of my “planning hours” I’ve gotten a call from X1. I can hear the wind rushing by behind her, so I knew that she was on the road. “I’m in Nevada“ she said, “almost getting ready to cross into Utah”. She was coming home. She was bound, and determined to do the entire drive herself. Although one didn’t drive straight through nonstop, she didn’t stop in any hotels on the road either. I think she would sleep for a few hours here and there at various road stops during the trip.

Her and I never really talked much about this California adventure afterwards. I guess, in the end, we can’t say we didn’t try it. We wasted a ton of money over the span of just a few days, but were just both be glad to be together again. She had never even set foot inside the school she was going to work at! But I never held any malice or animosity towards her for it. This is something we both agreed to do in order to improve our situation, and we just weren’t up to it.

While I didn’t really stop to soak everything in and truly enjoy the experience, I can say that I made the great American Road trip to California. Of course, given the hyper-competitive nature of X1, I’m sure there’s some part of her that looks back sometimes and thinks to herself “yeah, well I did it twice”.

Typical.

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier related posts:

• The O.R. Virgin
• A Day in the Life of Rob
• Rob Reviews: The Acolyte. Am I missing the boat here?
• Rob goes green
• The nicest, coldest drink ever

The article “Rob and The Great American Road Trip“ originally appeared on Rebuilding Rob