I like to travel without a plan, for the most part. I like to just see where things take me. Once upon a time, I loved having a Eurail Pass that opened all of Europe (or at least all European cities with train stations) to me, leaving me looking at the Big Board in Fillendablanken Station with every train and every track a possibility. I could have written--if I were more motivated, creative, and Hollywood connected--the end to Up in the Air. I couldn't have written the rest of it, but that last scene...yeah, that I could've done.
But I don't have that kind of freedom for this trip. Unlike George Clooney, I am a happy husband and father, and I have responsibilities, even if I am, to borrow from Fat Albert, "like a teacher in the summertime." I also have a wedding to attend halfway through my trip, so I guess an itinerary makes some sense. Here's what I've got so far:
June 26: Hopkinton, MA to Morris Township, NJ. I leave after Alex and Libby go to bed and get a little jump on the next day's long drive. Alex Langlois still doesn't know I'm coming to crash on his couch.
June 27: Morris Township, NJ to Carmel, IN. This is supposed to be a ten-hour drive. I'll sleep at my brother Jim's place. He does know I'm coming.
June 28: Carmel, IN to Kansas City, MO. The first of two baseball games on this trip. White Sox at Royals. This is also my first night of camping, although I'm not sure where exactly.
June 29: Kansas City, MO to Cheyenne, WY. Here is where I start to visit states I've never seen, like Nebraska and Wyoming. Also two more capital cities to visit and two more capitol buildings to see. Another night of camping after another ten-hour day of driving.
June 30: Cheyenne, WY to Salt Lake City, UT. Camping again, this time somewhere with the Mormons.
July 1: Salt Lake City, UT to Tahoe, NV or CA. I've been to Salt Lake City, and I've seen the Temple and the Capitol, so I rise with the sun, cook up some oatmeal, and head out for the salt flats. Hopefully my mum will have a place for me to sleep indoors after my third ten-hour day in the saddle.
July 2: Tahoe, NV or CA to San Francisco, CA to Tahoe, NV or CA. The coast-to-coast is completed, and I pick up Marshall at the airport in San Francisco, then head back to Tahoe.
July 3 and July 4: Tahoe, NV or CA. I really should figure out exactly where this wedding is. "Somewhere on the lake" probably isn't quite enough information.
July 5: Tahoe, NV or CA to Las Vegas, NV. Marshall and I head through the desert to the most American of oases. We're staying in a real Vegas casino hotel for $30.
July 6: Las Vegas, NV to Flagstaff, AZ. After a trip out to the Hoover Dam and dropping Marshall at the Las Vegas airport, I drive solo again. This will be my first time in Arizona. I'll probably stay at some fleabag motel.
July 7 to July 8: Flagstaff, AZ to Denver, CO to a camping spot in the Great Plains. I've got a day and half to move through Arizona, Utah, and Colorado before watching the Cardinals play the Rockies at Coors Field on Thursday afternoon. Then camping somewhere further down the road.
July 9 to July 11: This part of the trip is the least thought out and the least exciting to me. I might head back toward Indianapolis to stay at Jim's place again, but that'll take me a little south of a direct route home. I really want to avoid traveling roads I've already seen, but with just three days to get from eastern Colorado to Massachusetts, the interstates are really my only option; I've driven most of those east of the Mississippi River and north of Tennessee, so I think I'm kind of stuck. In any case, I'd like to see my family and sleep in my bed on Sunday, July 11.
Something like that anyway. We'll see how it plays out in real life.
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