Road Trip To California

 #USA

Post#9

Long read alert:

Road trip to California:

9 months after arriving in the USA  I was jobless but certainly not idle. I was working on the requirements to apply for residency. Abhay was already a senior resident in Internal Medicine and debating whether to take up a job or pursue a fellowship? That’s what Pisceans do ( that’s his sign by the English calendar). To be or not to be. To do or not to do. He even went interviewed for jobs in California, incidentally one in Bakersfield for the position of internist.

I had no 2 thoughts on the issue. He had topped at University of Mumbai in the Internal Medicine MD exam.What did you come to the USA for if you don’t want to further your qualification? You have to justify leaving your country! He couldn’t win the argument.Job interviews changed to fellowship interviews.

 August 1991 he had a monthlong vacation. Our first child was on the way. I had just turned 26 and had the energy of a 16 year old. When he suggested that we take a road trip to California to visit his sister, I was beyond excited. I could sit behind the wheel, and drive and drive until my brain would say to stop (that would, of course, almost never happen).

We went to the local AAA (the old-school Tripadvisor-cum-Mapquest) for guidance. The trained agents in that office had become all too familiar to us by then. The lady helping us suggested we take a different route each way so that we could cover more places during the trip. We decided that we could conquer 500-600 miles of driving a day, and accordingly planned our overnight stops. We excitedly chalked everything out, from the maps highlighted with our routes( anyone remember Tryptics ?), to our hotel reservations, and our home cooked idlis, rotis, and snacks to last us for at least the first few days on the road. In those days, it was harder to predict what choices we would have in the smaller towns of middle America. And as I had mentioned, that pregnancy had me craving only vegetarian food. So the sight of a Pizza Hut would bring a sigh of relief. The second best option was a Mexican pizza substituted with beans at a Taco Bell.

We passed from one state through another. Vast farmlands stretched on both sides of the freeway going through western Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. I vividly remember how the geography noticeably transformed as we crossed over state lines. From the agricultural landscapes of Nebraska, we moved into the exotic mountains of Colorado.

Colorado was true to its name: colorful and scenic wherever one turned to look. We had only reserved a day for the Rocky Mountains National Park. I remember that was my first visit to Estes Park, the dainty town at the entrance of RMNP. The lakes, snow-covered mountain peaks, the Colorado river running alongside the freeway....everything was mesmerizing.

But, alas, we were only halfway from our destination by then. We quickly gathered and compressed the sights into our memory before we were on the road in no time, onward from Colorado to Utah. 

One would think after seeing the beautiful Rockies that nothing could ever impress us for some time. Wrong!! Utah had its ace cards stored carefully! Arches National Park, Zion and nearby Bryce National Parks all had wonders tucked inside them. We drove by each of these and tried to capture the memories on film. But we had to keep moving. 

Utah appeared to seamlessly merge into Arizona, where the Grandest of Canyons awaited us with open arms. We drove past the majestic canyon views until we crossed into Nevada and arrived at its most glamorous city: Las Vegas. It was past 9:30 pm, I was famished, and my dear husband seemed to have forgotten that I was in my second trimester. He had me waddling all over the place until we finally settled on a place to eat! 

The bright lights, grand buffets, casinos still had their aura. Food and hotel rooms used to be much affordable then than they are lately. Our hotel booking that night was at the Tropicana and we walked all the way to eat at the other end of the strip. I had hoped this visit would be less uncomfortable than the first. But after all that walking, I was so tired that I was ready to abandon the car (and Abhay) and fly back to Chicago.

By the next morning, the Energizer bunny was back in action, and I was back at the wheel for the home stretch to San Diego. 

Once in San Diego, Abhay’s sister and brother-in-law pampered us thoroughly. They introduced us to their friends, and hosted my first baby shower. We enjoyed home food as well as several nice restaurants with them. Before we knew, it was already time to head home.

This time, we traced the route back through Vegas again, then decided to go further north into Utah, this time skipping Zion Bryce etc. After a quick stop to see the Mormon Temple in Salt Lake City, we were in Jackson, Wyoming. 

Both Abhay and I were perhaps too young and immature to grasp the entire scope of this heavenly place at the time. But here truly began the tryst with the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks.

We drove past the towering Teton peaks, up through the South Entrance of Yellowstone. We had to check Old Faithful Geyser off our must-see list. And so we did (and then some). We saw a few other geysers in the nearby geyser basins, then made our way to Mammoth Hot Springs and out through the North Entrance. We thought we had “seen” Yellowstone. And that ignorant thought was to stay with us for exactly two decades! I wish I had seen through my folly earlier. It took a guardian angel to take us back to the enchanting land again. Will talk about it another time. I have lost count of how many more times we’ve been there since, the last one being in May this year.

Once we made it through Gardiner, Montana, and Wyoming, we made our way toward South Dakota. After a rather unglamorous drive, we arrived at the much publicized Mt. Rushmore, where the faces of four past Presidents of the United States of America are carved into the granite mountain. While I could appreciate the sculpture, I was more underwhelmed by the terribly dry drive to get there. The only thing I remember now is the sight of elderly, frail, and sometimes physically disabled visitors being pushed in wheelchairs from the parking lots to this memorial site. I realized for the first time how much this country has invested to make such a visit possible for these individuals as well as the level of energy and enthusiasm people have to experience the outdoors, not withstanding their limitations. It was inspiring and indeed something I instantly admired and developed respect for.

From there, it was a drive home through the apple orchards of rural Minnesota leading into Wisconsin until we approached more familiar territory in Illinois. But wait! Abhay still had 4-5 days before he had to return to work, and my mind was much too intoxicated to give up the wheel. I asked him if we could keep going east to Niagara Falls before returning home. He thought I was kidding. I was not. I wonder if that was the moment he realized exactly how crazy the woman he had married really was! Alas, he was not crazy like me. So we were back to our routines in Chicago. Me to my books and he to his residency duties. 

We have done some road trips in the years that followed but nothing quite like this one. The carefree spirits and vagabond hearts were slowly anchored to family responsibilities thereafter.

Showcasing today the saree I had worn on occasion of my baby shower in San Diego. This is a Benarasi silk with self color design on the maroon katan silk body and exquisite Kinkhwab ( literally means tiny dreams) jari design on borders and pallu. No buttis. The Kinkhwab brocade of the pallu is replicated on the blouse. It was one of my splurges with my stipend of residency on occasion of a cousin’s wedding in November 1989, the year before my wedding. Will later share photos from 1989 and from the August 1991 baby shower as well as non saree photos from the road trip.