When I tell people that my family and I drove from Utah to Tennessee, the typical reactions are shock, sympathy and sanity questions. I have to admit that before leaving, I was worried about going crazy myself. If the distance wasn’t enough, the car we were taking had only a radio — no cassette or CD player. But if you apply the moniker “road trip” to the experience, it takes on a new light. We’re not just driving, we’re having an adventure.
Adventure or not, the first thing we had to fix was the entertainment capabilities of the car, so we got a portable DVD, CD, VCD, and MP3 player, a car power adapter for it, and an interesting gadget that could broadcast the audio to the car’s FM radio. I also ripped enough CDs that we could play music all the way there and back without hearing the same song twice.
The morning we were to leave, Ethan was chomping at the bit. He was motivated by a couple of things, even though we explained that we would be in the car for a long time: First, he said anything was better than school. Second, Shannon had wrapped a bunch of new toys to distribute at tactical moments, and Ethan is always ready for new toys.
We split the trip into three days of eight hours driving each day. It occurred to me on the first day that this wasn’t too different from being at work — about the same amount of time sitting, but with better scenery, more breaks and fewer meetings.
Someone forgot to inform Denver of the start of spring.
May 10, 2003
The Butterfly Pavilion in Denver.
May 10, 2003
Our first real destination was actually Texarkana, Texas to visit Shannon’s parents. Shannon’s mom does a few special things to make me feel welcome: she puts a bowl of Gummi bears in the bedroom, has some “real” milk on hand, and replaces the long expired cereal with something fresher.
Grandpa had a couple of adventures planned for us. For the boys, it was a search for buried pirate treasure. The pirate had given up his roguish ways and handed over the map to his treasure.
We explored an old “pirate” ship before getting to the X that marked the spot and the digging began. The boys were pretty excited at the “hey, I’ve hit something hard!” stage, but there was still a fair amount of digging left, and they almost gave up even with the treasure chest in sight.
The boys with the “pirate” after digging up the treasure.
May 12, 2003
While there was a little actual money in the treasure chest, Ethan decided he wanted the rest of the treasure to be a bit more liquid. He set out a “for sale” sign in front of the house to hock the jewelry, shells, and other booty. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of traffic in front of grandma and grandpa’s house once you exclude the birds, squirrels and raccoons.
Grandpa’s other planned adventure was teaching me to fly fish. While it was kind of fun wading through a river in the Arkansas woods, I didn’t have much luck with the actual fish catching part. I did pull one in, however, and it’s not often you see a fish that size — you have to have pretty sharp eyes.
Possibly the first fish I’ve ever caught.
May 13, 2003
After Texarkana, we continued east to Memphis, Tennessee, where the rest of the Fearnley clan lives. Ethan and Gerrit had a great time with their cousins, and the ready access to video games.
My nephew Matthew challenged me to a wrestling match, wherein he pursued the brilliant strategy of wearing me down by allowing me to pin him with every hold I could remember from high school. The tiny chink in his plan was that by the time I got through them all, it was time to go play laser tag.
Don’t I look tired already?
May 17, 2003
The weather was kind of exciting at times. Twice, once in Texarkana and once in Memphis, there were tornado warnings. When that happens, air raid sirens start to wail and people get a bit antsy. Fortunately, no twisters came through where we were — we must have been too far from a trailer park. On the other hand, it might have made this vacation report more interesting if one had.
We were able to attend Valorie & Jed’s wedding…
May 17, 2003
…And Sara’s baptism.
May 18, 2003
It soon became time to head home, meaning another few long days on the road. We had a great time spending half a day at the Exploration Place in Wichita, had lots of ice cream stops, swam in hotel pools, and soon we were coming back into Utah.
Gerrit wore out his sucking thumb and had to start on his big toe.
May 20, 2003
I’ve decided that if you want to make a great impression on someone coming to Salt Lake City for the first time, driving in on I-80 is the way to do it. It may be that southwest Wyoming makes anything look good in comparison, but the mountains were spectacular. Then you break out of Parley’s Canyon into the valley surrounded by snow-capped peaks. Funny that there are accounts of some of the first pioneers, who came in on a similar route, being highly disappointed. But then they didn’t have a comfortable air-conditioned house waiting for them. It’s nice to come home.