It was hard to think about anything else in the weeks leading up to the roadtrip. Ever since I decided to move my life back to the town where I went to boarding school, back to the community, back to my friends, back to my favorite cafe, every waking moment was spent half-daydreaming about the open road. I have always had my head in the clouds, but up until then, my travel pinterest board was full or dreamy european cities and colorful Ghanaian markets. Growing up in the beautiful pacific northwest, I never felt the need to find any more outdoor beauty then what I was always surrounded with. Looming mountains, misty evergreens, coastal cliffs... what else could a girl need? I immersed myself into the planning of my adventure, talking my friend Declan into flying out to Portland to drive back with me. If I wasn't at work or doing homework, and sometimes when I should have been, I would research routes and the best campsites in each area, putting all my dates, to do lists, budgets and shopping lists down in a little flowered notebook. Of course, I didn't expect everything to go as planned, nor did I really want it to. I wanted to be prepared, but mostly I just wanted to feel like I've started already. Before the road trip, I had been living back at home with my parents, going to community college, and working every Friday, Saturday and Sunday at a nursing home. All my friends were back in PA, and my closest friend at home was my 46 year old coworker Todd. For the first time in my life, I felt closed off from a social life, and it wasn't really working for me, so obsessively planning was my way of jumpstarting my new life.
We planned to leave on July 21st, and Declan, was getting to Portland on the 18th. I had left for a family wedding in Italy on July 4th, and my flight home was set to get in half an hour after his. I was antsy on the plane, sad to leave the Tuscan countryside, but excited to explore my own. I combed through my planning notebook on the long flights, updating my to do lists and making sure we had a rough idea of where we could camp each night. Among the few things left to do were an oil change, a transmission fluid change, and a costco trip. We landed for our last layover in Dallas, and turned on our phones to all receive the same text.
"Your connecting flight to Portland Oregon has been canceled."
Not delayed, canceled. I was sure it was a mistake, so I tried not to panic as we made our way to the help desk. A cranky lady named Linda matter-of-factly told us that no, it was not a mistake, but she would happily put us on the next flight. In three days. Nope. nope nope nope nope nope. Declan was already on his flight to Portland, we had booked and paid for activities and campsites, I had written down an itinerary in BLACK PEN, not pencil. Clearly the disaster monster has no regard for the meticulous notes in the notebook I was still clutching, and didn't care that my sisters birthday was the next day either. I knew things were bound to stray from the plan, but I expected taking wrong turns and stumbling upon a cute town. Dallas was not a cute town, and the trip hadn't even started yet. I fought back tears while Linda explained that my best bet was to try and fly standby the next morning. I was third on the standby list. Good, I thought, my changes are high. By the next morning, I was 27th on the list, and desperately wondering if singing "help me Rhonda" to the lady named Rhonda at the gate would get me anywhere. Rhonda told me singing wasn't necessary, but pulled through anyway and got me on the plane. I was on my way home, only a day off schedule.
I got home exhausted, and Declan pulled up to pick my whole family up from the airport. I had pictured us meeting at the airport countless times, but I was always the one picking him up. The night before I had texted Declan to get an Uber to my grandparents house, their dog was friendlier. I told him how to get in the house and where to find food, but my phone was in some weird limbo post-Italy and he never got the messages. Declan slept at the airport, finally reaching me before I got on a flight home the next day. He Ubered to my grandparents and brought their car to pick us up. Fully aware of what was going on but still somehow confused, but it didn't matter because we could finally start.