ROAD TRIP!

June 23, 2012

Later this summer my daughter and I will be driving to school–her school, my and Jane’s alma mater–for her sophomore year. It’s daddy/daughter time, and my chance for the road trip I’ve always wanted but never taken the time for!

Our route takes us from Tucson to the Grand Canyon and, then, to Winslow AZ. In Winslow we’ll be eating at the Turquoise Room at La Posada Hotel. We’ll also take a moment to “take it easy, standin’ on a corner in Winslow Arizona,” although I’m sure there will be no girl “in a flatbed Ford, slowin’ down to take a look at me.” (BTW, bricks can be purchased for placement at Second and Kinsley in Winslow. We’ll be looking for ours when we get there.)

The next morning we’ll drive from Winslow to Pueblo CO, by way of Albuquerque and Santa Fe NM. No specific eating or sleeping plans.

Day three has us driving to the Mr. Rushmore SD area. Again, no specific plans.

Day four will find us looking at the Presidents and, then, traveling east to Sioux Falls SD. No plans, and maybe you are detecting a theme. Stay tuned!!!

Day five should be easy. Sioux Falls to Minneapolis MN, where my little sister lives. No plans, but no need for plans either. I’ll be eating Walleye, and nothing else is set. (In fact, I’m not sure I’ve told my sister we’re coming.)

Day six of the “out” part of the trip is really short. We drive from Minneapolis to Rockford IL, where my other sister lives. Days seven and eight have us buying stuff and getting Cate settled in. Lots of heavy lifting, I’m sure. Think about every movie you’ve seen, where the student arrives and the goofy dad stumbles around under a load of boxes; I be him!

Monday morning–day nine–starts the solo journey. I will have five-six days to drive a minimum of 1692.88 miles, door to door. I plan to drive more southerly, but am very flexible. So … about the stay tuned! Cate’s program involves photos–she’s a very fine photographer–and I want to find safe, clean beds at night, good food all day and a very dry, very cold martini at the end of the day. I have lots of web-based blogs about eating, but we’re not hitting culinary hot spots (other than the Turquoise Room on our first night out), and I haven’t found especially great sources for places to see, spots to avoid, etc. So, my friends, I’d really appreciate any suggestions, recommendations, insights, etc. If our plans are bad in some respect or another, please offer a better idea, as we are committed to nothing other than getting to Rockford in no more than seven days, passing through Minneapolis and, pretty certainly, seeing the Grand Canyon. (I moved to Arizona at age four and was first at the Grand Canyon on my honeymoon at age 30. Cate, a native Arizonan, has never been.) Thanks in advance.

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