Kate's Last Road Trip

This past summer, I went on a road trip with my family to Ashland, Oregon, for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. It was about a 350 mile drive, and took us about six hours. This was our third trip to Ashland for the festival, and I enjoyed it every year. While the drive itself is long and tiring, the days that come after it are all worth it.

Every time that I’ve been on a road trip, I’ve packed an entire bag full of items whose sole purpose is to entertain me. I usually bring about five or six books, my iPod, a book of Sudoku, and a journal. The best part of the trip was reading and spending time with my family. Because I have so little free time during the school year due to homework and swimming, I use my summers to catch up on all of the reading that I’ve missed. Now, while some kids go crazy spending six hours stuck in a car with only their family, those car rides are some of my favorite memories. On this one, when we were nearing the end of the car ride, my mom and I sat in the back seat and ran down my iPod’s battery while playing Scrabble. It was a pretty competitive game! By far, the worst part of the trip was the extreme heat that I experienced in the car. I was sitting in the backseat for the entire trip, and I could barely feel the air conditioning even though it was on a very high setting. As someone who has passed out several times from dehydration, I think I drank five bottles of water in order to avoid getting heat stroke. Unfortunately, this meant that we had to make more stops than usual so that I could use the bathroom. I can’t imagine how the Joad family made their journey without any way to cool themselves off in or out of the car. At our last stop before Ashland, I bought a Starbucks iced coffee at the gas station; it was by far one of the best moments of the trip. I was so tired, and the caffeine rejuvenated me enough that when we got to Ashland, I was just as excited as I was the first year that we came.

Despite the heat, I have always enjoyed road trips. The annual family trips to Tahoe, and even three hours rides to sporting events, are always worth it when you get to enjoy time with family and friends. While the Joads may not have found what they had hoped to in California, I hope Trevor and I have more luck with our trip!