Journey to the East Coast

Hello, welcome to my super-duper-awesome-solo-vacation!

If you were brought here by the QR codes in the windows of my car, thank you for being part of the force proving to my friends that QR codes aren't completely useless.

About two months ago I decided that, for the first time, I want to venture out and show the world what I've got. This isn't the first time that I've traveled outside of Illinois. 3 years ago I went to Michigan and Missouri to do campaign work. Almost two years ago I drove to and from North Carolina with a close friend. This time is different though; No work, no restrictions, and nobody to hold me back. This time, it's just me and the open road.

That said, I do have a schedule that I made back when I thought of this, just to make sure I actually have time to make it to the east coast. So, let's go over that, then you can follow along with me on my trip! All pictures will be posted at the end of this article when I've returned home.

Schedule

My trip will take place:

June 22nd - June 30th

Monday, June 22

9pm - 11pm..........................Drive to Chicago

Tuesday, June 23

8am - 12:30pm.....................Drive to Detroit

12:30pm - 9pm

9pm - 12pm..........................Drive to Cleveland

Wednesday, June 24

8am - 12pm

12pm - 7:30pm.....................Drive to New York

7:30pm - 12am

Thursday, June 25

8am - 7:30pm

7:30pm - 9:30pm..................~~Drive to Philadelphia~~

9:30pm - 12am

Friday, June 26

8am - 2pm

2pm - 5pm............................Drive to Washington

5pm - 12am

Saturday, June 27

8am - 12:30pm.....................~~Drive to Pittsburgh~~

12:30pm - 6pm

6pm - 9pm............................Drive to ~~Columbus~~

Sunday, June 28

8am - 10am

10am -12pm..........................~~Drive to Cincinnati~~

12pm - 6pm

6pm - 8pm.............................~~Drive to Indianapolis~~

8pm - 12am

Monday, June 29

8am - 12pm...........................~~Drive to St. Louis~~

12pm - 12am

Tuesday, June 30

8am - 12pm...........................~~Drive to... a special place :)~~ (Would have been Centennial Park)

Go home.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way, this is where the trip actually starts. I will try my best to keep up with this page and document my trip and experiences along the way.

Thanks for being here with me on this. If you enjoy it, feel free to subscribe for more wacky antics, or just leave a comment and let me know what you think. I hope I don't get ganked in my sleep!

The Trip

Monday

Here we are! I've waited so long for this moment, and it has finally come. I just finished driving 2 1/2 hours from Dekalb, IL, through Chicago, crossed the Indiana border, and am now staying in a Walmart parking lot in Michigan City. Pretty dumb that it's not in Michigan, right? Anyway, the drive went great, it was a lot of fun and pretty easy. I've used about a quarter of a tank of gas so far, which honestly isn't that bad.

This town is also pretty neat itself. Some parts are wide open with lots of room to move, while others are congested with homes and small streets surrounded by walls of nature. This Walmart lot seems a little sketchy. It's not surrounded by other buildings or anything (aside from a currently closed gas station right behind me), but it's busy enough to still hear cars and trains. I parked at the end of the lot near the road that goes into it, simply because there are other cars doing the same thing and I thought it made me seem less sketchy.

I plan on sleeping with my windows down just a bit. The temperature outside is about 67 degrees, so while it could be worse, I don't want to die of heat overnight. I brought plenty of pillows to keep me comfy, and a comforter that I probably won't use. Don't judge, I didn't have any other blankets ready for me to take with. Tomorrow I'll only have to drive about 2 1/2 more hours to get to Detroit, which means I can sleep more (maybe).

So yeah, this is kinda scary, and I'm not sure what to expect, but hopefully I can make it through the night without any issues. I'll update y'all tomorrow when I get the chance. Wish me luck!

Tuesday

Last night wasn't that bad. I could've slept better, but I think it's something that I'll get adjusted to. I woke up at 5, confused and a little sick feeling. I was also a little pissed because the first thing I saw was a ball of dough smushed between my driver seat and the center console. I didn't know until a bit after, but apparently my roommate and another coworker of ours at a bar put that in my car but I was so caught up with deliveries I didn't notice. I stayed up for a bit just to think about my current situation, and then went back to sleep. When I awoke at 8, I had just had a super clear dream where I was in Florida. I had shorts on and I decided to lay in the grass for a minute. Then, I got up, realizing I had a ton of bugs on my legs. Things like cockroaches and ones that attach to you and suck blood from you. I was freaking out trying to flick and pry them all off of me, and then I woke up. If that isn't a stress dream, I don't know what is.

I headed out from Michigan City after using the Walmart bathroom. That's when I realized that it's called Michigan City because the border was literally like ten feet away from where I slept and I just didn't know. I stopped at a bar called The Dunes to use their bathroom, and that's when something happened. I was shown to where the bathroom was, and upon opening the door would've been the most awkward moment ever if I wasn't too tired to care. It was a tiny rectangular bathroom with no stalls. There was a guy in the corner of the room changing, and I just happened to enter when he was putting on his underwear or something. I ignored him at first, but then I saw the urinal, which didn't have any privacy to it. So there I was, patiently waiting to do my business, while this guy just stands in the corner of the bathroom trying not to let me see his junk; But I did. It was only for a split second as I headed for the sink, but it was enough for his little sausage paired with meatballs to be engrained in my head. But hey, it’s not an adventure until you see someone’s junk, right? I got out of there and headed back to the road.

The trip to Detroit was pretty long. It ended up being longer than Apple Maps had told me previously thanks to traffic and construction. After about three hours of that, I got to Detroit, but I had to pee really bad. You have no idea how hard it is to find a bathroom in a big city that you don't know your way around when everything is only open for pickup because of COVID-19. So, I drove 20 minutes to get to another Walmart, and now here I am. I will update later on the rest of the day, since it's only 3:30pm. I think I'm going to go back to the main part of Detroit, find somewhere to park, take my bag of stuff and walk around until I find somewhere to chill.

. . .

I didn't go back to Detroit lol. There wasn't much reason to drive 20 minutes in the opposite direction to get back there; I've been there before, driving through there made me really stressed out, and I got tired. Instead, I got some food and found a rest area, where I hung out for about an hour before I looked it up and found out I couldn't sleep there. I'm being more conscious about what town I'm going to sleep in now, which means I'm looking for places with low population. I now find myself in Sandusky, OH, once again in a Walmart parking lot.

I've been through Ohio a couple times before, but I never realized how nice it is. My definition of nice is subjective. There's a lot of nature and open areas that I like, and it doesn't just feel like small towns surrounded by nothing but corn. Driving through here it always felt like I was in a long, never ending town, but with lots of beautiful nature. It's 9pm now, I'm going to find some stuff to do in my car for a bit until it gets dark, and then I'm hitting the hay. I should get a better nights sleep tonight. See you tomorrow!

Wednesday

Another day, another adventure! Just as I predicted, I slept pretty well last night. I may have even perfected the art of sleeping in my car. I did have another super clear stress dream last night, though. I was driving through a part of Detroit that I actually drove through yesterday, and my car just suddenly died. As soon as I pulled over and panic started to set in, people in every building around me, including auto repair shops, just suddenly started closing up because of COVID-19. It was scary, but just a dream. I woke up feeling great, and headed for Cleveland, OH after using the Walmart bathroom.

I'm now in Cleveland. I haven't taken many pictures yet and I am going to be driving New York for pretty much the rest of the day, so I payed $6 for parking and spent an hour walking around getting pictures. I gotta say, I quite like Cleveland. It feels a lot like my first time seeing Detroit. I'm gonna swing by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum before I leave, and maybe check it out if it has free parking, since I parked a mile away and don't feel like walking that much anymore.

. . .

I didn't end up going to the museum, there was no point with how little time I had left in Cleveland and how expensive it was to get it. Other than that, there was a change in plans. After looking at the map, I realized that Niagara Falls was just a few hours from me, and I knew I had to go. I don't have a passport, so I stayed in NY, went to the park and explored a bit of Goat Island. Man, it was absolutely breathtaking. I'm extremely afraid of heights though, so getting close enough to the railing to take pictures and video almost made me crap myself. It was so worth the extra time, though.

Having gone to Niagara Falls, my schedule got a little messed up. To get to NYC from there it takes about 9 hours. I don't know about you, but even with how much I like driving I sure as hell am not driving 9 hours straight. Instead, I drove for 5 hours to get to a Walmart in Cobleskill. On they way, I stopped at a gas station (after dark) and man, there are some disgusting ass bugs out here. They were EVERYWHERE. I only opened my car door to get in and out real quick and they just swarmed my car. On a different note, driving through the mountains was AMAZING. It was so beautiful; If only I could have gotten more pictures. That was also the best drive I've had yet during this trip. I even managed to solve my back pain issues while driving by sticking one of my pillows behind me.

In the morning, I'll have 4 hours left to drive before I'm in NYC, and then I can spend the whole day there sightseeing. I'm about to go to sleep, but they got a guy doing the parking lot lines or something, and I hope that he doesn't ask me to move. Anywho, I hope whoever is reading this is enjoying it so far, and I'll catch ya later.

Thursday

Man, today has been a day; and not a great one, either. Heads up, this section looks weird compared to the rest of this post because my laptop died and I had to write it on my phone. I don't know how to fix it. It all started with the drive this morning. It went great, actually. No complaints there. I even got into NYC fairly easily. I handed my car off to a parking garage near The Battery, and started exploring there first. I saw the Statue of Liberty for the first time, and I officially made it to the east coast! Mission complete! For the next couple hours I just kinda wandered around looking at stuff and taking pictures. I didn’t like how hot it was, though. Then, I headed back to my car, and trouble ensued.

First of all, I didn’t realize the rates for that parking garage were absolutely ridiculous. $26 for two hours is insane. I tried to get gas next, and while that was a struggle itself, I ended up paying $30 for a tank because of gas prices. Then, I wanted to go see some stuff that was a bit farther away, like the Trump Tower, Empire State Building, and Central Park. None of which I got to spend time at or take pictures of because there was literally nowhere to park. I got really stressed out trying to find my way around, and someone almost hit me, so I decided I had to just get out of there. My phone didn’t like that, my Bluetooth started glitching out and maps kept on closing itself. When I did manage to get it working, it took me through a tunnel to New Jersey and put me on the turnpike, where I was practically robbed of $10 for not having a ticket. I now have PTSD of the word turnpike.

Just when I thought I was in the clear, my phone decided it didn’t want to work anymore and my service completely dropped when I really needed it. I was trying to pick some stuff up from someone for my friend and between my service dropping, not having directions, and the people not answering their phone until 15 minutes after I left the town, I spent about an hour and a half getting absolutely nothing done.

I then had a 4 hour car ride to a Walmart I picked out near Washington. Of course, it didn’t get any easier yet. There was this 2 minute stretch of road that was completely shrouded in fog so thick I couldn’t see past 5 feet in front of my car. My windshield wiper blades have been falling apart the last couple days and I haven’t gotten around to replacing them, leaving me almost completely blind while in the fog. That was terrifying.

I got to my destination, and then came my last problem of the night. Apparently, locating a Walmart in a town with a smaller population isn’t enough. I need to actually check it on the map to be sure it has a parking lot, because this one didn’t. 30 minutes later and I’m finally able to lay down and type this all out. But of course, even now as I’m trying to do this and then get some sleep, this guy decided to park right behind me at the very end of the lot. It’s not a cop. It’s just a guy, sitting in his car on his phone. Why the hell couldn’t he have picked one of the other hundreds of parking spots?!?

Yeah, so that was my day. I haven’t even gotten to eat anything. Also, because of how much money I spent just existing in NYC, I’m going to cut my road trip short. It’s not a big deal, I’ve seen a lot of the things I set out to see and gained the experience needed. I’ll go back through my schedule I wrote out and strike through the towns I didn’t end up seeing. Tomorrow I’m going to see the White House, and then it’s time to start planning my trip home. See you then.

Friday

As I'm typing this, it's almost midnight on Saturday. Friday was a really nice day, actually. I got to Washington DC in an hour after replacing my windshield wiper blades. It was really great. I parked right by where they would have the Christmas tree. I got to see The White House, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, and Lincoln Memorial. At about 12 I started driving out of there after setting a course for a Walmart about 8 hours away in Ohio. On my way out of Washington I stopped at a really cool scenic overlook for a picture. Lastly, while in Maryland, I got a whopper from a BK and it was way better than the whoppers we get at home.

Set to arrive at 7:30pm, the drive was fine. I got a few more pictures of mountains and the road, only stopping for gas a few times. At about a quarter of the way there, I decided that I wasn't going to that Walmart. I really just wanted to get home so I could sleep in my own bed and get a shower. so I drove the whole way. I had been getting severe weather warnings for back home most of the day, and about 3 hours away from there I got to see exactly what that was about. There was nonstop lightning all across the sky in every direction; It looked awesome, until it wasn't. Suddenly, all hell broke loose as I was hit with 20 minutes of a massive wave of rain so bad I had to slow to 30mph. The last two hours of my drive I got extremely tired and lightheaded. It was probably a combination of me not eating a lot for multiple days and driving for so long, but those last couple hours I was really out of it. Everything felt different, too. It was weird. With 13 hours straight of driving, I got back around 1:30pm and passed out. My trip was officially over.

Conclusion

So, here we are. My trip has ended, and I couldn't be happier to be home. Even though I didn't see everything I had planned to, I still had a great time. The feelings of lightheadedness and drowsiness seemed to have worsened after last night so I couldn't do much else. No, I'm not sick or getting COVID-19, I just needed to readjust to being home. After spending all of today (Saturday) sleeping/laying in bed, having finally eaten enough, and showering, I feel much better. If nothing else, I'm glad to be home early to be able to fully recover from the trip before I work again.

Let's wrap up. I wanted to document how many miles I drove in total by resetting my trip counter, but I didn't realize it resets at 1000 miles. I'm pretty sure I drove about 3000 miles. I spent about $185 on gas, $35 on food, and $100 on other. I'm not sure about my unpaid tolls yet. In all, I don't think I did that bad. I got everything out of this trip that I needed, and I should have gotten my need to get out of town out of my system. I thank you for taking the time to join me in this, and sincerely hope you enjoyed. I'll see you in the next wacky adventure!