What a long, strange trip it's been...

“Road Trippin’ with my two favorite allies, fully loaded we got snacks and supplies…” Red Hot Chili Peppers
Instead of watching the re-run of Project Runway that I’ve already seen about five times, I’ve decided to recap one of the greatest experiences of my life – an experience that JUST ended exactly one week ago from today (and I still CANNOT stop thinking about it).
In case you’re someone who doesn’t follow my life very closely, I’ll let you know that this AWESOME, FANTASTICAL experience was my cross-country road trip with two of my closest confidantes, Carla and Sam (they’re quonnie people... meaning they’ve seen me at my best, my worst, and all of in between). Since it was SO fun and we made SO many memories, I think I’ll do a blog for each day we spent out on the open road (and in Denva for new year’s).
Before I begin, though, I must express how grateful I am to have such wonderful friends who, willingly, put up with my neurotic, control-freak behavior and who came into the trip with the greatest enthusiasm… an enthusiasm that never faltered, even during the darkest (literally) days of our trip. I couldn’t have asked for better traveling companions and cannot express my gratitude towards Sam and Carla, PLUS Shawn, Tom, Nick and (last but NOT least) Erin… who shared their home (Shawn) and flew out to Denva (Nick, Tom, Erin) in order to make new year’s a real “Quonnie Crew” ordeal. You all are great… you guys have helped and guided me through the good and the bad over the years, and I hope that I, somehow, have played a positive role in your lives as well. I hope you all know by now how much I love you and how much I’ve enjoyed growing up with you in my favorite place in the entire world – Quonnie. As Kevin’s mom put it (on the 2000 NYE cake that no one ate) “Long live the Q-taug Crew!”

“It’s time to leave this town, it’s time to steal away… Let’s go get lost anywhere in the USA” (RHCP)
December 26th, 2007…
“You know you’re not sitting up there the whole time, right?” TYPICAL Carla Sutherland remark as she slips into the backseat and greets Sam, who (after having been in the car for only about twenty minutes) has created a little cozy nest for her self in the front passenger seat (hence the “typical Carla” response).
“I know!!!” Sam says irritably. “I knew you were gonna say something about that.” Thus begins the Sarah Matthews / Samantha Benson / Carla Sutherland Cross-Country Road Trip… stopping in Denver to spend NYE with Shawn Frazier, Tom Igoe, Nick Dimeo and Erin Sutherland and then continuing on (minus Carla) to San Francisco, California. Most everyone I spoke with would either hint at or just blatantly tell me that I was crazy to be doing such a road trip in the middle of the winter… and I do understand the factors that would make them think this. A. The Midwest is, well, the Midwest, the part of the country that, during the winter months, really enjoys a good ice storm or two… or possibly a tornado… but maybe a blizzard. B. The last leg of the journey, through Wyoming and Utah on I-80, is a straight-shot stretch of highway, known for being closed (due to weather hazards) and, when open, can be extremely windy and icy. C. It is a MUCH easier trip during the summer. And, finally, D. You’re going through the Rockies in DECEMBER?
Yet, I’ve proven such naysayers wrong by physically (and, I hope, mentally) surviving over 3,000 miles of America… 3,000 miles that took us from the remnants of 9/11 in the hills of Pennsylvania through the gateway to the West in St. Louis, the “Oz” lands of Kansas, the mountains of Utah (No wonder their plates say “ski Utah!”), the ghost towns of Nevada, the ski resorts of Tahoe and, finally, to the beautiful bay of San Francisco. We did it, beating the blizzard warning for Tahoe by only ONE day, we made it.
Back to December 26th, 2007, around 2:15p.m. Per usual, the GW has us backed up in traffic two minutes after crossing the NY state line. This ends up being the BIGGEST setback of our trip… and I cannot say that I’m surprised. This is what happens when you have millions of people, who work in the greatest city in the universe (I don’t doubt it), simultaneously trying to get back to their suburban homes in Wes-ches-ta, Luong Eye-lend, Connet-i-cut and New Joy-zee (sound it out, that’s the real dialect… and don’t argue with me). How do we pass the time? I prefer the occasional cursing out of a random driver who has managed to either cut me off, not use their signal, or something similarly blood-boiling like that. Sam prefers to switch from one depressing love song to the next… with an occasional rap song (to humor Carla) and an occasional Van Morrison-type-road-trippy song (to humor us all, I guess). Carla prefers to divide her time wisely by either staring at the other drivers (through her huge Chanel sunglasses… even though its quite cloudy outside), pushing Sam’s buttons through little, consistent smart remarks, freaking out about the BRAKE LIGHTS that I’m beginning to freak out about now (thank you, Carla), or occasionally commandeering the ipod. Overall, each of us has accepted our roles in the road trip, and we all seem to be quite comfortable in them.
It is about 7ish when we finally get out of Jersey… Besides passing the time with our normal habits, we have also gotten through NJ by a. videotaping our rendition of “I’ll always be right there” (the Quonnie girls’ song), b. calling parents, c. stopping to pee, d. drinking about five red bulls each (hence the continence issue), and e. figuring out how much longer until we reach PA. Before I continue, I’d just like to thank ALL of you wonderful New Jersey drivers who decided that my CT plate was an invisibility cape and, therefore, you weren’t cutting off ANYONE, you were just changing lanes and being cautious by not letting those pesky turn signal buttons that decorate your steering wheel distract you! In the words of Carla, Sam and myself, THANKYOUSOMUCHHHHHH. Oh, and I’d also like to thank the thousands of truck drivers we passed along the way… without your commitment to driving on 48 hours of no-sleep, I would not have been able to be so freaked out along the curving hills of Pennsylvania. Thank you.
Enough about the people who can’t drive (in my case, I believe that it is everyone else in America besides myself), let’s march on like the drummer guy Thoreau once mentioned.
It was pretty smooth sailing after the rain showers that followed us from NJ into PA cleared up. The occasional long tunnel and the scarcity of other cars on the road were good indications that we were on our way through the middle-of-nowhere-Pennsylvania. We end up making it to Somerset, PA, around 11:00pm… the wonderful ladies at the Holiday Inn directed us to a nice local restaurant/bar, Maggie Mae’s, so that we could reminisce about our first day over a nice, cold brewsky. We were greeted by the bar manager who, although I’m guessing he was closing shop for the night, still took us in and let us marvel at the small-town charm…
TO BE CONTINUED…