Gina

Sounds pretty crazy right? 2o year olds are only wanting to drive a few hours to the nearest city with a pretty beach or where there is snow to go snowboarding. Nope, not me. 2o years old and I have driven across the country, not only once, but twice! I still get kind of excited when I think about it. I just got back from my second trip just a few days ago actually. My first trip was back in February of 2009.
Honestly I never thought that I would actually travel across the United States ever in my life. Never thought in my life that my means of transportation for doing so would be a car! But it was, and I did. Of course I didn’t go alone. The first time I went was with my boyfriend. He was stationed in North Carolina at that moment. He was going on deployment so his idea was to drive his car back to California. He had asked me to come along, so I bought my ticket to fly to North Carolina, only to then drive back 60+ hours the day after I had landed! Crazy adventure I must tell you, but it was an amazing experience nonetheless.
During the trip, I actually now understand what “falling asleep on the wheel” means. Boys and girls, it happens! Super dangerous. So if you ever plan to drive anymore for 20-60+ hour, get ready to pack up on red bulls & 5 hour energy. Yes those 5 hour energy stuff DOES work. I’m a petite female, I drink not even half of that stuff and it got me up and about for hours.
I recently came back from my second trip just..hm well Sunday night actually, November 1, 2009. I had gone with the same person, except this time he’s my ex [long story]. Fortunately we’re still great friends. SO he suggested the idea again just a few weeks before his leave was about to end. So 4 days before he had to report back to South Carolina, yes South this time, we headed off on your adventure. The trip from California to South Carolina wasn’t as bad as the trip from North Carolina to California. Maybe it’s because I have already gone through the process and had already knew what to expect, but either way the hours spent driving was much less. It was still 4o+ hours; although definitely drove under 60hours. Thank goodness!
The best part of the whole trip was just looking out the window and watching the weather change. The alteration of the climate was amazing. One moment it was lightly snowing then the next it was a crazy blizzard. This was in New Mexico I believe. We went through the states towards the South this time around. On the first trip we went through the central states. There was one moment when it started to rain cats and dogs. And I mean this is the kinda rain you don’t see in California. I couldn’t see literally anything in front of me nor to the sides. Luckily my friend was driving, I would have been terrified if I was the one driving. The only thing we depended on for that 30-45minutes of driving were the lights of the car in front and to the side of us. A lot of the cars began to drive with their emergency lights on, smart idea.
So we made it South Carolina in one piece. We got home pretty late, but I was dying for a nice warm shower. So as I showered, he brought things back into his room. We were pooped, so we called it a night.

I loved each and every moment of this trip, and the first trip. He won’t be bringing his car back home to California, so driving across the country might not happen again. But definitely flying out to New York and such will be happening soon! Stay tuned readers!

Wait until I was 18, because I didn’t want to go into the hassle of having to drive with a older person for whatever hours. But finally, when I turned 18 I headed to the DMV to get my license. Failed the driving test once, but I got it on the second try. The lady I had wasn’t in the best mood, she came into my car and just kinda chilled in the seat like I was the one who had to do all the talking. She finally talked a few, and instructed me to proceed. I was doing fine, and was half way into it, when this one turn messed it all up. It was one of the critical mistakes and so I instantly failed. It wasn’t my fault though, the street was clear, but this car came rushing out of no where. I saw the car so I breaked, but my hands were on the steering wheel, at a turning position, so I guess she thought I was going to turn. She immediately grabbed the steering wheel and yelled Stop. That was the most emotion that I got out of her. Other than that, she said what I didn’t want to hear: unfortunately Gina, You failed. :[

Yoga is definitely a stress reliever. I took this class at 7:30AM ever friday for 3 months. The first thing my instructor had told his class was for us to leave all of our thoughts of school/family/relationships problems outside of the door. The soothing music is wonderful. It actually did it’s part and calmed me down a lot. I learned a lot of yoga moves which I still occassionally do on my spare time. It’s a neat experience.