My wonderful Honda Civic, Victor, hit 100,000 miles last month (September 2018)! I bought him back in 2015 with only about 30,000 miles on him…which is kind of staggering to think about. During our last 3 years together, we’ve embarked on some of my favorite road trips. We’ve traveled all over the western United States, been off-roading multiple times, and he’s gotten me safely through dry deserts, monsoon-like rain, and white-out snow.
As a way to commemorate this momentous occasion, I’ve decided to share stories from my favorite road trips in no particular order. Hope you enjoy!
Road to Hana
Back in 2014, my friend Nikki and I went to Hawaii for a destination wedding. While we were on Maui, we decided to drive the famed Road to Hana in our rental car. I’d heard so many things about the road itself, the beautiful landscape, and the characters that were found along the way.
If you’ve never heard about the Road to Hana, listen up! The road itself is a 64-mile stretch of highway, winding along the island of Maui, ending at the town of Hana. Most people will drive down to Hana and back with a checklist of waterfalls to hike to, vendors to stop at, and sights to see. You can even download an app that will narrate the highway for you (we tried this and weren’t disappointed).
But our journey didn’t stop in Hana. Instead of turning around and heading back to Kihei, we forged right on past Hana.
As the sun dipped lower in the sky, we drove through increasingly more isolated countryside, acutely aware that the road wasn’t very well maintained, our cell service was waning, and the gas tank was getting dangerously low.
Not only that, but the road rose and fell sharply…which wouldn’t be a problem normally, but we were driving through open ranges and didn’t want to crash into a cow that might be on the other side of the hill.
Knuckles white from gripping the steering wheel a little too hard, we finally made our way back to Wailea-Makena.
The Pickup U-Haul on Molokai
During the same trip to Hawaii as above, Nikki and I decided to spend a few days on Molokai, the Friendly Isle. If you’ve ever traveled to Hawaii before or if you know anything about Molokai, you know that it is the least “touristy” island in the archipelago. There’s one signal on the island.
One.
We wound up staying on a non-functioning sailboat in the harbor, and decided that we needed some wheels. Hitch-hiking wasn’t going to be an option with our time commitments with hiking Kalaupapa, and there’s no public transit on the island. Of course, this was also back before ride sharing (I don’t even know if they Uber/Lyft on Molokai).
After realizing that we failed to plan ahead and rent a car, Nikki discovered that the local gas station/mechanic shop also rented out U-Haul pickup trucks.
Yeah, those big white pickups with the bright orange lettering on the side.
YOLO.
While exploring the island, we found our way to an extremely remote part of the island, where I wound up driving along a narrow, windy road that hugged the side of the mountain cliff.
Even though I had the truck all the way down in 1st gear, I still managed to ride the brakes pretty heavily…especially when we’d have a car approach us from the other direction.
Picture this: you’re chugging along your island’s remote cliff-road, when you see a monstrous pickup coming at you, side mirrors spanning the width of the entire road. Then you breathe a sigh of relief when the California girl driving said pickup manages to negotiate the truck so you have enough room to pass.
Let’s just say that we might have sweated out about 10 pounds during that journey…
Road Trips with Mom
I remember going on tons of road trips with my mother. She would always load us kids up in the back seat of Old Bessie, her 1970-something, neon yellow Datsun, or Big Blue, our Dodge sedan.
Back in the day when it was just my younger sister and I, mom would stick us in the backseat with a basket full of treats for the ride. I remember one particular trip, we were heading to Bountiful, Utah, to visit our dear friends.
Mom didn’t like the fact that we were eating our junk food fruit snacks first, so she told my sister and I to eat some of the actual fruit. We responded by throwing spent banana peels at her…while she was driving!
SO GLAD mom is an awesome driver and didn’t crash…
Cutting Through the Fields
Back in 2017, there was a solar eclipse that passed through the United States, close to where I live. My friend Ashley and I headed north to Idaho so we would be able to witness the solar eclipse in totality. After being a part of this rare event, we joined the throngs of cars that were heading south on I-15 towards Utah. The traffic was so bad, we couldn’t even get on the freeway. After attempting a few shortcuts via GPS, I asked Ashley if she trusted me to guide her out of Idaho.
Fast forward a few minutes later…and we were rumbling along dirt roads, corn and alfalfa fields on either side of us, dodging the occasional animal and tractor. Turning through a particularly dusty part, we finally were able to see in front of us…and almost got run off the “road” by a huge dualie pickup! To read about the rest of the story, click here!
A Quick Road Trip to Copenhagen
During my study abroad in Germany, I made 3 very close friends. One weekend, we decided to rent a car and drive up to Copenhagen, Denmark for the weekend.
Driving on the German Autobahn was a bucket list item for me, and even though I don’t drive stick and didn’t sit behind the wheel (we let Tom drive), I consider it checked-off. Along the way, we passed groups of people playing Quidditch in Sweden, played with a fart-noise-making app on Leisl’s phone, and held our breath as we drove through tunnels under the North and Baltic Seas.
Monument Valley
Remember how I talked about taking Victor off-roading a few times? Monument Valley was one of those unexpected trips. I decided to take a holiday weekend to visit Four Corners, and while I was in the area, I made a last-minute decision to check out Monument Valley (yet another example of why I love solo travel so much).
I wanted to get to “the” spot for sunrise, you know, the vista that’s in every advertisement for Monument Valley, and the location where Forrest Gump said he wanted “to go home now.” I woke up during the 3:00am hour and drove through the middle of open ranges for 2 hours, until I finally made it to the spot and parked my car.
I had an hour or so before the sun actually broke over the horizon, so I took the time to meditate on where I was. It was so cold and soon I had to get out of the car and hop around to get the blood flowing. Good thing I wasn’t the only one, as a car full of people were doing the same thing. All of our waiting paid off and we were finally able to watch the sunrise.
Road trip to Canada
My friend Michelle and I were in Seattle for a college friend’s wedding back in 2014. Well, the wedding was actually down in Vancouver, we just stayed in Seattle…because why not?
We ended up having to rent a car to drive down to the wedding reception, 3 hours south. The day before the wedding, however, we had the car and thought it would be fun to drive up to Vancouver, British Columbia. I had recently obtained my passport before the trip and was dying to use it. So without a second thought, Michelle and I took off for Canada!
En route, we happily chatted about what we thought Canada was like, how the Canadians would talk, and what we wanted to do when we got there. After a few hours, we neared the boarder crossing and got even more excited. It was finally happening!
We were grilled by the guard and I had to be reminded by Michelle to cool it so we could pass.
Oops.
Finally cleared, we pulled forward towards Vancouver. We decided that food was the first order of business and pulled out our phones to Yelp it up…only to realize that we were in another country and our cell service didn’t work!
Ugh, rookie mistake!
Let me tell ya – driving aimlessly around a foreign country at night isn’t all fun and games. We made it to a good restaurant (that fortunately took Visa) and were able to ask some basic questions: directions, driving laws, etc. Needless to say, it was a memorable experience that I have since learned from!
Driving around the USVI
While technically not a road trip, I totally count my time driving around St. Thomas and St. John in the US Virgin Islands. After the WORST day of travel I’ve had to date (it’s totally worth the read, I promise), I arrived in St. Thomas and made it to the car rental agency.
After a quick renegotiation of my rental rates, I walked outside to get my car. The gentleman that brought my car around was super nice and we made the customary circuit around the car, checking out the damage (there was a lot of damage to the vehicle already, and I ended up having to take a video instead of just pictures).
He loaded up my suitcase in the trunk and helped me into the driver’s seat. I thanked him as I shut the door, put on my seat belt, and then looked up and saw a HUGE sticker that said “STAY TO THE LEFT.”
My heart stopped.
Apparently you’re supposed to drive on the left-hand side in the USVI. Not only that, the cars still have the driver on the left-hand side of the vehicle. In all of my research of the USVI and St. Thomas, why had I neglected to check if they drive on the left? I made the assumption (ugh, that word) that since St. Thomas was a US territory, it would follow standard US driving rules/laws. Big fat NOPE.
Seriously, driving around a small island with hairpin turns at every corner with a cliff on one side will get your blood pumping pretty fast, especially when you’re on the opposite side of the road from the one you’re used to.
You find yourself hesitating with every turn, making sure you’re turning into the correct lane. When pulling out of a parking lot, you have to look both ways twice because you have to reorient yourself. Always an adventure!
Area 51
Buried deep in the heart of the northern Nevadan desert lies Area 51, a United States Air Force facility, attached to the Edwards Air Force Base. Conspiracy theorists have long held the belief that aliens have been held at this facility, although no concrete evidence has been presented (go ahead and Google it…I’ll wait…).
It doesn’t help that the highway nearby is known as the Extraterrestrial Highway. My friend Ashley and I decided to drive the highway one weekend and thought it would be fun to try and find the entrance to Area 51.
After stopping at the only food joint within a 100-mile radius, we were provided with a hand-drawn map from the waitress, general directions, and a warning about what we might come into contact with. We thanked our host and set off in search of the nondescript, dirt road that would take us to the gate.
As we neared the 10-mile marker on the odometer, we saw it. The gate was looming, with quite a few warning signs, visible buildings, and formidable barbed-wire fence. They really don’t want people trying to hop over and have a look.
We had planned to get out of the car, take some pictures with the gate, and see if anything was visible from the road.
In the end, we chickened out and took a selfie from inside the car.
You can get out of the car, but shouldn’t get too close to the gate. If it opens and cars/trucks start barreling out, they won’t deviate from their course.
IE: they will run you down, so get out of their way. We didn’t want to take the chance…or get arrested or abducted. But man, what a laugh!
Yellowstone and The Bird, RIP
During a trip to Jackson Hole and Teton Village, Wyoming, my friend Ashley and I decided last-minute to visit Yellowstone National Park. Not only was it opening weekend, but we later found out that the entrance fee was waived!
As we were driving along the backroads through Idaho, we became accustomed to having various birds dive-bombing in front of the car. All of the birds managed to fly away, unharmed.
All…except one kamikaze bird, who managed to get mangled up in the front grill of Ashley’s car.
And stayed lodged in the grill until we got to Yellowstone.
Where it took me a good 5 minutes to get it untangled from the grill, using a long stick…until it broke and then I had to use it like chopsticks. Poor fella. We had a short ceremony once he was freed and laid him to rest under a beautiful tree at one of the geysers.
I could go on and on with road trip stories, but these have been the most memorable for me. If you’d like to read a few others, check out these posts:
- Things to do in Evanston, Wyoming
- Don’t Forget Gas! It was one of those days…
- My Bus Ride from Auschwitz to Krakow: Learning to Stay Awake
For tips on how to make the most out of your road trips, check out these posts
- 3 Tips to Create an EPIC Road Trip Playlist
- 8 Tips to Survive a Long Road Trip
- The Survivor’s Guide to Driving in Salt Lake City, Utah
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