US Road Trips: Unexpected Stops Along the way

The Cadillac Ranch Art Installation just off of I-40 as you head East in Texas.

When you hit the road for a long road trip adventure awaits! There are unexpected and fun stops along the way (especially on a US road trip given how big the country is) if you give yourself the time to find them!

After having been on the road as a nomad for several months in the lower 48 of the United States you would have thought we had seen it all by this point! It’s a big country though friends and while we have explored and seen so much it’s amazing how many places you could live and things to do. Haven’t even scratched the surface if ya ask me!

I always had planned, even before we left, to head back to Columbus Ohio for the first two weeks of November to handle a few items that I wasn’t able to get done before we headed West.

This US road trip was to be over 1,400 miles in length in three days!

The hands of unity from children with the victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

I rented a car and drove from New Mexico to Columbus Ohio while Jill kept our car and worked in Colorado.

Often times when I have done road trips in the past there is an expected arrival time to the destination which often leaves out the beautiful chance for unexpected stops along the route. Jason M who writes for us always talks on our podcast episodes about finding that extra few hours each day in the car for the unexpected stops you might find along a Road Trip Route!

I listened to Jason M and since I was taking a route I had never driven before I must say it was just such an amazing surprise of joy that I was able to feel by doing this. I left on a Saturday and could have definitely made it back by Sunday night in a brutally long two day drive. Instead I broke it into three days and made time to do a few things along the way to break up the drive and the journey!

Here’s a quick rundown of the road trip stops I made in these three days:

Cadillac Ranch Art Installation near Amarillo Texas.
A quirky and interesting art installation that allows you to stretch your legs, take some photos, perhaps support an artist, and maybe it will give you ideas about your next creative project! Fun to see!

The Oklahoma City Bombing National Memorial.& Museum
I remember the morning like it was yesterday. The largest domestic terrorist attack on the US (yes terrorists are American as well) until 9/11 has created a beautiful, heart breaking, and inspiring all in one memory of those who were murdered that day. I spent an hour walking around, reading the letters, and feeling into the gravity of what happened. Life is precious. Take in the moments of each day, we never know when it might be instantly gone. I highly recommend if traveling near OKC to stop by.

Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas.
The boyhood home to Billy Clinton and favorite vacation stop of Mob Murderer Al Capone has great hiking trails, hot springs, and forests to explore. This helped round out my visits to the US National Parks in the lower 48 that I wrote about HERE.

Sun Studios, Memphis Tennessee.
The musical birthplace of BB King, Elvis, Johnny Cash, Jeannie C Riley, Howlin’ Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, and SO MANY MORE! This is a 45 minute tour that had amazing stories about where Rock ‘N Roll music started, inspiring entrepreneur work, battling racism in the south in the 1950’s and 60’s and now, and of course the work of so many talented musicians. Totally worth the stop! And if you are in the area waiting for your socially distanced tour Mo’s Bows from Shark Tank and High Cotton Craft Brewery are just around the corner!

National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Tennessee.
Not sure if I need to explain why stopping in here the day before the 2020 US Elections felt important, but just in case…it was a really sobering, humbling, and hopeful experience.
System racism started long before Donald Trump in the US government. Keep the foot on the gas for equality and unity friends!

I think what I loved about this US road trip was the ability to explore places along a route that I might not have gone out of my way to visit or visited by themselves. Certainly not this year with being out West so much.

The opportunity arose and I took advantage of it.
Once again though it was never about checking it off the bucket list. It was about the experience and the connection with people of the present, the past, and of the power of Planet Earth.

I walked with James in Memphis who can’t get unemployment because he quit his job in LA to take care of his sister who just passed away with cancer, I was blown away by Mark’s enthusiasm for music at Sun Studio as our tour guide, I laughed with a family as their children tried to boulder up a rock in Hot Springs National Park, I saw Mo from Shark Tank all grown up and still chasing his bow tie dream, I met Big T who sells flowers to donate money to Vietnam Vets, I saw a dream of art come to reality on farmland in Texas, and I witnessed first hand the massacres and tragedy of loss of people in our country and across the world through Racism and the Oklahoma City Bombing.

I found it fitting the reason I got to see all of this was to vote. That was the reason the trip was when it was and everything else was planned around election day.
Yet I felt I was given some random joys along the way but also reminding me every mile of why I was headed to Columbus. Driving three days for ten minutes at a ballot booth.

I met people along the way affected by all of the things I was going to vote for and against. I also saw stories of our past, both good and bad, that still have an important role in our lives today.

Travel offers perspective. It allows you to get out of your bubble. It just removes stereotypes and stories that you might believe that are not true.

My cousin Chris and I had dinner at a park when back one night and he said he was asked by someone once “Where do you get your news?”. He replied that he doesn’t watch the news but rather he goes out into the world talks to people, volunteers, and forms his own thoughts. He creates his own news. It would have been much easier for that person to pick him apart if he said Bill Maher or MSNBC.

That’s what I leave you with. Go create your own news. Go talk to people. Make unexpected stops on your next road trip. Take care of yourself and all those around you and of course our loving mother Planet Earth.
We are in this together friends.

Until next time thanks for reading and hanging out! Cya on the dirt paths.

Because adventure feeds the soul,
Mike R

The original microphone used by all the legends and still used today at Sun Studio in Memphis!