Things Learned on a Cross-Country Trip

In July, my boyfriend and I took a cross country road trip from Wilmington, NC to my hometown in South Dakota. We left Wilmington and went north through the West Virginia mountains, making a weekend stopover at Marshall’s parents’ house in east-central Ohio. From Ohio, we went to St. Charles, IL to spend a night with my aunt and uncle.

South Dakota

On our third day of traveling, we made it to my mom’s house. We spent 10 days in South Dakota with my family and friends, attending a family wedding while we were there. Some of my other family members were visiting from Wyoming at the same time and the house was full, so we slept in a camper in my mom’s yard. It was like we were camping, but not really.

The Drive Home

When it was time to leave my Mom’s, the plan was to drive south from South Dakota stay with a good friend of mine in Kansas for the night, and then head back east. On the way, we realized that I hadn’t done my map research as I should have.

Unfortunately, going to see her would have actually been close to six hours of extra driving time by the time we were back on the road the next day. At this point in the road trip, six hours seemed like WAY too many.

So, we changed our plans a bit and instead of going south from Kansas City, we went east. We drove until we were about 2 hours west of St. Louis and camped at a Missouri state park in the middle of the country. We bought some bug spray and a pizza from the (only) local gas station and had a good night. The lesson here: It doesn’t do much good to bring a tent if you only bring 1 small pillow and 1 blanket.

After our camping adventure in the woods, we got up in the morning and kept driving east. We drove until we got to Knoxville, TN. We tried to rent a cabin in Gatlinburg for the night but had Miss Dakota with us. It turns out that most cabin rentals in the mountains don’t really care for furry four-legged friends … so a Motel 6 in Knoxville it was. The next morning, we drove from Knoxville back to Wilmington in an uneventful last leg of our 48+ hour trip. We unloaded the rental car, cleaned all of the dog hair out of it, and took it back to the airport.

A Few Road Trip Observations Were Made:

• I haven’t yet conquered my fear of driving through tunnels. This was discovered on I-77 North in West Virginia.
• When they say “Check the rental car for damages before leaving the parking lot with it,” they mean it. We found the broken driver’s door lock 4 hours down the road. (Six hours later when I finally got the Wilmington, NC Hertz office to answer the phone, I was assured it wouldn’t be a problem and it would be noted on my account.
• Two weeks later, I was lucky enough to turn the car into the same employee I had spoken with on the phone. Not only did she not charge me for the broken lock but gave me a $40 credit to my account for the inconvenience.) Tip to travelers: get a AAA membership and rent from Hertz – they offer a great AAA discount AND awesome service.
• The county roads in Columbiana County, Ohio are hilly and curvy and make me (really) carsick, even if I sit in the front seat.
• Golden retrievers are pretty good bird hunters, even if they haven’t been taught to do so.
• The windmills in Minnesota are really cool to look at. But, we can’t quite figure out how the power is used after it is collected from the wind. This question may be a good research item for a future blog post.
• Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin looks like so much fun and it was awfully tempting to pull off and stay for a day or two instead of just driving by.
• A groundpig is the same thing as a groundhog.
• Some counties in South Dakota have such a problem with pocket gophers, that they offer a $2.00 per animal bounty. To claim your $2.00 per animal, you have to turn the 2 front paws into the county office.
• After living in North Carolina and seeing the big ugly scary snakes we have here, I’m not nearly as afraid of the harmless South Dakota garter snakes as I was when I was a child. They didn’t make me scream or yell or anything.
• Dakota, my 4-year-old golden retriever who has never had puppies, adopted a small gold kitten at my mom’s house and thought it was her baby.
• You shouldn’t switch to Captain Morgan and Coke after drinking keg beer all night.
• There are more fish to catch in my aunt and uncle’s neighborhood in St. Charles, Illinois than there are in the lakes near my mom’s house in South Dakota.
• Pulling over to the shoulder of the road in the middle of a construction zone is only allowed if you have an emergency. We had one on I-29 in the middle of Iowa when Marshall pulled over to let me jump out of the car with Dakota before she got sick in the rental car.
• South Dakota has Michelob Golden Light, and it’s really good.
• Even though Wisconsin is known for being the state with good cheese, we managed to drive through without stopping at a cheese store. We kept thinking we would see another one and would stop then, but we were in Minnesota before we knew what happened. I bought Iowa cheese from a South Dakota grocery store instead. Sorry, Wisconsin Cheese Farmers.
• My boyfriend doesn’t like the way I drive. I don’t like the way he drives. Try driving for 2,500 miles that way.
• There is a great Sinclair gas station in the middle of Missouri that makes an awesome handmade meat lover’s pizza. For only $3.99.
• There is a gas station in Kansas City that sells liquor. You can get gas, dinner, a movie, and rum – all in one stop.
• I was in the parking lot of a Krystal Burger in Knoxville, TN but didn’t get to eat there. How unfair is that?
• Taco John’s has the best Mexican fast food ever. I love Taco Bell, I do … but there is no comparison.
• South Dakota Video Lottery is kind of fun to play. I won $13 one night and was so excited, you would have thought I won $100.
• There’s nothing quite as fun or relaxing as a John Deere wedding on a beautiful farm in South Dakota with family and friends.
• One of the most refreshing things is to spend time with old friends. You realize that none of you have changed a bit. I think the best part is how you know everyone’s secrets stories and quirks. You don’t have to get to know them, because you have known them since you were all 5 years old.
• In South Dakota, it isn’t uncommon to bump into someone you know. This applies even if you are an hour or two from home.
• There is an off-ramp in St. Louis that requires good direction skills and 3 U-turns just to get back onto the Interstate. Forget to put a sign up somewhere, Missouri?
• When you take a cross-country trip with your dog and boyfriend, don’t forget to take pictures. I don’t even have ONE picture to post with this blog! What was I thinking?
• Spending 48+ hours in the same car with the same person is a true test of how much you like each other. I think we passed.

Overall, it was a great vacation. Are we going to do it again next summer? Probably not. I think we might fly. You can check out more posts of our Travels & Adventures here.