Road Trip Out West

Day One – Monday, May 10, 2010 – Louisville, Kentucky to Miami, Oklahoma

I kept a journal when Kemal and I made a road trip out West with my parents, and I’d like to share it with you.

We made a lot of photos, and Kemal also made a few short videos, so you can see some of the interesting and beautiful places we saw along the way.

Each page corresponds to each day of our vacation. In case you want to go directly to a certain day so you can see pictures of a specific place or event, here’s a quick guide before the story begins.

• Page 1: Louisville, Kentucky to Miami, Oklahoma

Page 2: Miami, Oklahoma to Albuquerque, New Mexico

• Page 3: Albuquerque, New Mexico to Grand Canyon Village, Arizona – On this day we visited the Very Large Array (VLA) at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) and the Grand Canyon.

• Page 4: Grand Canyon Village, Arizona to Fresno, California – On this day we visited the Grand Canyon and reunited with my uncle Ronald (my father’s brother) and aunt Mary.

• Page 5: Fresno, California to San Francisco, California – On this day we visited Yosemite National Park.

• Page 6: San Francisco, California – The highlight of this day was Mom’s high school reunion.

• Page 7: San Francisco, California – Some of the places we visited on this day included the Pacific Ocean, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Muir Woods.

• Page 8: San Francisco, California – Highlights of this day were Fisherman’s Wharf and Chinatown.

• Page 9: San Francisco, California to Eugene, Oregon – On this day we stopped at Treasure Island and reunited with my Uncle Bobby (my mother’s brother) and Aunt Linda.

• Page 10: Eugene, Oregon to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho – The highlight of this day was the drive along the Columbia River Gorge.

• Page 11: Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho to West Yellowstone Montana and Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. The highlights of this trip included seeing buffalo at Yellowstone and seeing Old Faithful erupt.

• Page 12: West Yellowstone, Montana to Rawlins, Wyoming

• Page 13: Rawlins, Wyoming to Lincoln, Nebraska

• Page 14: Lincoln, Nebraska to Louisville, KY

Our story begins with Mom and Dad and inviting me and Kemal to go on a road trip out West with them. The purpose of the trip was so Mom could attend her high school reunion in San Francisco, California. The rest of the trip was decided upon based on what we had time to see and do before the reunion, as well as what we had time to see before Kemal and I had to be back to work.

There were so many places we could have gone and so many places we wanted to see, but time was limited. So Dad asked all of us for input to find out the places we were most interested in visiting. Then he calculated how many miles we’d have to drive each day to reach our destination, as well as determined about how much time we’d be able to spend at a given location.

He did a great job figuring it all out, and armed with maps of every state we planned to drive through, a U.S. atlas, a GPS, and a Trip-Tik from AAA, we set out on the road, eager to see the sights, as well as friends and loved ones we hadn’t seen in many years.

The road trip “warriors” (me, Kemal, Mom, and Dad) left Louisville around 8 a.m. the day after Mother’s Day. Unfortunately, I was just way to sleepy to even try to take a family picture of us the first day of our vacation, but here’s a photo that a kind tourist took of us “warriors” several days later in Yosemite. (Me and Kemal are the couple on the right while my parents are on the left.)

We were in good spirits when we left Louisville, but right around the time we crossed over to the Illinois state line from Indiana, I had an awful realization. I remembered there were smoked fishies in our garbage can. I had wanted to take the trash out before we left…was planning on it…so I thought nothing about putting the fish in the trash. I asked Kemal if he would grab the trash on our way out. He said just to leave it because it wasn’t full and only had a few papers in it. I replied that I’d like to go ahead and take it on out, but he said not to worry about it…to just leave it.

I had already forgotten that I had put those smoked fish in the garbage. If I had remembered, I would have insisted on getting rid of the trash before we left. It doesn’t help that I’m getting more and more forgetful the older I get, and that, in combination with lack of sleep the night before, were the two reasons why I forgot about those stupid fish needing to be taken out of the house. *sigh*

I had made this huge, detailed list for that very reason. I wanted to make sure that I didn’t walk out the door in my half-sleepy state, forgetting simple things like my glasses, keys, purse, etc. (Yes, I had those items on my list believe it or not!)

Despite my efforts, I still failed. Darn those smoked fish!!!

They would have been just fine in the refrigerator. Why did I have to go and put them in the trash anyway? Why? No matter how much soul-searching I did, I couldn’t answer that question. It wasn’t necessary at all, and I made a stupid mistake for which I was sure we’d all pay when we got back home to our hot apartment which would stink like rotting fish! I could imagine how the stench would be unbearable!

Fourteen to sixteen days is a long time, and those fish would just get stinkier and stinkier and fouler and fouler, as every day went by. Every day they’d rot a little more, and every day, more and more creepy crawlies would be exploring the realms of our garbage can. But what if they got out? *shivers*

I knew that hoping wouldn’t help because no matter how much I hoped those dreaded fish wouldn’t rot and stink, well…they simply would. There was no way around it, and me hoping wouldn’t change anything. Still, I kept hoping that any maggots or other such nasty, disgusting, skin-crawling creatures wouldn’t make it out of the tight lid that was on our garbage can. The thought they might get out was making me queasy and sick to my stomach. Never, ever will I eat smoked fish again! They’ll always make me not only think of maggots, but also make me think of my failure to make sure that every last detail was taken care of before out trip.

One good thing came out of this fishy situation. I learned that first and foremost, always take the trash out before leaving leaving on a trip. And just in case you might forget to take the trash out, never ever, put food in the trash before going on a road trip; leave the food in the fridge. And most importantly, always make a copy of your house key and give it to a friend or family member you trust. That way…just in case…they can take care of any stinkin’ fish that might be lurking in the garbage.

Fortunately for me, despite my lack of sleep the night before, I came up with an idea. During a pee break at a rest stop, a thought occurred to me, but before I tell you about my idea, let me show you a picture that Kemal took of me just minutes before my potential brilliant solution. You can see how deep in thought I am. I guess that deep thinking did some good!

I remembered how much I love the apartment complex where we live and how helpful all the staff has always been to us. It occurred to me that a staff member from our apartment complex might be willing to help us out, so I called back home to Louisville. To my great relief, Mary, a really sweet lady and life saver, offered to take out our trash and then lock up our apartment after I told her what had happened. Bless her soul! I can tell you I definitely breathed a huge sigh of relief when she told me she’d take care of our garbage! Her taking care of those fish meant that I could enjoy not only the rest of my day, but also the rest of my vacation! Mary is quite a gem, and when we got back from vacation, we gave her a card and some flowers to show our appreciation.

Anyway, once the stinky-fish crisis was averted, we enjoyed seeing St. Louis.

But then we faced another crisis in Missouri and Oklahoma…thunderstorms and tornado outbreaks.

Now, while I’m a big scare-dee-cat during this kind of weather, Kemal was hoping to see a funnel cloud as we passed through Missouri. One of his favorite movies is “Twister,” and he’s always had this desire to see a funnel cloud in real life and not just on the big screen. He didn’t get his wish though, thank goodness!

We drove through Missouri and continued on to Miami, Oklahoma without incident. The winds, however, were quite strong and rocked the Suburban while we were on the road, but we got there safely. Dad was thinking about boogieing on down the road a bit more, but he decided not to because the sky looked dark and menacing and also because he wanted me and Kemal to get some rest. He knew we didn’t get much sleep the night before because we were working late, and we were also switching our sleep cycles and were exhausted. (We normally sleep during the day but were switching to sleeping at night while we were on vacation.)

It’s a good thing Dad made that decision to stop in Miami because deadly tornadoes were outbreaking in Oklahoma right in the direction we would have been heading. In fact, we learned that the interstate was closed in the direction we were heading. Apparently several semi-trucks and cars were overturned, and I believe there were utility lines down in the road. Thank goodness we didn’t continue driving down the road or else we’d have gotten in all that mess.

The clerk at our hotel said the tornadoes were were headed our way though, and she was quite worried, saying that the last tornado that came through the area completely wiped out a nearby town. Our room, she said, was next to the conference room, which is where she told us to go if we heard sirens or got a knock on our door. We also tracked the storm by watching the local television station, and here’s a picture of Dad doing just that:

Just as I snapped this picture, a breaking weather report came on the television at the hotel. After watching the updated news, Kemal went outside to make a video of the strong winds while enjoying his coffee and a cigarette.

There wasn’t much light outside so keep that in mind when you watch the video:

Fortunately, the tornadoes missed Miami, but the damage across much of the rest of Oklahoma was extensive and devastating. Besides tornadoes, parts of Oklahoma was getting pelted with baseball-sized hail, and we were all thankful that we were safe in sound in Miami.

I crawled into bed early to try to sleep off a migraine that had started earlier in the day. I think it was the lack of sleep the night before that probably caused it and figured all I needed was a good night’s rest. Turns out I was right.

Anyway, that’s pretty much the highlights of our first day; however, Dad remembers things a bit differently.

This is how Dad would sum up Day One: “Can we stop to pee?” “I need to pee, please.” “Time for a potty break.” “Uh…my bladder’s not gonna make it ’till the next rest area.” “Can we please stop to pee, pretty please with strawberries and whipped cream on top!” Hahahahahahaha!!!!! Isn’t it amazing just how often me and mom gotta go!!! We’re like two peas from the same pod. No pun intended. haha! Here we are at a rest area in Indiana.

And here’s Mom at another rest area

while Dad waits patiently for us.

One thing’s for sure, Dad’s version is certainly accurate!!!