Surviving a Road trip

David Dale
Professor Rogers
English 1A
9/11/12

                Surviving a Road trip
    I could never decide whether T-shirts and shorts should go into my duffel bag first, or boxers. It’s one of those odd thoughts I get every time I have to take these family trips, I pack my clothes the night before and say my goodbyes to the comfortable bed I’m surely going to miss. A kind of depression sets in that only those of my generation and the even younger crowd would know, that begins with the question “What am I going to do with no computer, no friends, and no internet for the next three days?” I awoke to an alarm that morning, and remained in bed until the sound was strangling my sanity. I thought to myself, “damn it” and flung my arm out to my right to try to hit the correct button and turn off that damn alarm. Unfortunately life isn’t fair, and a few seconds later,  I rose up out of bed and decided to spend a few calories of energy to turn it off correctly. After staring at the wall for some small length of time I slowly rose to my feet and decided to wash up. After quick shave, shower, and a double check of all my belongings I packed into my blue duffel bag the night before, I threw my baggage into the back of the truck that was parked outside the house. I stood outside admiring the dark blue sky, how the sun lights up the horizon just a bit so it casts a blue hue upon everything you look at. Everything is so fresh, crisp, and cold, I entered that half-awake, half-asleep mindset for a moment, but all good things end, and so the next moment was the jolting feeling from my father putting a handful of ice cubes down my shirt, jumping back and laughing “Wake up! You’re still asleep!”. After emptying my shirt of ice, and feeling that I was melting like one of the Nazis from the end of the Indiana Jones movie “Raiders of the Lost Ark”, I shrugged off the annoyance and sat in the cold truck. If there’s one virtue I have when it comes to road trips, its that I have no problem sleeping, even if my face is smooched against a cold glass window, amusing passing drivers. We left town, and I awoke with neck pain about twenty minutes from Red Bluff, looking outside to fields of yellow, and recognizing that smell of manure from all the farms you get around that area. With all of the boring scenery that accompanied the moment, I couldn’t help but to fall back into a slumber. My sleep didn’t last long, we reached Redding and there was no returning to sleep, I watched the hills of grass become pine trees just before we arrived, it was no surprise, I pass by every year. To my attention however, came the realization that Redding had become quite a cozy, it was large enough to enjoy, but not be a hassle to maneuver. I thought to myself “maybe this wouldn’t be a bad place to live”. It was not as old and boring as I remembered, usually we pass through and continue to trinity lake, however this time we drove around a bit and were going to a different destination. There was quite a bit of new development, and an olive garden, which my father decided was where our lunch would be taken. There is nothing special about an olive garden restaurant, however I was pleased that we sat next to another family that was apparently Italian. I spent most of the time listening to the language of the Italians rather than paying attention to my family’s conversations about work.  We left satisfied, and continued on the highway towards Oregon, which was lined with farmland, but unlike the valley farmland, was green and was surrounded by mountains. Green grass, mountains, and cooler weather was a godsend since I can’t tolerate hot summers. Driving through the countryside, it became the late evening, and the scenery became dark orange, then eventually black. We came across a Motel 6 during the night, and I was reminded why I thought motels were absolutely boring.  I walked to my room and swiped my card, and set the air conditioner to the coldest setting. I figured that since they are going to charge an arm and a leg for a room I might as well make it worthwhile. I walked over to adjust the knob only to find that it doesn’t work, my only option was going to be a cold shower, followed by a series of boring TV channels that were enough to force me to get some sleep for the next day. Wake up calls actually work, the phone rang, I answered, and I was awake at eight in the morning, with no coffee to be found. I walked like a zombie to the shower and prepared for another day. I walked out to the truck to meet my family. We signed out after talking to each other about how well we slept that night, and threw our bags in the back of the truck. Finally, the purpose of the entire trip was only a couple of hours away. Crater lake was somewhere off in the distance through more of the thick forest. The trip continued until we hit Oregon, we slowly began driving into a thick forest with green foliage everywhere, quite different from the forests I’ve been to in California, that are somewhat sparse and have lots of exposed soil. Here, the forest floor was covered with lush greenery. Surrounded by trees and entertained by music I brought with me, I absorbed the mood and lost some of the cynicism I had at the beginning of the trip. We stopped at a building with crater lake information, the kind that wants you to buy items like crater lake info books and toys for children. We left a few minutes later and headed up the side of a mountain to the lake. It was a winding road that slowly climbed the side of a mountain. I caught a glimpse of a nice log building with a copper colored roof, and then a loud parking lot swarming with people. After a short time we managed to find a parking spot and walked over to the lodge, seen a sign directing us to a place to view the lake and followed it. The lake was located in the center of a ring of mountains, and was a deep blue that impressed me more than Lake Tahoe. Towards the edge of the lake’s shore closest to our location, the water slowly became a light blue ring that could be seen almost entirely around the edge of the lake. The circle of mountains that contained the lake was huge, it was an amazing sight, and coupled with the sound of a smooth, cool breeze, it was a memorable moment. We admired the view and walked along a trail full of loud tourists. A family caught my attention, speaking German, with a small boy guessing at how deep the lake could be, as his father directed him towards the information building we were walking to. The information center was small, crowded and very noisy, but had a nice cozy feeling to it. What I found interesting, was that absolutely nothing is allowed in the lake except for scientific research, and very few boat tours, in an attempt to keep the lake pure.  We looked at everything we could, took plenty of pictures, then left to go back home. We took a different route from before, and turned west to drive down the coast with the plan to spend a day in the city Eureka, to enjoy some cool weather and the beach. By this time, I was sick of listening to my music, and joined the rest of my family’s conversations. Surprisingly time went by fast, and we reached Eureka on a nice cool overcast day in the evening. After stopping at yet another motel and checking in, we left to go eat at a Marie Calendar’s restaurant. As we parked I noticed a large rock fountain outside the restaurant, made of a few boulders somehow stuck together to make a waterfall. Inside we managed to sit next to a window right next to it. It was here that I experienced the worst server in my whole life, an hour of waiting just to get something to drink, losing my fathers order, and a long wait to get the check that in the end, which was brought by another server after we asked to retrieve it. Luckily, I had a common grievance with my family that supplied a good conversation, and a couple of birds to watch taking a bath at the top of the large rock fountain. After the restaurant experience, we retired to the motel until the next morning. I awoke and got ready for the long drive back home, but before leaving on the long uneventful drive back to woodland, we stopped by a small beach south of eureka. Nobody was on the beach, except for a few sea lions playing right off of the coarse pebble beach we were standing on. We watched them swim around, and dive for whatever food they were searching for, carefree about the world around them. I took a few photos of some brown and blue starfish stuck to the side of some big boulders, with my feet freezing from the cold water, I rushed back on shore in triumph. We all relaxed and watched the waves splash against giant rocks, and the birds that were trying to avoid getting wet from them. I walked over to a cliff to watch a small stream of water that made its way down the beach and into the ocean, admiring it closely, I was pushed into it from behind. Again, my father mischievous behavior resulted in amusement for the family, only this time I didn’t mind it being at my expense, and laughed with everyone. We soon left the beach and continued home, getting back to the house just before dark. Everyone was tired, but sat down for a family dinner and talked about our experiences and what we should do for our next trip.