June 29, 2011

Pros and Cons of a Trans-American Family Road Trip

One of many necessary stops for gas and sanity

When I first envisioned driving across the country with my dad in a U-Haul, I held images of what happens on the silver screen: deep conversations about life and the world, at least one fight and teary breakdown where I demand to be left on the side of the road, and getting strange looks from rural American truck stop employees because I had washed hair and fake designer sunglasses. While some of this actually happened, U-Haul did not pay for product placement in our lives, so we drove a Budget truck and even had to pay for it.


I took away some valuable lessons from the 4+ days on the road. Hollywood glamorizes driving across America’s bread basket. It’s not always in a convertible with your best friends and America grows far more bread than what could fit in a basket.


Palin or Paris?

Hilton's "Paris for President" video

The more Sarah Palin talks, the more I like her. But before any reader gets up in arms and ringin’ bells like Paul Revere’s now-mysterious ride, I want to clarify that I now like Palin on the same level I like Paris Hilton.

When Hilton first flooded our TV sets with reality shows and scandal, I objected to the amount of attention she was getting and I wondered why she got attention at all. Then I watched an episode of The Simple Life, which reminded me that I have a soft spot for the unintentional humor of a ditzy blonde. Palin may not be blonde, but her unintentional humor has grown on me like that of Hilton’s. But Palin goes the extra mile of blaming anyone but herself when she twists history into something false or can’t name a single newspaper. Those “gotcha” questions get her every time.