Life is a highway...

I was having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday about my preference of driving to flying. I now realize that this is because I grew up in the east and you can get anywhere by driving because places are closer together and you can save a lot of money usually. I also realize this because I now live in the south/southwest and you can't really get anywhere without flying. Houston is only 45 minutes to 1-hour from the Gulf/beach, 3 hours from San Antonio & Austin, 4 hours from Dallas/Ft. Worth and 5 hours from New Orleans. Otherwise, you're flying somewhere. Anyway, evenutally our conversation started to drift towards where we've been and where we'd like to go. I started to think about all the places I've driven and it turns out that I've driven a lot of places! If anyone cares to know, here's the list of where I've been:

New York (all over the state), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire (I don't care if it only takes 30 minutes to go from Mass. to Maine, I've been there!), Maine, Delaware (see NH, except it goes from Maryland to PA), Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia (all over, not just around DC), Washington, DC, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida (all over, not just to Disneyworld!), Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California (from Vegas to LA then I-10 towards Phoenix), Ohio (all over, I got around in OH!), Indiana (wow is it flat out there!), Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska & finally Hawaii (Maui & the Big Island).

As far as cities, I’ve driven in or to New York twice , Chicago twice, Philadelphia three times, Baltimore three times, Houston (obviously!), Phoenix once, LA once, Knoxville three times, Nashville once, Memphis once, Little Rock once, Oklahoma City once, Boston twice, DC too many times to count, Albuquerque once (it is beautiful out there!), Bangor, ME once, Birmingham three times, Charlotte three times, Biloxi twice, Mobile twice, Atlanta twice, Cleveland (I lived there!), Cincinnati twice, Columbus once, Toledo four times, Buffalo (obviously), Rochester numerous times, Syracuse numerous times, Houston (again, obviously!), San Antonio twice, Vegas once – can’t wait to get back, Tucson once, El Paso once, Jacksonville twice, Greensboro five or six times, Raleigh-Durham twice, Richmond numerous times, Pittsburgh way too many times, Akron/Canton a lot, Omaha once, Des Moines once, Portland, Maine twice (ugh), Cape Cod once, but I’m trying to go again this summer, Hartford four times, Providence once, New Haven, CT three times (woo hoo!), Kona, HI while I visited, Roanoke numerous times & Charleston, SC once. I've also driven to and from Toronto on numerous occasions, when I lived in Buffalo. (For the grammar nazi’s out there - yes I know that was a long run on sentence - bite me!)

If you’re counting, that’s 33 states, our nation’s capitol, a lot of major and mid-sized cities, as well as one major international city. That leaves:

Michigan (is there anything to see there?), Vermont, Kentucky (I’ve been there, I just wasn’t driving), Missouri (Although I’m taking care of that in two weeks!), Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North & South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Utah (wow, I cannot wait to meet the Mormon’s, they’re gonna LOVE me!), Oregon, Washington state, & Alaska.

I’d say for someone my age, with not a lot of money and very little time, I’ve been fairly well traveled in the U.S.

I love driving. I drove cross-country 2 summers ago with Brian (for part of it), the anniversary of which is coming up in 26 days (not that I’m counting) and I had a blast. I liken it to the section of Forrest Gump when he runs cross-country. I saw things that I had yet to see and hope to see again someday, sort of like he did. I also found it very spiritual for me as well. I found parts of myself that I don’t know I would’ve discovered if I hadn’t done that. To me, there is nothing like filling up the tank (which nowadays empties your wallet!), putting the windows down, powering up the iPod (with all 4055 songs currently on there) and blasting the music, all while venturing out into places I've only dreamed of, not yet covered by my tires and not yet seen by my eyes.

I think my heart is itching for a road trip. Hey Brian, Dave, are you two free this summer?