Cross-country Road Trip

A week after graduation, Brian and I embarked on a cross-country road trip from Georgia, with our final destination being Orange County, California. We packed up my car with all of my worldly possessions and set out on the 2,200 mile journey.

Neither of us had ever driven across the country, almost coast to coast, before, so we were both excited for what lay ahead. In total, we were to pass through ten different states and an assortment of landscapes including mountains, plains, forests, and deserts.

I was surprised by just how much crap I owned. The car was completely packed.

The first day was filled mostly with driving with few stops but to eat and browse a few thrift stores in the middle of nowhere. We had given ourselves a week to make the trip, covering a few hundred miles each day, but we got a bit ahead of ourselves and ended the first day just outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. We found a street fair / concert in the city and enjoyed that for a while before calling it a day.

The rest of the trip was spent similarly, driving for the better part of the morning and afternoon and stopping whenever we wished to take photos or stretch our legs. The landscape gradually transformed from lush green to the pale yellow of Texas and Oklahoma fields and ultimately the barren wastelands of New Mexico and Arizona.

Somewhere in Oklahoma, we glimpsed huge clouds of black smoke billowing up from a field alongside the highway. Craving adventure and a potential backdrop for a photo or two, Brian and I got off at the nearest exit and followed the smoke along miles of gravel roads twisting through endless fields.

We were apparently one of the first ones on the scene, before even the fire truck or ambulances that came speeding by after we’d pulled over a short distance away. We didn’t dare to get too close, should the wildfire have spread quickly in our direction.

More from Oklahoma:

Brian saw a deer from the road and parked to get a picture of it before it disappeared into the undergrowth.

Both of my feet and legs had fallen asleep, and I looked like a mess stumbling after in pursuit of the deer, hahaha.

An abandoned house outside of Oklahoma City

We stopped in some national parks along the way and of course hit the Grand Canyon, among other things. Brian and I ended up completing the trip in five days and were glad to make it to his house, for we were ultimately drained by the end of the journey. It was really enjoyable, though, and we made some good memories, and I think that’s about all one can ask for out of something like this. We're planning on road tripping up the west coast in a few weeks.