{"id":617,"date":"2019-08-22T16:27:25","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T20:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/?p=617"},"modified":"2022-02-13T10:04:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T15:04:10","slug":"travels-with-charley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/travels-with-charley\/","title":{"rendered":"travels with charley"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like many American families, mine specializes in road trips.<\/p>\n<p>And like many American families, we\u2019ve had our fair share of GPS\u2019s.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve lived through the transition of wrinkled state maps to Garmens, and we\u2019ve christened each with their own name, personality and theory as to why they felt threatened by my mother\u2019s presence in the passenger seat.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve seen the best and worst of these devices (the best being a timely detour around a closed road, the worst directing us straight into a body of water), and for that we\u2019ve developed a lingering trust issue, one that would rear its head yet again on our latest trip destined for Tennessee.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-618\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"564\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture.jpg 1788w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-239x300.jpg 239w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-768x963.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-817x1024.jpg 817w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-718x900.jpg 718w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-383x480.jpg 383w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nashville-texture-287x360.jpg 287w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In eight days, we planned to experience the honky tonk of Music City, experience the Great Smoky Mountains and conclude our journeys at the Biltmore and Asheville, and not even an hour into these dreams did we enter a swirling time vortex in the depths of Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>Attempting to detour an allegedly closed State Route 22 on a foggy, ominous Wednesday morning, the Stovka family called in all the defenses, all of which began to turn on one another: my mother and her trusty Ohio state map were trying to validate the printed out MapQuest directions while Siri was bickering with the Toyota GPS and my dad and his navigational cluelessness took apathetic left turns for no other reason than we weren\u2019t going the right direction anyway so it couldn\u2019t possibly hurt.<\/p>\n<p>I eventually tried enlisting Google Maps as a fifth defense, but to no avail. Nonetheless, after 45 minutes of circling through the desolate midwestern state, we somehow made it westward through Columbus, southward through Cincinnati and finally entering Kentucky to begin our Nasvhille-Gatlinburg-Asheville loop.<\/p>\n<p>This scene retold itself time and time again over the next seven days.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of confusion, anxiety and frustration we felt towards our devices lingered for the vacation\u2019s entirety, often resulting in unanimous laughter over how this was probably the worst trip we\u2019ve ever taken as my dad reared the car left for an illegal U-turn.<\/p>\n<p>During all of this mayhem, I was accompanied by John Steinbeck\u2019s <i>Travels With Charley\u2014<\/i>his 1960 memoir of searching for America\u2014 and on the second page he writes \u201cWe rarely take a trip, a trip takes us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I couldn\u2019t have said it better myself.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"padding: 0 15px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/2Wolva9h9sGjUNdoVPb7hK\" width=\"320\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Vacations\u2014specifically family vacations\u2014are not for the weak of heart. It\u2019s not exactly a fun-filled escape of our everyday lives as it is an act of pure vulnerability.<\/p>\n<p>We can make all the reservations we want, purchase our tickets in advance and strategically map out our routes to account for every traffic light, toll booth and detour but none of our preparations can predict what we will actually experience on our travels.<\/p>\n<p>We desperately find ourselves yearning for our right to know, frankly, our right to be right.<\/p>\n<p>With technology comes power, and we assume that if we can Google it, if the data is stored in a satellite, if we\u2019re privileged enough to be a family of four iPhones, we should be able to solve any problem, eat, drink and be merry.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, however, it appears that while technology can facilitate independence, freedom and confidence, it can just as easily enable dependence, hesitancy and uncertainty.<\/p>\n<p>We too often fear of paying for a bad meal.\u00a0We stress over making a wrong turn.\u00a0We agonize over whether or not our hotel room will be ready.<\/p>\n<p>But the reality of the matter is that this anxious over-preparation takes away from the very sense of a road trip, the very energy of living out of a suitcase.<\/p>\n<p>With this as my object lesson, in my 22 years of existence I\u2019ve witnessed the evolution of the American family road trip.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-619\" src=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"450\" height=\"532\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture.jpg 1347w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-254x300.jpg 254w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-768x908.jpg 768w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-866x1024.jpg 866w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-761x900.jpg 761w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-406x480.jpg 406w, http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/gsm-texture-305x360.jpg 305w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve noticed that we\u2019ve unknowingly invited technology along for the ride\u2014every ride\u2014 the kind of unwanted guest that initially provides insightful commentary and then soon fills the void with meaningless noise.<\/p>\n<p>Today, one of the first questions upon entering our hotel rooms was the wifi password (followed by complaints of its slow speed), when we once would never have felt a need for it. Now, one of our first attempts of finding restaurants for dinner is consulting Trip Advisor and being overwhelmed by the hundreds of sponsored search results, when we once would have asked a friendly stranger or hotel concierge.<\/p>\n<p>Amongst Steinbeck\u2019s many pithy idioms, he says that trips are like people: no two are alike.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve travelled across the country with my family, I\u2019ve travelled across the world, even. We\u2019ve seen the grandest national parks, the oldest European monuments. We\u2019ve gawked at Californian redwoods and gotten lost in serpentine Venetian alleyways.<\/p>\n<p>What ends up happening is we unintentionally try to out-do our past ourselves, to level up. We compare Nashville to Rome, the Great Smoky Mountains to Pompeii, only to allow for disappointment and nostalgia. So much so that when something goes wrong\u2014regardless of how minor\u2014 we apologize until we no longer have breath, and reminisce over the \u201cbetter\u201d vacation of summers\u2019 past.<\/p>\n<p>We forget that the sole purpose of any venture is to appreciate the time spent in good company, whether together or alone. It\u2019s about exploring a space, inhaling the good and laughing off the bad.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"padding: 0 15px; float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/track\/7hxZF4jETnE5Q75rKQnMjE\" width=\"320\" height=\"400\" frameborder=\"0\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about missing your exit.\u00a0It\u2019s about peeing in the woods.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>It\u2019s about eating bad meals.It\u2019s about sharing one bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s also about rediscovering America\u2019s heritage.It\u2019s about breathing in mountain air.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about admiring a family of elk (safely from 50 yards away).<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about remembering the qualities you love about one another.<\/p>\n<p>Over all, it\u2019s about living in the present, and taking it for what it\u2019s worth.<\/p>\n<p>Our culture has forgotten its sense of adventure, as well as forgetting that a family trip is <i>always<\/i> an adventure\u2014especially when a good part of it is spent aimlessly spinning in circles through the American midwest.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And during those chaotic moments, its most important to maintain a light heart, queue up Johnny Cash, John Denver or Willie Nelson and enjoy the wholesome Blue Ridge Mountain montage that may surround you, because as families grow older, it becomes harder to grow together. And sometimes the only moments we have to connect are 8+ hours in a car\u2014and the closeness accelerates as the time stretches longer and the backseat leg room contracts.<\/p>\n<p><em>Feature photo by Garrett Butler on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/ZMCqXnOPWq4\">unspash.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many American families, mine specializes in road trips. And like many American families, we\u2019ve had our fair share of GPS\u2019s.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":830,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[73,50],"tags":[60,61,59,26,62],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":831,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617\/revisions\/831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jordanstovka.com\/steepedinsound\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}