If you ask a lot of people that know me, especially my family, they’ll probably tell you that I like driving and I can drive a long distance without getting tired, which is true. From the time I was a kid until the present day, road trips have been one of my favorite things to do for fun and leisure. To me, there is something that feels really neat about just being on the highway, away from your normal life and places and just going where the road takes you. So in 2014, after I graduated from high school, I decided that I would find four or five days that summer and drive my car somewhere in the western U.S.A and see how it goes, having never been on a trip by myself before.
I found an open week in mid-July so on Wednesday, July 9th, I packed up a small bag with some changes of clothes, a road atlas, some snacks, and some emergency water(incase my car broke down in the desert), and I left, not knowing exactly where I was going. I ended up driving through Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Colorado Springs, Denver, and then I went home on a more northerly route with took me through Utah which was amazing. My whole trip lasted four days and three nights and when I got home that Saturday night, although I was pretty worn out from driving that far, I was so happy that I did the trip.
Looking back on that trip three years later now, the memories are still so great and I can so clearly picture many of the amazing sights that I saw those four days. That feeling of being able to drive wherever I wanted with no set schedule was really cool. While trips with family and friends are fun too and I go on them all the time, I think everybody at some point should consider going on a solo trip, even if it’s not a road trip and you’d prefer to fly somewhere or take a train. You can play music that you want to hear, stop wherever you want along the way without worrying if someone else would prefer to keep going, and you have a lot of time for your mind to just relax and enjoy the scenery around you. There are so many things to see in the world and even just a small trip like this can really give you a glimpse of this.