Want to Drive Cross-country?

The Journey Begins:

Friday, 10th of Aug, 2007. It was a bright and sunny day in NY. In addition to the entire next week, I took even this Friday off from work. Had to pick up my cousin from the airport and also get the last minute shopping and packing done for the long drive. After dropping off my cousin at his place in NJ, I picked up the food and drinks we were planning to take with us along with other stuff like trash bags and toilet paper. Only thing missing was my Canon Rebel XT's extra battery. I ordered one on eBay but unfortunately did not receive it yet. So I rushed to BestBuy just before they closed and picked one up for $50. This was a ripoff as one can get a brand new battery along with a charger for $15 on eBay including shipping. This broke my heart but I felt it would be worth every penny spent when I capture the real beauty of the heavens and the earth, the bird and the beast. My friend and his wife packed everything at their end and we were all set for the long awaited cross-country road trip. The plan was to pickup the car from Hertz as soon as they open on Sat, come home, dump everything into it and take off.

Day 1: NY to Chicago

"Bye Bye!" It was 11:00 AM on the 11th of Aug and my friend and his wife say their god byes to New Jersey. As for me, I would be back again in a week, so no emotions. We switched on the GPS device and punched in our friend's address in Chicago. It's not that we do not know the route but one feels that obligation to do justice to the gadgets available, whether needed or not. We knew that it was going to be an uneventful day. All we would be doing was to drive, pullover into rest areas for food (for both us and the car) and drive again. During the planning stage I decided that I would capture all possible (possible being the operative word) Sunrises and Sunsets on our trip. The first Sunset happened to be in Ohio. This was captured while cruising at 85 mph on I-80 W.

"Don't give way to that asshole. He is trying to squeeze in. We are not idiots waiting here forever being good drivers" I shouted to my friend who was driving. It was midnight and we were still stuck somewhere in Indiana. We could see lights flashing at like a mile ahead of us. There seemed to be an accident and the traffic was moving at snail's pace. We finally reached our destination at around 2 in the morning. Our good 'ol  buddy in Chicago was waiting with his wife for our arrival. We chatted for a while and crashed into deep slumber. "It is going to be another long day driving once we wakeup tomorrow" we thought.

Day 2: Chicago to Badlands, SD

We woke up at 7 AM the next day. Hardly four hours of sleep we were still tired. If it were just any other day when I'm supposed to go to work, I would have said "screw it" and snugged back under the covers to catch up another couple of hours of sleep. But this day was different. I saw an exciting schedule ahead of me and the energy oozed out of nowhere into my body. Our hosts served a nice breakfast and also something to-go for lunch on our way. We jumped into the car and set out on the second leg of our journey by 9.

Our next stop - Badlands National Park, South Dakota ('mon... don't count the rest areas). The distance was just over 850 miles and we were aiming to reach there latest by midnight. We got out of IL pretty soon, in and out of WI, cut across MN and entered SD. Not surprisingly there was one car that passed us for every million of them we passed. Jeez... these guys stick to speed limit like leeches. "Look at that crank head from NY" other drivers might have thought of us. But who cares, I loved it :-). The change in the landscape as we passed each state was wonderful. We had to cut the entire width of South Dakota to get to Badlands. We already crossed one time zone and I knew we would cross another one before reaching our destination but not sure where. Halfway into this vast barren state we saw the Sun setting. Just as we took an exit to get some gas, there was the Sun god right in front of us kissing the earth. "Wow! The heavens meet the earth" I thought to myself.

We ended up in this gas station that did not have a slit to insert my credit card. "What the hell..." both my friend and I exclaimed at the same time. The whole ground started to shake as soon as we started to pump the gas. Then the expression slowly turned into a smile. "Boy, I loved this!". Still we were clueless of the time zone. Not even the other lady pumping gas at the gas station or the guy who owned it knew. "Well, who cares about the times zone. Let us go by the Sun" we concluded. But wait a minute, unfortunately we had to go by the time to wakeup the next day, start our tour of the park and to do almost everything thereafter. Alas! The world has become so complicated (I think we are working towards making life simple with all these new fancy "technology" stuff right?) that one can not completely depend on the nature for anything anymore. We continued our journey till the point when our tummies started to rumble. Our biological clocks said it was time for dinner. We pulled over into a Subway near a town called Chamberlain. "Can I have a 6 inch veggie patty on Italian Herbs and Cheese please?" I asked the guy at the counter. "Sorry sir. We don't have that". He told me all the Subways don't necessarily carry the same menu. Ooops isn't the whole point of "chain" is that you find the same damn thing anywhere you go and hence makes you feel like you are at home? I guess not. "I get that pretty much everywhere in NY" I muttered. "What? Are you from NY. I'm from Brooklyn man". I could see the glow in that guy's face. He was so excited to see another person from there. Then he explained how he ended up in SD with his mom and said he was planning to go back to Brooklyn as soon as he earns some money there. "This place is dead after 10 dude. I don't know how anyone can live here. Back home I could just walk out and get a beer even after midnight." He complained. I could see his point. Personally I don't think I can survive there. But I feel the people who have been living there forever think the same way about NY. Every place has it's own personality and it's just a matter of getting used to the lifestyle. We once again took off after dinner and reached the gates of Badlands by 1 AM. It was pitch dark and we couldn't see a thing. Then all of a sudden there appeared the faint outline of a sand dune sort of thing in the light of our car's headlights. We got out of the car and saw a couple more around us. Now not in the light of the car but under the light of the millions of starts in the absolutely dark heavens. It was extremely beautiful. Never did I see so many stars in my life before. I could actually see our Milkyway. Looking at the piles of mud we thought some construction was going on and drove down to our cabin. The place looked pretty plain and barren except for the mounds. Too tired we called it a day and crashed in to the bed.

Wait a minute... there is the Sunset alright. Where did the Sunrise in Chicago go? Give me a break! I was too tired to get one.