The End of the Line: A short essay By Ben Brown

In the fall of 2003 two of my friends from High School: Craig, Andrew, and myself went on a planned cross country trip that would take us all around the US in about 3 months time. We had the route planned, we had been saving all senior year, and graduation money helped secure our finances. We were ready.

The first 2 months of the trip were amazing. We saw dozens of places, visited 15 states, slept indoors and out, and met tons of interesting people. While the routes and stops were planned, the finances were a little more elusive. Craig had budgeted for us to have about $3,000 each, but we ended up with more thanks to graduation money. Because of this we spent a little more than we probably should have at the start of the trip. All of those dinners and hotels in lieu of camping caught up with us around Tombstone, Arizona.

We were running on low on funds and were almost the farthest away from NH you could be without hitting the Pacific. The day we spent in Tombstone was dreary, both in mood and weather. The desert around us was covered with a steely sky, and rain followed that night. We needed to find somewhere to stay for free, not necessarily home, but free. Eventually we arrived at a plan: We would drive non-stop from Albuquerque, NM our (next planned stop) to Tampa, FL where Craig's Aunt and Uncle lived. So that's about 2,000 miles.

We left at about 9 AM the next day. I took the first shift, and it should be noted here that Andrew did not have his drivers licence at the time so it was up to Craig and I to drive. I drove for 12 hours that day. From the mountains surrounding Albuquerque to the rolling nothingness of Northern Texas. We swapped after dark, and Craig pledged to drive until he couldn't. It turned out that was about 14 hours. He drove straight through the night, and gave up the wheel at a scummy looking McDonald's somewhere in Louisiana. I had gotten about 2 hours of sleep in the back of our big Chevy conversion van, because it is quite difficult to sleep when your bed is directly over the rear axle of the car. I continued on in a haze. Luckily for us the highways in the south are strait as an arrow, so my job pretty much amounted to keeping the wheel strait. How we stayed awake on those dull roads I can't quite recall; due in no small part to the lack of sleep I'm sure.

I got us to Tampa at about 9:30 PM that night. Craig's relatives where ready with beds and food. We skipped the food and opted for bed. 2,000 miles in under 48 hours is not something I can recommended to many people. It's exhausting, but very satisfying at the same time; especially on a map. If we had planned better, that would have never been necessary, and we would have seen tons more places. At the same time, I'm not sure if the trip would have been as memorable with a stricter budget; after all predictability is the enemy of excitement.