Road Trips

I just feel like a screw up sometimes. It feels like everyone gets on my case about everything I do. I'm going on a road trip for spring break with my friend Vogie. We're heading in the direction of North Carolina where his brother lives. I want to treat it like a spur of the moment road trip (even though it's spring break). I want to just throw some clothes in my bag, a blanket, a towel, toiletries. You know, normal road trip stuff. And then I want to just go, no real plans, just some money and a map. We'll get there... eventually, and when we hit half of our money or we hit Wednesday we'll turn around and come back home. That's how I want to do this.

Unfortunately everyone else thinks we need to take a GPS with us. I've been navigating since I was 9 and went to Yellowstone with my mom and sister. I've taken countless trips with my step-dad in his truck. We break down just about every single time. We've welded his car back together at the shop behind a random gas station. We've changed wheel bearings, replaced an alternator, fixed brakes at a McDonalds parking lot. Yeah. You can run into trouble on the road, but you know what? It isn't a big deal. It's just another part of the adventure. You get to meet people and find places that you never would have been too before.

I have roadtripped to Omaha, Nebraska - Forks, Washington - Berrien Springs, Michigan - Virgina - Kissimmee, Florida. And I'm not dead, I've never been injured. I've never run into something that couldn't be handled, and you know what? I did it all without a GPS. I did it all by looking at a map, maybe a phone book or two, called people on a few occasions to get exact directions to a house, or specific meeting point. But there's Google for that.

It just frustrates me when it feels like nobody has any faith in my abilities. It would be nice if someone was like "Hey, you're navigating this trip with a map? That's so cool. Best of luck to you." You know, something positive instead of being all down on me because of my choices. I get that GPS's are good in case of emergencies, but so are cell phones, so is the internet. I've been an active part of road trips for the last 12 years of my life. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be ok. Just have a little faith in me, please. I'm a big girl. I can do this on my own.