Cross-Country Trip

Daily writing prompt

You’re going on a cross-country trip. Airplane, train, bus, car, or bike?

View all responses

When I was in my twenties, my husband and I drove from Indiana to the Bay Area in California. It was a 36 hour long drive and we did it in three days. We drove my car, a 1976 Camaro. Soooo, it was not comfortable. I remember kneeling on the floor of the front passenger seat with my head on the seat, trying to get some sleep. The backseat was full of our stuff, because we were essentially moving there. There was no sight-seeing, no overnights at posh hotels with time to sit at the bar or swim. It was a down and dirty one-way road trip and all we cared about was GETTING THERE.

When I was in my thirties, my husband and I and our two children, aged five and two, did that trip in reverse. This time we had a full size cargo van and we pulled a little U-Haul trailer. Hubs had divided the van into front and back with a curtain, we put padding and carpet and lots of pillows and blankets on the floor for the kiddos to lay on. He rigged a 13″ black and white TV up so it would run off battery power and the kids got to watch one VHS tape every day – the indisputable highlight of their day. We made the trip in five or six days, we stopped whenever we wanted, ate McDonalds literally all across America, and only had one mishap – I fell in a rest stop and hit my head on the brick wall & had to have 7 staples in my head. The kids were SO good, it was amazing, really. But it was still awful. We couldn’t wait to get to Indiana. My trip to the ER in Des Moines, IA, was the last thing we did before my husband decided that was it – he was putting the hammer down and we were getting there TONIGHT. We rolled in at 3:00 a.m.

Now I am an older woman, but I drive to Chicago a few times a year to see my daughter. It is a four hour long trip that always takes 5 or more hours. It lasts forever. I still don’t really like car trips. I think I am too impatient.

If I had to go cross-country, you can guess that it would not be by car. I have never tried the bus or train, but I imagine it is not much better. Perhaps one day I will travel by train. My sister said she would like us to go on a train trip, so its a possibility. Most of my many trips between California and Indiana have been by airplane, and, while that isn’t perfect, it is my preferred method of travel. It is fairly quick, usually takes a day, and then you are at your destination and can to enjoy your people and the new surroundings, and usually that is what it is all about.