Road Trips

I have had the pleasure of driving long distances in the USA. The longest was from Minneapolis to New York in 2009 with stops at Ohio, Washington DC, Maryland and Delaware and finally to the Bronx. I was amazed how the Honda Civic Ex could fire so much and rev so smoothly. I initially feared that because it was a small car, the ride might be rough. Alas, it delivered both on good fuel consumption and solid engine performance. But it was a lonely drive. I then decided my next long road trip wouldn't be only me. My wife, Funmi - our youngest daughter and I did a trip to Dallas via Oklahoma in the summer of 2010. It was exhilarating. We drove a Chevy Malibu and was all fun.

 

2013 Chevy Tahoe

The next trip was to Atlanta, again from Minneapolis in early April 2012. This time, I decided on a bigger vehicle and booked the Jeep Laredo 4x4. Amazingly, I'd been inside of the Chevy Tahoe only a few times previously so when the CS staff at National, MSP offered me an upgrade from the Jeep Laredo to the Tahoe, I didn't think twice of it. After all, I was doing a long road trip with my wife and two grown up kids and everyone could do with generous leg rooms. I was asked to pick anyone in the lot. There was this shimmering black, well cleaned and inviting LT model standing buoyantly in a corner of the lot. The odometer had just about 500 miles, meaning it was fresh from General Motors' assembly line.

We headed out to ATL through Rochester MN - Iowa - Illinois - Kentucky - Tennessee - Georgia. Took us about 23 hours of driving and stopping, eating and refueling. Lost our way in the night at Nashville due to massive road constructions. I was a bit angry because I knew the spot where I missed the diversion to the detour, but then I realized there were hordes of other drivers who missed the exit and were also milling around looking for a way out of town in the deep, deep night. We invariably made it out somehow by following whatever the GPS said.

Coming back was more fun. This time we avoided Iowa but gained Indiana. Poor me, I do not remember a restaurant where we had breakfast and there were mosquitoes all over. The staff seemed unperturbed. On the approach to Nashville TN, we ran into this mammoth morning traffic. Nashville again! But it was all honky-dory after all said and done. 

And then, a more recent road trip; May 2013. This time from Minnesota to Ohio. Not as long as the ones before but essentially more prevalent. Mariam and I took off from Minnesota headed to Chicago for our first stop...

I had wished to rent the Honda Odyssey but it was not available in the Alamo Rental Car lot at Minneapolis-St Paul Airport. I settled for the Toyota Sienna instead. To our chagrin, it was not the most comfortable minivan, although it had very generous leg room for everyone. The gas tank didn't hold more than 390 miles at full tank! And it was a weekend when prices of gas spiked in the Midwest. It cost us a fortune to go and return.

The usual 6 hours to Chicago took us 8 hours due to construction, unexplained traffic stops-and-go and heavy rains mostly in Wisconsin, torrential from Hudson to Madison.

We got to Olamide and Bamidele's apartment for a quick lunch after rejoicing with our visiting in-laws from Lagos, Nigeria. Olamide's Mom and Dad were in town to witness and celebrate his completion of medical school. Soon, we headed out to start the second half of the trip to Youngstown Ohio. Graduation was next day in Warren, OH.

One of the several rest area stops

We turned the rather expensive toll payments to laughing matter. We had carried a piggy bank full of loose quarters we had saved over some time. We would discover that toll money had ceased to be in quarters but dollar notes. Like one place we paid $8.00. At another place $13.00 and there was a $15.00 somewhere too, the one end of Ohio bordering Indiana. We concluded even though toll fees were expensive, the collections would most likely go to the purse of the government for the maintenance of the freeways; unlike in other cultures where the money would end up in the pockets of the toll staff, their managers and top guns at the supervising government department! We reminisced on the ill-fated Toll Plazas in Lagos Nigeria and the regrettable state of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in spite of the amount of money collected at the toll gates. 

We had a beautiful hotel stay at the Quality Inn and Suites, another property of the Choice Hotels chain in Youngstown OH. Breakfast wasn't the best but being complimentary, we took it as part of our trip's memorable things. Luckily Olamide's graduation event went great. We ran into quite a few Nigerian families at the Magnuson Grand Hotel and Conference Center, the venue of the graduation ceremony. Some of the guests were well known to Olamide's parents. We laughed that Nigerians are everywhere under the sun searching for the proverbial golden opportunity. But we were proud wearing our flowing gowns, except Olamide and Bamidele who decked English attires.

Celebrating Young MDs at Warren OH, May 2013

Olamide's College of Medicine is originally based out of the Caribbean Island, run by an entrepreneurial family from India. The keynote speaker, also an Indian and childhood friend of the founder was a state legislator from New York State. He urged the graduates to see the world as their territory; nothing should stop them from succeeding as MDs.  We ended the afternoon with a celebratory lunch at a IHOP restaurant, Warren. Many of the restaurant patrons who were excited and enthralled at seeing us come in laughing and jubilant came to ask us about our flowing gowns and where we were from.

Going back from Warren, Ohio to Chicago took a shorter drive time. We explained to our mother-in-law as she requested, how many states we crossed so she could go back with the knowledge and share with her students and co-teachers. Back in Chicago, we spent another night at a hotel, this time at a Comfort Suites, Oakbrook Terrace another Choice Hotels' property. By the next morning, at Olamide's request, we were up early so we could make it to the church at 8:30 since he would serve as an Usher that morning. We enjoyed the service at Living Word Christian Center, Forest Park. They paraded a large "mass choir", God knows how many singers, men and women, young and old... And they sang beautifully.

We soon filed out at the end of the first service, spent time doing some knowing the community with stops at Sams Club and AT&T stores. Back at the apartment, we had lunch and started back to Minneapolis. Using our mobile phones' GPS (Nokia Lumia 920 and 900 respectively), we drove through roads we never used before, from Chicago to Madison. We avoided additional toll payments. (Not by design. I must have set both of our phone Nokia Drive GPS app to avoid toll gates!) The good thing was that we also avoided most of the heavy traffic leading out of Chicago to Wisconsin. I loved the escape and the fact that we discovered alternative routes to the eccentric Chicago-Madison part of the drive.

Sunset along I-94 West near Menomonie, Wisconsin 5/19/13

However, coming through Wisconsin again was hectic because of the same road constructions we had been through on our going trip. But this time, the cause was mostly silly. On the opposite stretch, I-90/94 East, a stalled vehicle was being watched by a police car and every driver on the WI - MN West axis chose to slow down and gaze. In America, traffic gazers tend to cause more delays than accidents. I wonder if people consider it entertainment to just gaze at stalled vehicles and cops. And the rains did not abate yet. Finally we made it home at 10:15 p.m., another 8 hours just like when we went to Chicago three days earlier.

I love long road trips but I enjoy them when I drive with my family. We load the vehicle with lots of snacks and occasionally take turns to drive. We stop randomly to stretch our legs, refuel both bodily and vehicular. A woman told us at church the other day, she had just returned from a road trip to Florida and she drove all the way! What men can do on long road trips, women can do also. And may be even faster!