Surviving the highway.

Life is a highway, I wanna ride it all night long.

Mr. TPG and I haven’t been on a road trip in a long time. Three years ago, we drove from San Francisco to Washington D.C. over the course of three weeks or so. Instead of barreling through the Midwest as we are doing this time, we took our time, visiting family in Oregon, backpacking in Montana (Glacier) and Wyoming (Tetons), spending a couple of days in Chicago, and attending a wedding in Michigan. We carefully planned the trip – target destinations, NPR podcasts, and a cooler of snacks and drinks. We camped out in our tent until I couldn’t take it anymore and needed a hot shower and a bed (usually no more than one night at a time). For this trip, our departure from D.C. was hurried and much less organized. Mr. TPG starts his new job just after the Memorial Day weekend, thus we are trying to get to Carson City as soon as possible so we can settle in a bit before that happens. Plus, we are both supposed to be studying for the bar exam (yikes), which probably won’t begin until we’re set up in our new home.

I graduated from law school on Sunday afternoon. It was bittersweet, saying farewell to friends but finding closure to an arduous three years. For Mr. TPG, who graduated last Sunday, his farewell to D.C. is much more final. For me, I will be back in the city for the fall semester to finish my joint masters degree in international affairs. While I may be less sad about our departure since I will return in a few months, it does feel like I will never have the same D.C. life again.

Yesterday morning, we sped through the final cleaning, packing, and throwing away of things from our apartment. Our moving container got picked up. And then, without a real travel plan, we hit the open road. Well, not the open road until we got out of Maryland. Thank you, D.C. metro traffic.

Mr. TPG and I have been enriching our minds with NPR since we left, with brief breaks for some country tunes and a hip hop dance party in the car. Without podcasts, we’ve even listened to some of the NPR shows twice as we’ve headed West across the states and the stations broadcast the same shows at consecutive times (James Cohen on Goldman Sachs was really interesting). I’m typing this blog as we cross from Indiana into Illinois, as Mr. TPG navigates the roads and dodges the crazy trucks. After logging almost 12 hours of driving time, I’m starting to get bored and stir crazy. I’ve settled for keeping a log the money we’ve spent on gas (including the price per gallon at each stop and the miles per gallon we’ve been averaging), reading every sign we pass (love those “Keep Alert” signs in Pennsylvania – if you’re not alert, would you really be reading the signs?), and hedging our bets for the best snack breaks (Red Burrito at this rest stop versus the possibility of a DQ up ahead).

How do you survive long road trips? I need ideas. For my sanity. Please.