By Megan Tcheng
This past week, Grinnellians across the globe left their hometowns behind and headed straight for the familiar fields of Iowa. As students bid farewell to their families, their friends and their freedom, many boarded planes and ventured tens of thousands of miles above sea level to reach their final destination. A select group of students, however, decided to forgo the monotony of TSA lines and baggage carousels by trading in their boarding passes for car keys.
With trunks filled to the brim and gas tanks topped off, determined students carved their paths across the country. For some, their trip passed by in an uneventful interlude of intersections, pit stops and quiet country roads. For others, however, their cross-country trek was marked by a more interesting series of events. Three Grinnell students, fresh from their continental travels, agreed to share their road trip experiences.
John Clark ’19, a Los Angeles native, traveled one of the farthest distances. With his father as his roadside companion, the two clocked in over 25 hours of driving during their weeklong adventure. To sweeten their long shifts in the driver’s seat, Clark and his father made a series of stops at national parks along the way. In Utah and Colorado, the pair hiked through Bryce Canyon, Canyonlands, Arches and the Rocky Mountain National Park.
In Canyonlands National Park, however, there was a low point.
“My dad and I went on a nine to ten mile long hike and we didn’t bring nearly enough water,” Clark said. “It was 94 degrees out so we both got really dehydrated by the end of it. After finishing the hike, we drove to the Visitors Center. While we were gasping for water, a very nice park ranger started explaining to two children the necessity of bringing water. I was very tempted to walk up to the park ranger and let him use us as examples for what not to do.”
Unlike Clark, Lydia James ’19 and Jack O’Malley ’17 sped through their road trips in less than one day. Pausing only for two short naps and the occasional pit stop, O’Malley spent 23 hours on the road as he traveled from Massachusetts to Grinnell.
Reflecting on his whirlwind road trip, O’Malley wrote, “Driving for so long does some really strange things to one’s state of mind. Being stuck in a car alone with nothing but music and podcasts and my own thoughts made me slip into this bizarre rhythm where time didn’t matter, and I was existing solely to move this car and most of my possessions across the country.”
James, in contrast, focused on finding ways to cope with the monotony of her time on the road. Using a series of tricks, including drinking caffeine, blasting music and turning up the air conditioner, James managed to fight through her solo 14 hour drive from Atlanta, Georgia.
James, however, admitted to the downsides of traveling alone. “On the way up here, I stopped at a rest stop to call my roommate Cassidy to tell her when I was arriving but also just to hear another human voice … That much time in my car can start to feel like an eternity,” she wrote in an email to the S&B. Sharing her words of advice to future drivers, James continued, “It’s a really exhausting process to push this all in one day … For anyone doing a similarly long trip, I definitely suggest doing it with other people if possible.”
Taking into account the trials and tribulations of their cross-country adventures, Clark, James and O’Malley all seem relieved to have made it to their final destination.
As O’Malley concluded, “In the end I made it back and slept immediately upon impact with my bed.”
