KELSEY GRACE PFEIFER

Bucketlist Time: I’m going on a Cross-Country Road Trip

By Kelsey Grace 

I don’t remember a time when I didn’t love sitting in a car for long hours. Now that sounds incredibly strange (probably because it's a double negative- forgive me mom!). It may sound less strange when I tell you that my family took the 12 hour trek from Louisville, Kentucky to Eagle River, Wisconsin twice every summer. Each time that journey signified the beginning of a new chapter. 

Every car trip involved a bunch of junk food, my twin brother and I inevitably fighting, and my mother forcing us to watch Tarzan for the 800th time. To this day I think she's only seen the dang movie twice, but everyone in our immediate family can still recite it word for word. 

When we'd reach our destination, it would seem as though the world began breathing again. There was no more anticipation. Page turned, relief blanketed, chapter begun. 

Oh my God that was so cheesy. I physically hurt from putting those words in that cliché order.

But for real, like many times before, I am now taking a road trip to mark a new chapter in my life. Also because I super don’t want to ship my clothes out to California.

I begin classes at UCLA in October. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared out of my mind. As of now I am taking this trip with very little direction, something I’m quite unused to. I am also unused to travelling alone.

Travelling alone has always been something that terrifies me, not from a safety standpoint, but from a sanity standpoint. I have always envied the brave girls who drop everything in their lives and move to another country with nothing but their passport and a backpack. As a self-confessed introvert, I pretty much couldn’t imagine anything worse.

That being said, I have traveled alone once before, staying in a remote cabin in the south of France. I was sure someone was waiting outside to murder me… but that’s a story for another time (#ASAD).

So here I go… traipsing out into the great wilderness, challenging myself. I don’t want this trip to just get me from point A to point B, a plane could do that just fine. This trip is a little about finding myself and a lot about seeing beautiful places. For right now I’ll end this short blog post with a preliminary list of where I’m going.

CHICAGO, IL

DES MOINES, IA

RAPID CITY, SD

FLATHEAD LAKE, MT

COEUR D'ALENE, ID

PORTLAND, OR

FORT BRAGG, CA

NAPA VALLEY, CA

LOS ANGELES, CA

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to stay up to date on my packing lists, why I chose the places I did, as well as how I’m feeling about the whole process. Stay Tuned!