Tyuonyi Pueblo at Bandelier National Monument (Photo: Waylon Liu)
For several days, we would wake up early, rising with the sun. We chased the rays of daylight across America. Our car’s trunk was piled high with luggage and the backseat row was filled with snacks that we would only get halfway through before the end of the trip. Occasionally, we would stop for gas and fast food. When it started getting dark, we hoped that we could make it to a hotel with vacancies before midnight.
These long hours on the road are left out of our photo albums, but something is lost when this time goes unacknowledged. I’m able to appreciate how vast the world is in a different way than when I’m on an airplane. I’m filled with gratitude for well-maintained gas stations that I might not otherwise have. I’ve seen natural wonders and local historical landmarks away from the well-traveled roads.
For me, road trips have mostly been a time for contemplation. The radio doesn’t pick up the stations that I’m familiar with thousands of miles away from home. Cell service can get spotty away from the cities. Since I get nauseous when I try to read or watch something on a moving car, I have a lot of time with my thoughts during road trips. Time where I am forced away from the need to constantly keep up with news or social media makes me feel at peace and refreshes me for the inevitable return to daily life.
Even though going on road trips removes me from the wider world and places me more immediately into the current place in certain ways, traveling by car can also feel unreal. When I close my eyes, the freeway feels the same no matter where I am in the country, and the scenery outside can seem like nothing but an illusion. I’ve driven on the interstates past cities and towns I’ve barely interacted with beyond the surface level. Just looking at the areas near the highway doesn’t reliably indicate the true culture within a city—that requires leaving the car and interacting with the people outside. Even though I have passed through a majority of the states in the south of the U.S., I still feel like I haven’t truly experienced them.
Nevertheless, roadtripping does allow travelers the freedom to stop at smaller destinations on the way to the final destination, something not possible when flying by air. Even though my family usually has a rough plan of what we want to see during a trip, something along the way may catch our eye. White Sands National Park, Bandelier National Monument, and Barringer Crater might not be places that people would buy plane tickets to see, but they’ve been great stops for my road trips, and I’m glad to have had the chance to visit them. If I had flown instead of driven to Missouri, I wouldn’t have been able to see the Eiffel Tower replica with a cowboy hat in Paris, Texas. Whenever my family drives through a smaller city and the speed limit is dramatically decreased compared to the highway, we enjoy reading the plaques about local history. Even though the population of a certain town may only be several thousand or less, the dedication of the people there to build their community is not necessarily less than in the city.
Sometimes I feel that it can be easy to lose sight of how road trips should be fun and my family seems to forget that we are on vacation. For the sake of time efficiency, my mother is only willing to go to fast food restaurants on the days we are driving, and she eats behind the wheel so that she can maximize the daylight. When we get to a hotel at the end of the day, we only have time to cook ramen and sleep so that we can get up early for another day of driving. When the highway stretches on and the time we spend at brief detours is massively outweighed by the time on the road, the road trip just feels like unnecessary work. The majesty of the surrounding mountains becomes repetitive, the forests start to blend together, and the scenic byway is taken for granted. Despite it all, I’m glad for the time I’ve spent on my road trips and the knowledge that the journey may be just as worthwhile as the destination.
