The Pandemic Road Trip – Four States, Three Days.
Remember last week when I shared that 2020 and I weren’t exactly seeing eye-to-eye?
And remember how I left you with a cliff hanger about how the end of March has given me yet a new surprise ending?
Surprise!
It’s the pandemic road trip.
Those of you who visit here frequently may know that my daughter started her freshman year of college in the fall.
You see where this is going, right?
Her school really did try to hold out and not close campus completely. Plan A started with remote learning, but students could stay in the dorms. And had access to the library. Meals were a little trickier. No more self serve turned into no more than X number of kids in the cafeteria at one time to no more eating in the cafeteria.
But then …
on the evening of March 17 we were informed campus was closing. And students needed to be moved out by Monday, March 23.
Gulp!
So now I need to fess up about my lack of long-term planning.
You see, I hadn’t yet figured out how I was going to get my daughter home at the end of the semester.
We all flew out to move her in, rented a car in Denver and then did a big shop at Target for all her essentials (sheets, comforters, blankets, towels, lamps, fans, bean bag chair, etc. etc.).
I hadn’t quite figured out how to get her home at year’s end.
I was toying with (a) finding a storage space to rent or (b) boxing up as much as we could and shipping it home via UPS.
I hadn’t even considered (c) driving.
And then the pandemic hit the fan. I had to make a quick decision. I opted to fly one way to Denver (the ticket was $31!) and renting a car. We would pandemic road trip it home to Illinois through Colorado, Nebraska, and Iowa.
A modified (c).
I decided to stretch the trip over three days. I had never driven for more than four hours straight at a time, so I was concerned. Plus March weather is unpredictable in the Midwest. And finally, I wanted to pre-book hotel rooms to make sure we stayed in safe, populated areas. I opted for 6+ hours day one, 6+ hours days two, and 4 hours on day three.
At the risk of TMI, my daughter and I are bladder challenged. So we were pleasantly surprised that we made it a full three hours before our first bathroom break stop!
Mike tells me that Sinclair gas stations hold nostalgia for him. I had never heard of them … but then again, I grew up on the east coast.
I discovered at another Sinclair station that you should not climb on the dinosaur.
Our bad.
Also, across the trip, the rest stops along route 80 in Nebraska and Iowa continue to allow self serve for beverages, food, slushies, etc. Needless to say, lots of hand scrubbing took place at each stop.
Our first overnight was in Kearney, Nebraska where we had an opportunity to stop by “The Bricks” …
Cute, right?
Day two’s started out fine … but eventually turned into a slushy-snowy-rainy-low-visibility nightmare. We were relieved when we saw our Iowa City exit.
And here’s where I slacked off.
We were getting so close to home that I was eager to hit the road. So this is all I caputred in Iowa City (which, by the way, is an adorable college town).
One final refueling at Sinclair and we hit the road for the last four hour stretch.
Some observations: (1) Driving 6+ hours at a stretch was not a problem at all. Especially with my beautiful, chatty daughter chatting away the whole time; (2) we were surprised at the landscape along the way. I had honestly expected lots of flat land and corn fields. Nebraska was hilly and diverse and had lots of cattle (black Angus) farms. And you could smell it inside the car!
Iowa, too, was not flat like I thought. Though for much of the drive through visibility was next to nothing, so I’m not 100% sure about that!
Post pandemic road trip my daughter and I are self-quarantining for 14 days. I figure after two major airports (me), three hotel stays (two for Molly), and four states with stops at McDonald’s drive through and multiple rest stops stops along route 80 it’s probably a good idea to minimize contact with our community.
How are you holding up being holed up at home?
Donnamae says
Overall…sounded like fun! Probably a good idea to self-quarantine. It’s a weird feeling when you have to stay inside…but we do what we can. My son who lives in London has started a family check in every day. We (his brothers, and us), send each other pics of what we are doing…and chat a bit. It’s been great to feel so connected while almost 4,000 miles apart. I really hope we keep this up after all this ‘separation’ is over.
Hope your parents are doing well! 😉
Linda says
What a lovely idea! I hope it continues post virus too! Meanwhile, I’ve been basically sheltering-in-place for years and years now. And yet when they TELL me to stay home all of a sudden I have this urge to go out!!! Lol! 😉
Guerrina says
Good job, Mom! I’m still working as we are a manufacturer. There are only 6 people in the company and we are all either at work or home. Some days I’d just rather be at home taking a nap or being creative (after the nap)! Stay well!
Linda says
Please stay safe! And working from home can be a challenge. I still struggle with it after two decades! 🙂
Marte Simpson says
Glad you got her home safely and found out how much you can do! Yay for Moms!
Linda says
Thankfully she chatted my ear off the entire trip (in a good way)! Sometimes us moms need a little help from our kids! 🙂
mdm samm says
Hi you two, not sure if this is just at my end, but your ads take up my whole screen so it was hard to see your photos or your blog post. I gather a road trip was in order to rescue daughter ,but I could not see or read the rest. So here is hoping you are both safe and sound and your home is filled with less emptiness.
Mike Braden says
I was sure glad to have them back home! Though I am jealous of Moll atop Dino the Sinclair Dinosaur…
Linda says
And we are so happy to be home too!!! 🙂
rawsonjl says
We just discovered Sinclair gas stations on our trip to South Dakota last fall; we flew into Denver, drove up to Rapid City and then flew home out of Omaha so we did lots of driving. Glad you made it home OK and the weather cooperated for the most part.
Michelle Churchman says
The two of you made the best of a challenging situation. And it sounds like there was fun in amongst the stress. I hope you come out of your quarantine as healthy as you went in!
Michelle
http://mybijoulifeonline.com
Jeanne says
The entire college thing is a mess – we will see how on-line classes go…
Pamela says
My son is 47 and my daughter is 40 and both have a Masters degree. So those college road trips are a long ago thing of the past for us. We live in Michigan and our daughter went to college in Utah. We drove there twice.
Great pictures you took,
Pamela @ DIY Vibes says
What a fun bonding trip this must have turned into! I’m sure your daughter is sad to have to leave her Freshman year so early.
Linda says
It truly was! And now that we’re all staying home there is lots more bonding going on. And it’s all good!!!
And, yes, she’s very sad to not be on campus. And is struggling to get into a new remote learning routine.