My car is currently resting quietly in my dad's driveway. After leaving Berkeley Friday afternoon, I pulled into New Jersey yesterday (Monday) afternoon, not 72 hours later. I'm very glad not to be driving anymore, although I will have to go to Boston later this week. But first I breathe...
It's particularly hard going west to east, because you keep losing hours as the time zones change. The question is whether you lose driving hours, or sleeping hours. Unfortunately, I'd already lost a lot of sleeping hours before I got started, and then lost even more en route – thanks to a really loud Super8 in Winnemucca. (At first I thought the upstairs neighbors were just early risers when I began to hear footfalls before 5am. Then, as the noise continued through 6am, I began to think they were early risers who ran marathons, and were getting in a practice run right then.) As a result I couldn't get through the 1000+ miles I'd intended to do the next day, finishing about 50 miles short of my preferred Nebraska destination. Fortunately I managed to catch up the next day and got to where I wanted to be in Ohio.
Of the states that I-80 passes through, I liked some more than others. California alternated from stifling hot, flat and congested to gorgeous and soaring. Nevada is wall-to-wall desert, but I find the desert so striking that even though I've been on that route about a half a dozen times, I still find it captivating. Same with Utah. Wyoming did impress me more this time around than the last, perhaps because I knew better what to expect. But I still did have a few concerns about Wyoming: for one, the truck stop at the end of the exit ramp in Evanston that I really like – the one who managed to keep me from running out of gas the last time through – apparently is out of business. I was heartbroken. It also used to have an A&W franchise, and I was looking forward all through Utah to being refreshed by some nice, non-caffeinated soda when I passed through. (I don't drink caffeine when I drive long distances to cut down on the pit stop frequency. Instead I try to stop every 150-200 miles, to refuel, refresh, and, er, restroom...) The other problem was that once again, as I got to Laramie and Cheyenne, there were storm clouds brewing. Given that last time these clouds spawned a tornado, I was a little nervous. Plus, unlike last time when it was during the day, now it was getting dark. Tornadoes are scary enough when you can see them – I wasn't looking forward to encountering one that I couldn’t. So I can't say I really like that part of Wyoming, as every time I pass through there I end up terrified...
On the positive side, however, as I climbed through the ochre hills east of Laramie, the blazing sunset cracked through the storm clouds to turn the hills the most brilliant shade of orange I'd ever seen. Contrasting against the lavender sky, I was practically blinded by their brilliance. Unfortunately, once I reached the top, the clouds had thickened into a dark fog that blanked the road, and thus made a long drive even more tedious. I've often noticed how in the Midwest, the sky seems much lower than it does on the coasts. And that night it was extremely low to the ground indeed.
The next state was Nebraska. Most of the people I met in Nebraska were very nice, but the terrain was not nearly as enjoyable to look at as Kansas to the south or Iowa to the east. Iowa was very nice, with rolling green cornfields. However, the edges of Iowa were unpleasant – way too crowded for the capacity of the roads to handle. This was particularly true in Council Bluffs. Also one of the worst moments of the whole trip happened at the eastern edge.
I'd accidentally let my gas gauge drop too far. (I was trying to cross the whole state on one tank.) Stressed that at any moment I was going to stall I pulled off at one place but I had to leave when I discovered it wouldn't take credit cards. At the next place I pulled up to a truck stop that was packed. Cars were queued up by the pumps, and I joined the end of one. However, while I was waiting some jerk got on line at the other end, thereby cutting me in line. Then, when I finally got to the pump, I had to walk through a puddle. Which I realized too late was a puddle of gasoline! It got all over my shoes, which got all over the floor of my car, which made the car reek of gas fumes. I tried to wipe off my feet on the mulch of the nearby landscaping, but it didn't work. Plus it made me wonder if I'd now accidentally turned my Tevas into a bomb...
All told, the downfall of western civilization was clearly manifest in that moment. There were all the ingredients: machinations, environmental degradation, and incivility. It was not a shining moment for the species, I dare say...
Illinois was the next state, and it was not the giant construction zone I feared it to be. In fact, all the delays I'd endured too years ago have left behind some pretty nice road. Then the rest – Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania – all passed by unobtrusively until I finally got to New Jersey and home.