Road trip they said. It will be fun they said. What they didn’t say… “It will be stinky.”

Who are “they” you may ask? I have no idea to be totally honest. But I have done road trips my whole life. My family and I didn’t travel much, but when we did it was road tripping from Southern California to Northern California to visit Granny and Pop. We had this road trip down. From the stops for food, with what time to leave because of traffic, what snacks to bring, where the potty stops were. We did not have to think about anything for these trips. Due to this, I thought I was a master at road tripping. Granted, I was also always sitting in the back seat sleeping and watching my parents do this all, so of course I was a master at watching.

I had my first loner road trip a year ago when I went to Yosemite by myself to visit a friend. Southern California to Yosemite, I could do this. Well, my parents did it all for me, mapped it out, told me what to get, when to leave, where the traffic might be, where to stop and get gas. When I got there easy peasy it confirmed, I am a master road tripper.

So my boyfriend Brayden and I started talking about spring break at the end of our winter break because we figured planning it sooner rather than later would be the smartest thing to do. Flying home to Southern California was way too expensive, as well as any other flight to somewhere we wanted to go, so the idea of road tripping to Granny’s came up. Boise to San Jose can’t be as bad as OC to Boise. So we started planning, I had places and B had logistics. He figured out gas money, what routes to take to all our different destinations, how long they would be, when we should leave and blah blah blah.

After 3 months of planning and things constantly changing, we weren't fully prepared, but it’s time to go! Parents were on board, Granny was on board, and before we knew it, it was 5:15 a.m. the day we are supposed to leave and neither of us could get up. By 6:30AM our car was packed, breakfast was picked up, and we were on the road. Brayden driving, of course, and me sleeping.

From what he told me, no one was on the road, the sun was bright and shining, and the hours ahead of us were looking good. Instead of pulling us over, a cop just put his thumb down signaling us to slow down and B gave him thumbs up back as a thanks. Coffee hit us like a train 4 hours in, and that was the first stop of the day in Winnemucca, Nevada. Next stop was lunch in Reno, Nevada for some In-N-Out that B was dying for. This 2 hour stretch to Reno was a concert in our car and was the most fun part for me (General Rule of Road Tripping: have a bomb playlist.) 6-ish hours were down, tummies were full, and it was the master road trippers turn to drive.

We had to take an alternate route due to traffic (that Siri figured out), which made us go up the mountains of Nevada to the northern part of Lake Tahoe. We drove between 12 feet walls of snow on a beautifully clear day. We kept getting glimpses of the lake and knew we had to stop. The lake was breathtakingly huge! It looked like an ocean, no joke. We stopped at the bottom of the lake to shake out our legs and take in the beautiful day. We added an hour to our road trip time, but it was so worth it. B went to sleep after that and then it was all me, master road tripper time.

Well let me give you the gist of this part: playing slow music so your boyfriend can sleep is not smart when you’re already 7 hours in. Being in the fast lane is terrifying. Fast drivers are poop turds and way too aggressive for my liking. Avoid a cop pulling over after they already spotted you by squeezing yourself between 2 semi’s in the slow lane. Country music for 12 hours pisses the boyfriend off. Having your arms down while driving causes your pits to stink and you don’t realize it until you go to move your hair out of the way and release the smell that has been cooking. Diet coke it a must. Potty breaks are a no on the final stretch, because it is all about getting there at this point. Switching drivers is a no because that means stopping. Traffic for none of the road trip except for the last 10 miles of the trip causes screaming rage. Hitting your destination to give your grandpa and grandma a kiss is worth it all.

We smelt horrible, we sang our hearts out, we ate like obesity was calling our name, and we are here. Stay tuned for the rest of our road trip adventures.

March 16, 2017