I don't remember a time before road trips. When I was a kid, I thought that everyone went on regular road trips all the time. Even in my twenties, I remember how hard it was to wipe the look of shock off my own face when a fellow missionary said he'd never left the state before. We were standing in the SLC airport and he didn't know what to do at the security checkpoint.
I've driven thousands of miles on my own, and more with friends or family. We took regular road trips in my youth, once a year at least to visit my maternal grandparents in Arizona and most years to Lake Powell with my dad's family, and it was rare to go a whole day without jumping in a car to go somewhere.
The summer I turned 16 we drove from southern California to Nauvoo, Illinois. I remember complaining that we weren't going the extra four hours each way to see Chicago. As we headed back home, we all remarked what a fun and interesting trip it was and wondered how long it would be before we saw the Midwest again. The next summer we would move to the Chicago suburbs.
When I was 22, my mom and I drove from Utah to southern California. I asked her to leave me there with friends, which she obliged.
Two weeks before I turned 24 I drove south along most of the USA-owned west coast with my cousin Chelsea. It was the time away I needed to separate myself from a toxic ex, and my first time in both Oregon and Washington.
In the past year I drove from Salt Lake City to Denver, southern California, Seattle, and Portland twice. Road trips aren't just vacations for me. They are a way to step away, literally and metaphorically from the stress of daily life.
I wonder where I'll go next?
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