Does my title sound a little far-fetched? Well, believe it. Forty eight hours exactly from Norfolk, Virginia to Redmond, Oregon. I guess a better thing to question was our sanity. Why would anyone choose to drive across the country in two days?
Growing up in my family, vacation was known to be a precious, precious thing that my parents enjoyed to its fullest potential. Which means, any place we went, there was an itinerary for every minute of our trip. No side stops, no deviations, no sleeping in or naps in the middle. There were things to do, sights to see, places to set up camp.
Now I’m all for having a plan, but a more, generalized, flexible plan that if need be, can be completely rewritten in the moment. My best memories come from things not going according to plan, so I plan…not to go according to the plan. Confused? I am.
Anyhoo. A little of this hyperscheduling must have been passed down to my sister and I, because we figured, to maximize our time with family back in Oregon, driving straight through, sticking to the turnpikes, was the best and most logical choice. 
I’d like to tell you that it was magical. That those many many hours spent driving, stopping only for gas and peeing, went by in a musical montage of laughing and rainbows. I really would like to.
We took turns napping in the back, drank far past the healthy amount of energy drinks, yelled at the GPS that refused to update and kept repeating, “bear left, bear left, bear left” in a British accent. It wasn’t all bad though. I listened to good music (this trip helped me discover just how much I love Of Montreal), took fun pictures, realized energy drinks and jerky bites do not mix well and that we will never EVER do this again.
(at least not this way)
It was all worth it though once we reached home. I had never been so happy to see tumbleweeds and junipers in my entire life.
Fighting Fernweh 