College Road Trip II

 

Saturday morning of the 22nd was warm and sunny as we pulled away at 8:20. The wife said a tearful goodbye to Patch and I as we drove off … and had to return from a couple blocks away realizing we forgot one of her gifts. On our second departure we stopped at Sprouts for some snacks and sandwiches, and hit the highway.

 

We made good time that day. Patch, with her newly-minted drivers license, volunteered for two hours behind the wheel as we crossed into Arkansas. We drove over the Mississippi, watched the Corolla’s odometer flip from 129,999 to 130,000 with much aplomb, drove through the briefest of rainstorms (the only time on the College Road Trip it rained while we were in the car), and avoided a five-mile-long traffic jam (thanks Waze!). There was a little drama as we encountered what had to be a drunk driver – swerving, accelerating, braking, and even once riding right up to my bumper.

 

Patch found us a hotel via Priceline at a Comfort Suites in Lebanon, TN. We stopped for dinner at a connecting restaurant (I had a cheeseburger, she a Caesar’s salad). Next morning we raided the continental breakfast and checked out, back on the road by 10. Patch volunteered more time behind the wheel – this time, three hours! – as we meandered through the gorgeous Appalachians in Eastern Tennessee and Virginia. Dinner was short and sweet at a Wendy’s. (Our first choice was Chik-fil-A, but we couldn’t figure out why it was closed, until we realized it was a Sunday.) By mistake Patch booked a hotel 140 miles up the road, so we continued on through West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, and up to New Columbia, Pennsylvania in the dark until we stopped at a Comfort Inn by 9:30 pm.

 

After another continental breakfast raid we were back on the road by 9:30. We had but four hours to reach my parent’s home in Pennsylvania’s northeast corner. What a joy and blessing it was to arrive at their house that afternoon. I rewarded myself with two Heineken NAs as Patch unboxed all the college dorm supplies we had shipped. My mom made us taco soup with large egg noodles for dinner. They went to bed by 8, and Patch and I stayed up a little bit longer, watched a Matt Pat video (why the eagles couldn’t just fly Frodo to Mount Doom) and a funny, over-the-top cartoonishly gory Cory Kenshin game.

 

Tuesday was a day of leisure. The weather was overcast and cool – at least by Texas standards. After egg-in-the-baskets we drove to a thrift shop where Patch bought a couple of black shirts and I picked up He Leadeth Me by Walter Ciszek and the St Joseph Baltimore Catechism. Back home Patch made 60 – sixty! – cookies, which she planned to hand out at school to her dormmates the next day. My parents took us out to dinner (and my mother bought me a T-shirt the restaurant sold). Then, taking advantage of the remaining daylight, we loaded my stepfather’s Camry with Patch’s supplies, and everything fit, though we accidently broke her five-foot long mirror. Another Cory video, then bedtime.

 

Wednesday was school drop off day. My mother joined us as we left around 8:30, again after packing a couple of sandwiches. I drove to Patch’s school 90 minutes away. We arrived by 10:15 and I was so impressed with the school’s handling of Move In Day. It seemed there was a student helper in school colors every fifty feet to answer questions. We were guided to the building where Patch picked up her ID and room keys, then were guided to her dorm itself. We drove up a short winding road and parked – and were immediately surrounded by a dozen students who helped unload the car completely and brought everything up to her room on the third floor. Turns out the building was elevator-free, so those college kids saved me a potential heart attack or two.

 

We spent the next three hours unpacking and setting up her room. Her roommate and her family were there, too (we met them a few weeks earlier at a school mixer in Texas). A quick trip to Target for a pillow and replacement mirror, and we ate our sandwiches. Patch gave us a quick tour of the campus (what she remembered from her visit the prior summer), which included the student center, the bookstore (I bought a pen, my mother a shot glass, and Patch a school pennant and key chain). We made a quick stop at the chapel, which was cool and peaceful.

 

Then – the Goodbye. Patch hugged her grammy and then me. I had a lump in my throat as we said our farewells. Our eyes met one last time for the briefest – and longest – of moments, then she disappeared inside her dorm. My mom and I then drove home.

 

Thursday was another day of relaxation for me before my solo return voyage. My mother brought me to three local bookstores she found, and I wound up purchasing The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, Dr. No by Ian Fleming, and the Civil War nonfiction paperback Terrible Swift Sword by Bruce Catton. She also gifted me with eight of my stepfather’s golf shirts he no longer fits into. We ate at a locally-famous wing place for dinner, then I read and relaxed after we got back home.

 

I left Pennsylvania at 8:20 Friday morning and pretty much drove straight through until checking in to a Red River Inn at 6:15. I went out for dinner at – finally! – Chik-fil-A. I chatted with the Mrs. for a bit, showered, then read a hundred or so pages of my current read, Father Elijah by Michael D. O’Brien. I left again at 8:20 the next morning, stopped at a McD’s for dinner (and used a minimum-wage-worker replacement kiosk for the first time), then checked into a Super 8 at 6:30, and repeated my evening ritual. Left at 9:25 on Sunday and got home in Texas a little before 2 pm.

 

My 23-hour-drive home was quite an experience for me. I did not listen to any music or the audio book I downloaded. I kept the odometer between 75 and 80 and let anyone and everyone pass me whoever wanted, no questions asked. It was an extraordinary Zen drive for me. I thought a lot – a lot – about big, existential questions. I was floored by the utmost beauty of middle America – Virginia and Eastern Tennessee standing out to me, as well as sections of Pennsylvania, Arkansas, and West Virginia. The time and the miles flew by inexplicably fast, and when I got home, I was ready to go back on the road again.

 

All-in-all, the College Road Trip of 2026 had a total mileage of 3,135. Basically the distance between Augusta, Maine and San Diego, California. My old 2013 Toyota Corolla drove like a champ, the unspoken MVP of the trip, never giving us a scare, never failing us. My 18 hours driving out and 23 hours driving back was easily a record for me. Patch herself impressed me with five hours behind the wheel with 18-wheelers in front, back, and beside, with no issue at all despite still being a brand-new driver. It was a great tip, a great bonding experience. We talked about college, about life, nostalgically chatted about things past, and things that might happen in the future. She napped in the passenger seat and I looked at her, remembering all those pictures she drew as a child, all those soccer games and practices I watched her, and all those times we made each other laugh.

 

All-in-all, a great Road Trip.

 

College Road Trip I

  

Sooooo … it’s been a crazy long, crazy short, crazy summer of change down here. I’ll recap it in the next few days, but what I want to set down for the record now is the Great 2026 College Road Trip.

 

My youngest daughter, known as Patch in these electronic pages over the last eighteen years, has chosen to study fashion at a school in upstate New York. A big factor is her love of the Adirondacks, the cool Falls and snowy Winters, the comfort of memories of her grandparents at their house in northeastern Pennsylvania. She got accepted back in June and we faced the problem of getting her – and, more pressingly, all her stuff – to her dorm room half a country away.

 

Now, her school is just shy of 1,600 miles distant from our doorstep here in the northern Dallas suburbs. My logical, less-pain-the-better way of thinking, along with the Mrs, was

 

1)    1) Ship as much stuff as possible to Grammy’s in PA

2)    2) Fly the three of us into LaGuardia 

3)    3) Rent an SUV, pick up stuff at Grammy’s, and move her in to her dorm

4)    4) Drive back to NYC, return rental, fly home

 

And this is where it stood for six or seven weeks.

 

Then, Patch began scheming. Then she brought her mother into the scheming. And I should mention that things had changed a bit, since due to an immovable business product launch, my wife was not permitted to take off during the week we were expecting to move her in.

 

Sometime about a month ago, just after a delicious home cooked dinner she made for us, Patch presented me with a proposal printed out on a piece of paper. Two columns. Column One: Fly to College. Colum Two: Drive to College. Beneath each a listing of anticipated expenses in dollar form.

 

She wanted to drive to college, mainly because she wanted assurance she could bring everything she needed to her dorm. The Mrs. wanted me to drive her to college, mainly because she saw this as a once-in-a-lifetime bonding experience for me and my daughter. I hesitated. One, I don’t like seeming last-minute changes to schedule, and two, the car we’d have to take is my ancient 2013 Toyota Corolla get-me-to-work-and-back car I drive four times a week.

 

Sensing my hesitation, Patch sweetened the pot: “Dad, we have three remaining Thursday movie nights before I have to leave. I’m willing to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy with you if you say yes.”

 

How could I respond other than in the affirmative??

 

So it was decided. Per her sheet it would cost twice as much to fly and rent as it would to drive and stay in motels. I factored some of that savings in and brought the Corolla into the local shop. $750 later I had two new tires, all of them rotated and balanced, oil changed, new air filter, new fuel filter, and the coolant system flushed. Right away we noticed an improvement in the car’s handling. My confidence this machine would make the trip increased from Never to Possibly.

 

Based on our trip from New Jersey to Texas during the Big Move back in 2021, we knew it would take about two and a half days of travel. Waze had it at around 23 hours. We planned on two full days of daytime driving (from 9 am to 6 pm), stopping only for gas and bathroom breaks. We’d take some sandwiches, drinks, and snacks from home to save money. In the late afternoon on each day Patch would get on Priceline and book a hotel / motel room an hour up the road. On the third day we’d arrive at my parents’ home in Pennsylvania in the early afternoon.

 

We’d have a day of rest in PA where Patch would unpack all her shipped items and we’d load them all into my stepfather’s roomier Camry. Wednesday my mother and I would drive her to school, empty the car, set up her dorm, walk around the campus, and say our goodbyes. Then I’d spend a relaxing Thursday with my folks and depart for the 1,600-mile ride home Friday morning, returning to my front doorstep early Sunday afternoon.

 

Patch could help me out on the drive, at least on the way up. She got her driver’s license in June (that’ll be in the future summer recap post) but had never done any highway driving. She volunteered for two hours a day, and that seemed reasonable to me.

 

It was settled. On Thursday, August 20, we watched the final entry of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, chomping down some Jersey Mike’s sandwiches. We started this “movie night” tradition when her big sister went off to college four years ago, and over those four years watched 199 movies. Everything from Kill Bill to Airplane! to The Corpse Bride to Despicable Me. Those Thursday nights themselves were quite a bonding experience.

 

The next night, after work, we all met at a local Asian restaurant – me, the wife, Patch, and Little One, fresh from her second week of teaching fourth graders in a school 45 minutes away. We dined on ramen noodles and sushi and promised to celebrate again in four months, when Patch returns from the Great White North for Christmas break. Afterwards we all hit a Baskin Robbins then returned home, where the girls watched a Charmed while I read my current read.

 

Little One went home later, and we all turned in. Patch and I needed a good night’s sleep, for the next morning, Saturday the 22nd, would be the first day of the Great College Road Trip of 2026.

 

… to be continued …

June in the Rear View Mirror

 

 

Is it that time already? Has the first third of the summer triad glided from “The Present” into “The Past” so soon? Is it really six weeks since my oldest became a college graduate, my youngest a high school graduate, and me an aging man facing an empty nest around the corner?

 

Sadly, yes. I now can confirm, through experiential rigor, that time does indeed flow faster as one gets older.

 

Anyway, June was a pretty decent month. A bit of downside, yes, but overall a plus.

 

Let’s start inwards and work outwards, but saving meself for last.

 

Little One, the college graduate, has kept herself busy for the first half of summer in various nanny and babysitting gigs. I must admire her hustle. Why, last night alone she received a last minute request to babysit at a house 20 minutes away. After a brief phone interview she took the assignment and returned home four hours later $90 richer. She’ll be working full-time in less than a month preparing her fourth grade classroom for her first year of teaching math. Couldn’t be prouder.

 

Patch began the month with a triumph: she obtained her driver’s license. We’d been practicing since Labor Day, a total of 32-plus hours behind the wheel, going out over 60 times putting over 350 miles behind us. That was a Big Win. Since then she’s continued work at a boutique across town, though her hours have been cut during the summer. To compensate she’s selling more clothes through Depop and to various local thrift shops and is weighing the option to return, on a case-by-case basis, to the balloon company she worked for as a sophomore and junior. She leaves for college in upstate New York in six weeks. And wouldn’t you know it, time picks this moment, right now, to start accelerating.

 

The Mrs. is facing challenges through work, though nothing she hasn’t handled in the past. She’s weighing lateral moves to another company to give her options and leverage. She is the hustler who has given the hustle to her children. (Hustle, however, continues to elude me.) She has a bustling social life down here in Texas, and has made an amazing transformation of herself in other, non-blog ways.

 

Me, I’ve been plugging along at my accounting job, at my bible study, in my reading. Still at a loss for finding a passion that 1) I’m good at, 2) the world needs, and 3) someone will pay lots of money for. Perhaps that is my cross to bear. I make up for it in other ways. The girls let me know on Father’s Day. Heck, the made-from-scratch meal alone, Italian meat loaf, tells me I’m loved and valued more than I realize.

 

I’ve been making incredible progress with my guitar playing. I’ve been focusing on learning guitar solos, and have a nice arsenal. Among the more recents are the solos from “Lights” by Journey, “Baker Street” by Gerry Rafferty, and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. Why was this plateau not conquered in my late teens? Had it been, you wouldn’t be reading this; you’d be paying $250 a ticket to see me and my band’s latest Farewell / Reunion tour.

 

My reading has been hit and miss. Read and dropped what will most likely be my Worst Fiction book of the year, plus another one that was so damn boring. Since time is traveling by quite fast, I must be very judicious in how I spend my time. However, I read a neat little thriller and am working my way though a nice epic. Which is a nice way to manage stress and wash the day away.

 

I’ve been in a decent stretch of working out (i.e., lifting weights at the home gym) and walking 1.5 miles a day in the modest Texas heat (mid-90s). I know I’ve lost a few pounds, but I’m avoiding the scale, and I feel my torso start to tighten. A lot of mirrors at work, full-length mirrors near the bathroom especially, so I want to like what I see when I walk past. Not vanity, mind you, just health and well-being and a touch of confidence.

 

The bible study is fascinating to me – how Jesus is concealed and revealed in the Old Testament. It’s led by an older man who was in seminary for a time, back in the day when I was lugging my guitar and amp to various garages. I’ve learned a fair amount regarding Old Testament typology, and am thinking about a master post here. I know I haven’t been posting, but perhaps this might jump start me back into putting things up that interest me for future reference, and might interest you. Also among that is a weird but incredible pull to re-open my college calculus textbook. I think after losing my car keys and wallet a couple of times I want to – no, need to – sharpen those synapses. We’ll see about that.

 

Anyway, thus was June. Hopefully more, with more frequency, in the future.