But then when my back pain became an issue, our vacations had to adapt along with everything else. Dedicated readers already know that I've since discovered the wonders of cruising around with a hotel room at the ready, and that I am well on my way to achieving some sort of "we'll fawn over you or at least give you a free cocktail" status with a favorite cruise line. But the lure of the road never quite left.
While I was a kid learning about the history of California missions and delving into the controversy of where Sir Francis Drake actually landed near San Francisco, kids near Woodhaven were learning about Lewis and Clark. The explorers traveled through a lot of area here along the Columbia River in the early 1800s...none of which I really knew much about. I blame Sir Francis. And Ms. Schlegel.
Rob is a huge history buff and has an entire shelf in our book collection dedicated to Meriwether and William's journals of their search for an easy water way from St. Louis to the Pacific. Rob has long wanted to trace their steps. Not literally -- a car would be fine. After several years of casual conversations between us and pep talks with my back, we decided to finally see what I could actually handle. So for the first time in about 15 years, Rob and I went on a road trip last week. And not only did I survive, I had a great time!
Some notes and observations from my trail journal (disguised as a notepad from Holiday Inn Express):
- Our goal was to travel as much of Lewis and Clark's trail as possible while staying on paved roads. We went as far as Williston, North Dakota before heading back west. We logged 3,122 miles over nine days, visiting five states (Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Oregon). We averaged about 9 hours per day between hotel stops (8.76 to be precise) and almost 350 daily miles (346.9 for the Type A's). I am still working on figuring out our average gas mileage. And yes, there is a spreadsheet.
- Because we started at the end, we were going backwards in time a good portion of the trip. But since Lewis and Clark turned around at Fort Clatsop (on the northern Oregon coast), at times we were also correctly following their route going back home. And then there was their decision to split up for awhile in Montana on their way home to St. Louis so they could scout around a bit. We followed Lewis's home route the correct direction and Clark's home route backwards. And some places they visited both coming and going. Confused? You bet I was. And still am. I will be soon watching the Ken Burns documentary about their trek to try to fill in the gaps and get my timeline and tick marks lined up correctly. Yay, Netflix streaming!
- I really am an experiential learner. I learn best by doing. I have never really had much of an appetite for history. All the dates on a timeline with little pictures and such...I'd memorize them, retain them until the test, and then poof. All gone. But take me to where it happened, let me see the landscape and the architecture and imagine myself walking the same dirt and suddenly I'm hungry. Well, yes, always for food but also for more knowledge, images, and as it turns out, history. Lewis and Clark's journey to the west and back is quite fascinating and incredibly documented, as was one of their charges by President Jefferson. Rob's books on that shelf suddenly look a lot more enticing.
- It was so unexpectedly pleasant to travel through rural Montana. Small towns with more farm equipment stores than clothing stores. The people came across as solid, uncomplicated, knowing their priorities and staying focused on them. Something about them struck me as particularly odd, though, and I didn't figure out what it was for a few days. Then it hit me. They were all looking up, straight ahead, interacting with each other, making eye contact. I am not exaggerating when I say I did not see a smart phone for four days while we were traveling through Montana. Perhaps the coverage out there sucks...or perhaps they just aren't that tied to technology. Either way, it was refreshing to see a society of people paying attention to the world around them instead of the virtual world in their hand. As a result, I have renewed my commitment to stay loyal to my dumb flip phone with no internet access and 20 cent texts. Luddites unite!
- Having moved from suburban/urban California to rural, small town Washington eight years ago, I have started fancying myself more country, simple, basic. I was wrong. My gelled coif, department store eyeliner, and bright purple toenails solicited stares in many certifiably rural fast food restaurants all along the route. My clothes looked funny, too, since Wal-Mart, farm stores, and consignment shops serve the purpose of my preferred Fred Meyer, Kohl's, and Nordstrom. It's a huge stretch, but I did start to connect a bit with how Lewis and Clark might have looked and felt when they came across communities of native Americans. The explorers had to do lots of convincing and assuring that although they looked odd, they came in peace. I should have packed more t-shirts. And socks.
- Our turn-around point was Williston, North Dakota. We chose it primarily because we weren't sure my back could handle much farther on this trip and historically, near Williston was where Lewis and Clark met up again after splitting up for a bit on their trip home. We had planned to spend the night in Williston but when I was searching for hotel rooms over a month before we left, there were none to be found. No vacancies in Minot either. We had heard there was lots of work to be had in North Dakota due to an oil boom, but I couldn't imagine it was so big that every single hotel room in two cities were booked a month in advance. I was wrong. Holy cow, North Dakota is nuts right now! Almost as soon as we crossed the state line, we started seeing all sorts of big trucks carrying large pieces of pipeline and drilling equipment and stuff we couldn't decipher. Pickup trucks with out-of-state plates were everywhere. Roads were being constructed, houses were being built, more fast food joints and hotels were going up. Traffic was backed up everywhere, with trucks going this way and that. Temporary housing took over fields and parking lots -- RVs and trailers and portable office buildings all serving as homes. The energy and constant motion reminded me of Times Square. The get-rich-quick vibe reminded me of Las Vegas. The rush to be the first ones in the know and leave as millionaires reminded me of Silicon Valley in the '90s. If you need work and don't care where you live...or if you want to get a taste of what the Gold Rush of the mid 1800s was like...go to North Dakota. But make sure you get a hotel room in Montana first.
- Growing up on the west coast, the ocean is always to the west and rivers always flow east to west. That's just the way it is. Once we got on the east side of the Continental Divide, my head hurt every time I looked at the many rivers we visited and tried to get my bearings. The ocean confusion I had experienced before. The rivers flowing the wrong way was a new one. Thankfully I brought lots of aspirin.
We've been home a little more than two days, so now the physical pain of the trip is setting in. I have found that the adrenaline of fun and new adventures sustains me for a good while. But then, eventually, everything crashes. My back was a real champ through the first four days. Then it started talking to me. So I tried to pamper it with more heating pad, more TENS unit, more medication, more stops for walks, more time with the passenger seat flattened. And all in all, I'm declaring success.
Yes, I am achy and slow and have "Recovery Day" on my calendar through the end of the week. But the bottom line is, I can do road trips! They can't be spontaneous, we can't stay in cheap hotels with equally cheap mattresses (learned that the hard way on Day 7), and we can't have a big activity planned at the end (like, for instance, road tripping to Disneyland = unbelievably bad idea). But if I plan carefully and am kind to and honest about my back, I can do this.
Our vacation bucket list has just exploded. And no Lido Decks needed.
Our vacation bucket list has just exploded. And no Lido Decks needed.
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