Travelogue

Day 1: Today Carly and I woke up bright and early to start my college visits. She drug me up the stairs to eat breakfast before our journey across the US. Before we left, my parents told us to make sure we use our universal constructs. The main ones I am going to focus on are complex communication and productivity and accountability. My first stop is heading towards Lincoln, Nebraska, to visit the University of Nebraska. The reason I am heading to these colleges are because I’d like to play volleyball and try to major in orthodontistry. As we leave my driveway, I can smell the fresh lake, knowing I won’t be able to swim in it for many days. It's a good thing that I have one of my best friends with me, otherwise I would miss my other friends dearly. I really will miss my favorite core academy teachers though, especially Mr. Friederich.

We now start our journey that will take us 123 hours and 40 minutes, 7937.34 miles. For my round trip my gas is going to cost $1768.68. I have a map of my trip so that we don’t get lost. I have no idea where to go after Sheldon. It would be really bad if I got lost during my road trip. As we get in the car to head to the University of Nebraska, the bright sun is setting in back of us. Carly turns up the tunes and starts singing out to "What Makes You Beautiful." There isn't much to look at when you are driving in Iowa. All you see is fields and more fields. On our way, we saw a truck filled with stinky pigs. We rolled down the windows and heard them oinking. Carly and I got really sad because if you think of where they are going they are being brought to the slaughter house to get slaughtered and turn them into hot dogs. Once they are packaged they get brought to the store and people like Whitlee buy them and get in their belly.

After driving for 2 hours already we had to stop for something to eat. Our closest option was McDonalds in Sioux City. Fast food is gross but it is the fastest way. We ended up spending $10. Now to head back on the road. We are finally arriving in Lincoln and we still have an hour before our college visit. We decided to go to the hotel we are staying at called Luxury Inn to check in and get settled. The hotel is as clean as glass mirrors that have just been cleaned. It’s time for our college visit at University of Nebraska. We get in our slick Range Rover and drive to the auditorium to start our visit at the gym. I really like the gym and could definitely see myself playing in there.

After our college visit we thought “hmm what could we do since we aren’t hungry at this point of time...” So we looked at the clock and it’s time to go get some food at Buffalo Wild Wings. As we walk in the doors of Buffalo Wild Wings, I can smell the fried food and the spicy hot wings that people have on their tables. We had to pay $35 for the both of us and now are stuffed! It is now time to head back to our hotel to get some rest for our next stop.

Day 2: 9:00am
As the sun shines through the shades it’s time to get up and go eat breakfast that is included with our nice stay at the hotel; we continue with our trip and our first stop is to Pioneers Park and Nature Center. Since 1963 this park has been here. There is 668 acres of tallgrass, prairies, woodlands, wetlands, and streams. Also 8 miles of hiking trails. When we got on the hiking trail, we saw a lot bison, elk, and white head deer herds. We kept on walking to enjoy the beautiful view. It is now 10:45 and we are in the car on our way to on our way to Torrey, Utah to visit a landmark called Capitol Reef National Park. Although the drive from Lincoln to Torrey is a long drive we are stopping in Denver, Colorado, to stay overnight. As we start to drive the lights start flickering and we are wondering what could be going on. We thought about it and realized that there are so many people using electricity that the lights are starting to do that because of power loss. After driving 7 hours to get to our hotel it’s time to get settled in our hotel and go get food. I asked Siri where the closest restaurant was, and she said there was a Buffalo Wild Wings nearby. Even though we just went there we had to have it again because we loved it so much! We decided to get the same thing again so it costed $35. Man I’m stuffed! I feel like a pig! Time to go back to our hotel and get some sleep to continue in the morning.

Day 3: Rise and shine! A shower to me would feel nice. We just decided to eat at the hotel breakfast so we didn’t have to pay. It is going to be so hot today that I could bake eggs on the sidewalk, but we will be traveling 7 hours to Torrey, Utah in the car. We’ve seen a lot of pollution on the way. The people I am following keep on throwing their garbage out of the car. That is not the right thing to do it is polluting our world. I’m excited to say we are almost at the Capitol Reef sightseeing. It costs nothing to get in because it’s the day where it’s a trend to be outside. All we know about the Capitol Reef Park is that it’s located in South Central Utah. It’s a hidden treasure with cliffs, canyons, domes and bridges in a Waterpocket Fold. Wrinkle on the earth that extends almost 100 miles. The site was beautiful! I am now going to go to drive to my hotel called Rodeway Inn in Caineville, Utah to get some rest for my days that are approaching me.

Day 4:The last few days went by in a blur; however, I am already heading to my next landmark called The Grand Canyon. This is such a beautiful site. I’ve always wanted to visit here and now I have. There is 5 billion people that visit the Great Canyon in 1 year. It is 1 mile deep. I would love to visit there again. We now leave the landmark and head SW to Los Angeles that will take 7 hours and 46 minutes. As we are driving we saw people planting new trees to add a new grove in their backyards. We kind of wondered why they would want more trees but that is their own opinion. We continue our drive and are finally here. We really need food. We’re just going to McDonalds to get fat. Our meal was delicious, not. It ended up being $10 for both of our meals together. We are stuffed full and ready to go to sleep.

Day 5: As we wake up at 9am to the sound of combines in the field I can smell the fresh corn in the wagon it reminds us, hey, we need to wake up for our college visit! It is only going to take us a couple minutes to get to the campus.
The only thing we have to do today is take the college visit then we are driving 8 hours to El Paso, Texas to sleep. We are finally done with our college visit and it is 11am. We are planning, however, on stopping at a drive through at McDonalds again. As the usual $10. When we drive to El Paso, we have to add 2 hours to our drive because of time zone changes. The time of day is now 9pm and we are arriving at our hotel for a deep sleep.

Day 6: It is 8 o’clock in the morning and we have to drive 8 hours to Austin, Texas for our college visit at the University of Texas. We have an appointment at 5pm until 7pm. We will be looking at the gym they have and around campus. Carly has loved every campus we’ve looked at so far as well as myself. Whitlee suggested us to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings for each stop for dinner so we found one in San Marcos, Texas. Again, $35. We are stuffed and so tired that we realize it’s already 10 o’clock pm! We head to our hotel called Rodeway Inn to rest up for the days we have planned ahead of us.

Day 7: Ahh, a day to sleep in feels amazing. Can’t believe how many hours we have to drive today! 10 hours! This is going to take forever: however, it is worth it. Before we leave we grabbed a bite to eat at the free hotel breakfast. I had an amazing, appealing, apple. It was absolutely delicious! We took a look at the hotel and wonder why it is so cheap; therefor, Carly looked it up on my smartphone. It looks pretty sketchy. During this ten hour drive Carly brought up the most random things to talk about. She asks me, “Joie, why don’t me and Carter get to eat for free at Pizza Ranch. I mean we are basically sisters.” Me, “That was random but that is a good question.” Carly, “So next time I go there I’m just going to say you are my sister so I can eat for free.” After driving so about 6 hours we are in the town of Texarkana, Arkansas. Suddenly we smell oily and greasy food. It smells like chicken. We decided to stop and eat some lunch at Greg’s Fine Foods. It ended up costing $42 total. Back on the road we go, only to drive 4 more hours. I made Carly drive for once. We should be full enough to sleep through the night to wake up and drive to our next college visit. We got to our hotel called the Real Value Inn we realize why it was only $39, but we are trying to keep our prices low.

Day 8: Waking up at 11 o'clock is a relief. The weather looks a little humid on this June summer day. Today we have to drive about 5 hours to get to the landmark called Mammoth Cave National Park. We will be arriving there at 4:30 and visiting until 6:15. On our way there we were being approached by lightning! We were thinking that it was most likely heat lightning because it was so hot and humid out. As we keep on driving the sky starts to get darker. Boom strikes the lightning down across the field. We still continue to drive. Carly says “Joie, I am starting to get hungry.” Me “We can find somewhere to stop. How about a drive through to make it quick.” Carly replied “McDonalds sounds fine to me for about the tenth time!” So we continue on to find a McDonalds in Nashville, Tennessee. “$10 at the window, please,” she spoke. On to the next window we get our food and continue our road trip to Mammoth Cave. There are still dark skies but as we keep moving east it is starting to flash behind us thankfully. As we now arrive to Mammoth Cave National Park there is clear skies, it’s hot and humid. To get in to this site it is $5 each. This place is so cool but unfortunately we are ready get some food again. We followed through with Buffalo Wild Wings which costed $35 again. We are maxed out of food and ready for some sleep at the Red Roof Inn in Bowling Green.

Day 9: This morning we are going to my college visit at the University of Kentucky. It takes about 2 hours to get there from Bowling Green. We first decide to eat breakfast that they provide us at our hotel so we are full for the day. On the road again in our Range Rover we go. I don’t know if I trust Carly in the way that she drove last time. Not good. But I let her drive anyways because I am sick and tired of driving 24/7! While we are driving we see a fire. It is preventing a lot of smoke in the air. We continue to drive on and see fire trucks putting out a fire at house. They people in it got out before the fire got too bad. It’s a good thing they stopped the fire before it got too into the air. Finally we are at the college! I step out of the car and realize this college is beautiful! We go with our college tour guide and she is showing us around the college. The gym is phenomenal and I can see myself playing there! We now head to The Empire State building in New York. We have to stop half way in Morgantown, West Virginia to rest overnight. Man, I’m getting hungry. McDonalds might have to work! So here we are in the drive through, same order, $10. After driving 5 hours we are here in Morgantown to stay at the Super 8 for cheap and in the morning we will eat breakfast and head out!

Day 10: As we wake up early in the morning around the crack of dawn: we wave to our hotel neighbors like what’s up, we take a bite to eat at 7:00A.M., and now we are on the road at 7:30A.M. for 6 hours. We will arrive to the Empire State Building at around 1:45P.M. Carly started to talk “I’ve had such a fun time with you Joie. I’m glad you decided to bring me with you.” I reply “You’re welcome! I don’t know where I would be without you. Your opinion matters a lot to me and you will also be visiting a lot so I want you to like my college too.” Then we start to reminisce about all of our memories together and realize one day we won’t be with each other anymore. The time is now 10:30 and we are hungry again. We’ve heard of this place called Bricco in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and people have said it was spectacular. That was the best pasta Carly and I have ever had! Surprisingly the bill ended up being $57! All full we get back on the road again for 3 more hours then we will get to see the great Empire State Building!
Time went by fast in those 3 hours. We are here and it is a beaut. Our tickets cost $25 a person so we ended up paying $50 for the two of us. We are planning to be here for about an hour and 30 minutes to make it snappy. That went by fast and now we have to drive for 4 hours to Syracuse to visit their university.

The drive went by in a blur. It is now 6:00P.M. and I am hungry so we decide to go through the McDonalds drive thru, $10. I bought a milkshake, pancakes, and hash browns. I looked at my map and thought that we were done for the day but then I realize we have a college visit at 6:30! I start to speed or else we won’t quite make it. As I’m speeding I see a cop... Of course, my luck I would see a cop when I’m speeding. He turns his lights on, I turn down my music, slow down, and pull to the side of the road. I roll down the window and the officers tells me I was going 78 in a 70. I told him my reasoning and where I was heading. He told me he’d let me off the hook. All the stress ran out of my body as I was relieved. Well since that put on 10 minutes we are running late. This is not going to look good when I am going to be late for my college visit. Embarrassing. We get here and the time is 6:35P.M. The tour goes on and I love it here. Their campus is outstanding. It is already 8:45 and I am getting exhausted. Carly suggested we go to our hotel and sleep. Another Red Roof Inn will do. We are expecting something cruddy again, $79.

Day 11: As I awake at 8:00 I realize I am done with my trip. Carly and I leave the hotel and hop in the car. I am making Carly drive because we have a 10 hour drive. Our conversations consisted of chatting about all of the colleges we visited. We stop on the way at McDonalds in Erie, Pennsylvania and spend $10. We’ve been eating a lot of McDonalds on this trip and have probably gained some weight. But whatever is quick it works. As we keep driving I watch the clock time pass by slowly. I close my eyes and fall asleep. I just got woken up by Carly slamming on the brakes realizing she missed our turn to our hotel in Chicago. I went to the front desk and checked in. All I could hear was my stomach growling. I ask the front desk if they had dinner here and she said there is a special event going on and they do! I was astonished and chowed down. I go to the elevator and push the crusty button to floor 3. I can barely walk I am so stuffed and fat. I drag myself into my bed and fall asleep.

Day 12: Carly wakes up and screams in my face at 9 in the morning saying we need to get going so we can go home. I’ve spent 11 days with her and here goes 12. There is breakfast waiting for us downstairs so we can grab it and leave. I decided I should drive because she had to drive the 10 hours yesterday. Today I have to drive 9 then we will be home around 6:30. Our times we’ve had on this trip are memorable and I don’t want it to end. After driving 4 hours we are in Tomah, Wisconsin and are starving. We found a Subway and each order a footlong for the price of $22 total. On the road again, only 4 more hours to go until we finally reach our destination. As we reach Iowa we start to see corn and fields, the normal stuff we are used to seeing. Then we see lakes and then I see a sign that says 24 miles to Spirit Lake. I get excited and wake up Carly. I tell her thank you for coming with me and we talk and talk. I roll down my windows as we arrive to Vick’s Corner. I can smell the muggy lake. Smells like home. Take a right, go down the curvy hill and take another right, here’s my house. I step out of the car and I’m thankful to be home after a long twelve day trip with my best friend. My mom comes running out and gives me a big hug. She says, “I can’t wait to hear all about your trip.” My whole night was talking to my mom and giving her every little detail. I can’t wait to let my kid do this in the years coming.