<p class="p1">How I got two <b><i>whole</i></b> weeks off to travel from my part-time retail job- I DON'T KNOW! But I am forever thankful for going on this once in a life time opportunity with my family. And even more grateful that when I came back to work from my long trip no one hated me or gave me a hard time for not being at work. <i>That literally never happens</i>, including when I'm legitimately sick or attending a funeral.</p>
<p class="p1">Now you must be wondering, "Audree you just moved- how are you paying for rent <b><i>and</i></b> this trip" (quoting it because my mom and friends all said this exact thing to me) in which I responded with "<i>girl</i>, I don't care about either of those things right now- I'll pay for it all somehow or another and worry about the bullshit later". Let me tell you, I still paid my rent on time and had enough money for food and a bunch of souvenirs I didn't need. I don't math very well but your girl can plan while simultaneously be spontaneous *<i>insert sparkles here</i>*. Besides, my grandpa just retired and this was his dream- I'm just joining the fun. Fortunately for me I was actually invited, <i>that also never happens</i>.</p>
<p class="p1">The RV had only me (navigator #2), my grandpa (RV driver), my aunt (navigator #1 and co-planner of the entire trip), my grandma (because they travel as a team since before I was born) and my cousin (he just moved from Mexico to my grandparents house so it was rude to leave him behind). For a 25 foot RV and four people, it wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be. There were technically three beds and only a couple people had to share beds which still had enough elbow space. I am the only tiny person aboard that didn't have to kneel and crouch for anything, everyone else was well above 5'9" so the space really says a lot. In no way was there <i>anymore&nbsp;</i>space for more stuff and people than what we already had though. I mean I saw my grandpa hauling ass on the freeway at a high, bumpy 75 mph but everyone else on the freeway thought we're probably snailing along at 40 mph passing us up and flipping us off for being too slow in a one lane freeway. So we were probably pushing it on the weight limit for that RV. It was no fancy schmancy machine, <i>not in this family</i>.</p>
<p class="p1">My aunt, grandpa and cousin spent a week on the road starting from California to Illinois. Since I now live in Oregon I had to meet them in Chicago, where I flew 4 hours non stop to join the RV crew. Since I grew up in California I had already been up and down that portion of route 66 road plenty of times. Missing that part of the trip wasn't a big deal for me. Technically on the map for the mother road, California is actually the end. This entire trip was very exciting for me because I hadn't been to many states and this way we were knocking out at least eight in one go. I had no idea what my aunt had planned for us or what exactly we were going to see along the way back to California. I focused on mentally preparing myself for a go-with-the-flow attitude because anytime my family tried to plan something it usually never goes that way, it's always turns into a late, indecisive type of event that makes me annoyed and angry throughout the day. I wasn't going to be <i>the one person</i> people regretted inviting so I aimed on fixing my attitude. I'll admit at the end of this trip not once was I mad or frustrated, and <i>yes</i> tons of things were still last minute or not planned at all but I really can't sit here today and think of one thing to complain about- so it worked!</p>
<p class="p1">We spent three days in Chicago parked at the McCormick Stadium parking lot with other trucks and RVs. I got in on (July 2nd) a Friday, my aunt, grandpa and cousin had gotten there just the day before. My grandma and other aunt were supposed to fly from California at midnight the same day as me but their flight got cancelled early in the morning with little to no information. They spent all day calling and talking to representatives on the phone trying to reconnect their flight or get some sort of refund before they were informed that hundreds of other flights from all airlines were cancelled due to a storm. Everything was stressful for a bit because while we were out and about in the city walking around, my grandma kept frantically calling everyone on trip for help since she was confused as hell on the computer and about the situation itself. My aunt had set up everything for everyone including flights so we really had no idea what to do either from afar. It did get situated the same day but we just assumed since the mask mandate all over had been dropped and it was fourth of July weekend things were just crazy because it was suddenly so full of people.</p>
<p class="p1"><b>In Chicago</b>, I walked I don't know like 12 miles a day, we took the subway and the bus too but <i>all that walking</i>! We visited the John Hancock skyscraper and ate at its 95th level Signature Lounge. We had expensive cocktails with free unreserved seating at the window with the best view of the city. Of course cute selfies were taken here. Me and my aunt couldn't get over how the woman's restrooms also had the beautiful window views, though my grandpa was butt-hurt that the men's restroom directly next store didn't have that same feature. We did a groupon boat tour of the riverwalk, which I highly recommend, we learned about the architecture and city history which wasn't boring even with all the booze they offered. I had great Instagram moments and enjoyed the summer weather on a boat- <i>what more could you ask for</i>. The only downfall was my sunburnt skin but that was my fault. The riverwalk was beautiful and popping full of party people. I got to see the Bean and Buckingham fountain next to a pier. Hard to take a picture at both places but still well worth the visit. We also got to enjoy a speakeasy called Untitled which specialized in whiskey, not my cup of tea but it was prohibition themed with live jazz and burlesque performers. At the end of the entire trip I asked my grandpa what his highlight was and he said <i>this</i> bar. He complained about how he didn't want to spend all his money on alcohol, but the live band he absolutely loved- they played all his favorites. It wasn't really jazz music per say, more like soul. The man was clapping and singing along the entire time. Of course while in Chicago we had to also try their pizza, so we went to Lou Malnati's and ordered the Classic Chicago Deep Dish. I wasn't amazed to be honest, I actually think that this eventually hurt my stomach the next day. It was crust, sausage (like a mcmuffin patty), red sauce and tons of cheese on top- it just didn't wow me. Despite the pizza, Chicago was my absolute favorite place throughout this whole trip hopefully I could come back again soon.</p>
<p class="p1"><b> From Illinois to Indiana</b>, we picked up my grandma and other aunt from the airport on the way to Fort Wayne. Each day we had to wake up early to pack camp and head out to drive, roughly it would be at five or six a.m. sometimes even four depending on how many hours away the next stop would be at. We were planning on celebrating the fourth of July with family, other cousins were also flying out of California to meet up. A majority of the trip actually turned out to be family filled in Indiana which was still interesting for me because I hadn't seen these people since I was a kid. There isn't a whole lot to do in Indiana, most of the itinerary involved drinking all day, all night at home which was fine because our RV driver needed a long break. The one thing that definitely tripped me out, other than the spacious grand housing, was the warehouse-like firework stands. I mean in California the only thing legal was poppers and sparklers but out here people were casually firing off the big guns in their backyard. Like I mentioned earlier, my cousin had just moved to the U.S. this was his first fourth of July. At one point, someone gave him the aux and of course he mainly plays spanish music so I had to tell him that the neighbors were going to complain because we weren't being patriotic. He didn't understand why or what kind of music was considered appropriate for the occasion. The moment we started playing country songs about <em>America the great</em>, was the funniest moment of the night, "<em>what is this?!</em>" in his accent. I did get a chance to visit Shipshewana, most famously known for its amish community. When I lived in Chico I was already very used to seeing Mennonites, but never whole communities of people driving literally horse-powered buggies. I don't know much about the amish or their practices still, but after eating at their restaurant I got to say they had some of the best desserts I've ever eaten. I think the restaurant was basically for tourists, I'm not sure if other amish people eat or work there- I saw one girl working there that wore her amish bonnet but the rest of the servers and staff no, not amish. Other than that just the buggie rides were mainly amish operated. Indiana made me self reflect on my life and future self goals. Yes, I want to buy a house but would I move out here and find a successful job? Maybe not until I'm well retired would that be the option then. I had so many laughs and even tears about family members that aren't around anymore, that it really made me cherish and hope that my kids will have moments like this too. <i>The trip wasn't supposed to be that deep but there were conversations and days that really got me thinking, okay.&nbsp;</i>At the end of the week, I left Indiana with lots of invitations to come back accompanied with sad goodbye hugs.</p>
<p class="p1"><b>From Indiana to Missouri</b>, we were back on the road headed to St. Louis. This time we were parking at a casino parking lot with other campers that were hooked up. It had the nicest view of the Mississippi river and the Gateway Ark. St. Louis was split by the river which also took place as the state border, meaning one side you were in Missouri and the other you were still in Illinois. The plan was to stay for the day so we could drop off my aunt and other aunt at the airport nearby the very next morning. Because we got into the city mid-afternoon the only events that took place were the ark park, it's museum underground, dinner, and some gambling at the casino. &nbsp;The museum was much bigger and more time consuming than I thought it would be, I think it normally takes people about an hour to pass through. I actually got lost at one point and ended up outside by myself for a while, realizing that there was no re-entry. I laid in the grass while bugs were sucked on my blood, watching the boats in the river blow its horn at some people in the park waving then back up to the clouds and the view. If you're like the rest of the world and you own a Netflix account, then you also watched Zac Efron's Down to Earth show- <em>don't lie, you know it was good too. </em>Anyways the moment he is traveling to France and cries in the car for literally no reason- that was me in that same moment I'm laying on the ground not even worried that I'm alone. The day was hot, humid with cloudy blue skies. In pictures the ark looks big but in person it almost blended into the background of the sky- <em>I mean you keep looking up that you're practically laying on the ground anyways</em>. The weather from the beginning of the trip wasn't bad but towards the end of the week there were suddenly flash storms with thunder and lightning. When we had gotten back to the RV for the night, the storm was already brewing in the sky luckily we made it back in time that we didn't walk through the crazy push of wind. My grandpa at this point kept pretending to imitate the bike riding witch in the tornado storm from Wizard of Oz because the winds on the way home were actually kind of scary for me. Once everyone got settled into their sleeping positions I plugged my phone in for the night and knocked out from travel exhaustion, the time difference and the soothing feeling of no longer being home sick. <em>This&nbsp;</em>was what I needed- my family. At home I was stressed about being lost in the mix of not finding a job or any friends. I went from being 9 hours away from my family to being 16 hours away- my mind was frantically grasping for stability and I had nothing to offer for its peace of mind until now. <em>My friends and family have been supporting me this whole time, my mind was finally settled down enough to really confide in that truth.</em></p>
<strong>From Missouri to Kansas</strong>, once again we were up and out by early morning. My aunts were dropped off at the airport just in time to board their plane ride home. I was so nervous to be in the passenger seat, delegated the navigator #2 role. All the stops from here on out were going to be decided by me, including the eating, shitting and sleeping locations- not just the fun sight seeing. I had to use three apps and two phones to figure out all that. Thankfully my grandpa would remind me to look up from the phone every once in a while to really take in the scenery. If you were in the back of the RV you were either on your phone until it died or you were sleeping. The outlets in back of the RV were generator operated, so if you killed your battery now chances are you won't recharge until we camp for the night because the generator took up gas. Gas prices in the midwest ranged from $2-$4, which was much cheaper than California but each time we filled up it was still a good $180-$300 depending on the place. My grandpa is hard of hearing, he's also reluctant to wearing his hearing aids, so he blasts the speakers so loud while driving that the singers were starting to sound distorted. For me, most of my cherished memories are accompanied by the song that was playing at that moment, now when I hear Johnny Cash I think of the plains we were passing in Missouri. Sometimes it wasn't always easy to fall asleep, there were a couple times I had nightmares that we'd get into a terrible car accident or a crazy tornado would sweep us away. I actually had a couple nights were I just kept waking up every hour because I would forget where I was exactly- <em>like oh, right I'm in Indiana-</em> one night I forgot, I kept inching my butt up to my aunt thinking she'd cuddle me like my boyfriend because mentally I was at home in bed with my big headed boyfriend. She was not a cuddler and I got no cuddles from her that night, she would just shake me awake snapping at me to move over. Another reason why I couldn't sleep was because everyone (except my cousin and myself) were loud snorers. I'm not that close with my cousin, this was like the second time I spent time with him on a trip or at all I didn't see him much as a kid. I actually had no idea we were the same age. We got pretty close because of this trip, I treat him like one of my brothers. Once the RV crew became just the four of us (me, my grandpa, my grandma and my cousin) we got to talking a lot more, I was learning spanish and he was learning english. My vocabulary limited to "chinga su madre" and his to "huh" and "tho" <em>because I guess Americans say that at the end of every sentence</em>.

In Missouri we did a few things: the Meramic Caverns, the Jesse James museum, the Cuba murals, the world's largest rocking chair and the mother road musuem. The Meramic Caverns were basically those long underground tunnels of caves with the pointy dripping rock ceiling. The place was also a camp site where you could cabin camp, park your rv, canoe and zipline. It was full of touristy gift shops. The area was the only other stop in the literal Ozarks so you'd see buses drop off people and campers headed the same direction. I actually have never heard of this infamous outlaw Jesse James until we got here. There was history about how during the civil war the unionists were hiding ammo in these caves and the confederates discovered it after chasing Jesse James through them. The museum is right outside these caves, you had to pay a fee for this family owned shop. Inside you can't take any photos or videos either because the shop is so small they mostly make all their money off that portion of the building. If you grew up knowing this story then I guess after officials chase Jesse James out of the tunnels and he gets away they really don't know where or what happened to him, most people thought he died right after the event. The museum basically proved that he was alive the whole time and lived to be 100. I didn't really care much about him, but the only piece of info that really stuck with me was that he married his first cousin and had like six kids- <em>gross</em>. All throughout Missouri we actually passed by tons of proud confederate flags, which deeply worried me. The "red rocker" and the Cuba murals were very small, short stops. The rocking chair was just that on a long lonely road, but it had a busy route 66 gift shop because it was the only restroom available for miles. The Cuba murals was actually this tiny town, some amish people lived here too. This spot had nothing to do with Cubans, a bunch of artists just painted many murals on this historically kept town that had much to do about history of indigenous peoples. The sad thing was that COVID-19 killed many businesses of this barely surviving town, much of it boarded up with closure notices.

We were mainly passing through Kansas, the route 66 had only one stop on the map. The Cars inspired "Cars on Route" town. They had life size Cars characters like Disneyland, the gift shop worker even pointed out Doc's garage, gas station and the hanging stop light. It was cute! As we rolled out to our next stop I played Life is a Highway at least three times.

<strong>From Kansas to Oklahoma,</strong>&nbsp;I noticed so much history and pride for our<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp; </span>nation's military. My grandpa served in Vietnam when he was a teenager, every time he sees anything related to museums of the sort we stop. My grandma on the other hand, she's a foodie- <em>I mean who isn't</em>. Between Kansas and Oklahoma there's miles and miles of land covered with large hay roles, like a painting, when we actually get into an area with fast food or restaurants she's the first one to holler stop. At one point she managed to get my grandpa to stop at a dairy queen, a big walk-in and drive thru type (<em>a rare site for a dairy queen</em>). Per usual the parking lot was too tiny making us park a block away. After my grandpa spent 20 minutes trying to u-turn somewhere, getting lost for a second before finally find a parking spot big enough, my grandma was so giddy for ice cream that I was the one trying to keep up with her. The woman was speed walking- that says a lot because she has a condition. We get our ice cream and everything was peachy until we walk outside and it starts pouring. <em>Obviously we wouldn't be going through all this trouble if it wasn't ice cream eating summer sweating weather.</em> As we are racing back to the RV with our ice creams in hand, it starts pouring harder- I'm thinking it's going to hail. To get into the RV my grandpa has to manually unlock/lock the door, he's struggling to get the keys out of his pocket while we are standing out in an open empty lot just soaked. By the time we get into the car the rain suddenly stops, my grandpa was all flustered saying, "<em>All because you wanted your damn ice cream</em>" while I'm laughing my ass off in the passenger seat and my grandma is content with her sundae rolling her eyes at him. We all had a laugh, it was pretty funny- maybe not so much now that I'm reading it back <em>definitely a had-to-be-there-moment.</em> We (well, me and grandpa) didn't even eat all our ice creams either! You would think that after <em>all</em> that trouble but my grandpa and I are both lactose intolerant, there were only two dairy alternatives on the menu which we ordered that both came out pretty half assed. blue whale I got to drive the RV pops soda shop camped by a lake right outside Tulsa
<p class="p1">From Oklahoma to Texas,</p>
<p class="p1">From Texas to New Mexico,</p>
<p class="p1">Lastly from New Mexico to Arizona,</p>
<p class="p1">I'm finally home!</p>
<p class="p1">Dedication: Thank you to my grandparents. As a kid that is the direct result of a high school teenage accident, I have always felt different and unwanted. My family has had its ups and downs but the one thing that has shaped a huge part of who I am today are the amounts of love, support and time spent with my grandparents. If they had never taken me on any of their travels I would not have had my wanderlust and ambition today. I love you.</p>

From Oklahoma to Texas,
From Texas to New Mexico,
Lastly from New Mexico to Arizona,
I'm finally home!