The year was 1997, mid August. Things had been going quite
well until then. I was on H1B and was working as a consultant for Fidelity
Investment in their Headquarter located in Marlboro, a Boston suburb. Still single and bundled with
other single Indian dudes I lived almost a bohemian life. Money wasn’t very
good but life went on.
Marlboro, a small town in Massachusetts [a Boston suburb]
Then, one day something drastic happened. Owing to a disagreement
with the management my contract was terminated with two weeks notice. My
sponsor company gave me two contract choices - go to Spokane,
Washington all the way in the west or join a
local company in another Boston
suburb. Jobs were plentiful. It took me two seconds to decide. I picked Spokane. I needed a
change. I needed to get out of there, start over.
I wasn’t due to join in my new job in another week. I
decided to skip flying and take a road trip, across America, east to west, Boston
to Spokane, just about 300 miles short of Seattle, the west end. Spokane, a city surrounded by low mountains is located at
the junction of Washington and Idaho and not too far from Canada
and Oregon. Boston to Spokane
was slightly less than 3000 miles. I had several days in hand to reach Spokane. My sponsor
company agreed to cover the cost of gas, shelter and food – it was probably
still cheaper than the flight. I dipped into the maps and tour books, called
ahead to book motels as usual, estimating my progress every day. It was summer
and I didn’t want to be caught in a situation where I could not find any
shelter to crash for the night.
It took me a fraction of a morning to pack up my
ridiculously few stuff and take care of a few loose ends like transferring
apartment lease. I had two roommates from India, in their mid twenties,
several years younger than I was. I went along with them quite well but didn’t
have much of a connection. We shook hands, said good bye and I hopped into my
used milk white Toyota Corolla 1996 who I named ‘Nilee’ after my first literary bonanza and zoomed
into the road little after noon. The excitement was immense, tension quite
pleasing, was truly looking forward to the trip.
My planned route
My route plan was simple, drive to New
Jersey and catch freeway 80, keep driving until it hits expressway
90 somewhere in Ohio.
Continue on 90 which actually cut America east to west. However,
there was one planned diversion. I would be steering away toward Minneapolis, Minnesota
for a coveted meeting with a prospective bride who was an undergrad in the University of Minnesota. My thoughtful parents had
arranged for this as soon as they heard I was going to drive by within several
hundred miles.
On my first day I drove relatively less, only covering about
350 miles or so and stopping in Bloomsburg,
Pennsylvania. I hadn’t been in a
truly long road trip until then and wanted to take things easy – careful not to
get myself overtaxed.
Pennsylvania (Amish land)
I had a long drive the day after, all the way to Minneapolis, almost 1200
miles. I didn’t even bother to check out the town – something very unlike me - and
ate a quick dinner, watched some TV and went to bed. I needed the sleep. At
roughly 80 miles per hour on average I was looking at 15 hours of driving. I
hadn’t driven anywhere that long before. I was anxious to start. Obviously!
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Next day I avoided the temptation to stop at road side
attractions as I was so used to doing and drove diligently stopping only to
refuel and get food. When I checked in the motel in Minneapolis it was already night. My meeting
was scheduled next morning. I wanted to look fresh and cute. After a quick
supper I crashed into the bed. I slept like a baby.
Next morning I was greeted by a beautiful sunny day. I
brushed, shaved, bought a bouquet of flower and drove to Minneapolis University
Campus. St. Paul and Minneapolis are two large cities located
almost next to each other hence they are often shortly called twin city. The
university has a good reputation in the area.
University
of Minnesota
Challenged with direction it took me a little bit to find
the university housing where I was to meet the girl. As I parked into the
parking lot I regretfully glanced inside my car – the only place where there
was enough room for anybody to fit in was the driver’s seat. The back seat and
the passenger seat both were packed to the point where even a needle would have
trouble finding room. I wondered whether I should have unloaded some stuff back
in the motel. However, that would have meant renting it for an additional night
as the check out time was 11 Am. Uncertain on how things would turn out I tried
to shrug all worries off and walked to the student housing and rang the bell to
the apartment, as per the information my father had given me.
The door opened promptly and I was greeted by a young girl,
in her mid twenties or early twenties. A man was accompanying him who seemed to
be slightly older than her. Not sure who was who I gently introduced myself and
took a seat in the small living room. Minutes later another girl who looked
even younger, definitely in her early twenties joined us. She introduced
herself and I knew I had come there to meet her. She was a pretty girl with a
pleasant personality though I felt she was a bit younger than I was expecting.
We were expected to go out for lunch together. I had to
shyly bring up the point of my packed car and request the other two who I knew
by now were married to each other to join us for the lunch and give us a ride
in the process. They agreed gracefully. We ended up going
into a pizzeria in the nearest strip mall. After lunch we went to a park,
walked along the river while all of us chatted as if we had known each other
for most part of our lives. Hours later I had to excuse myself from their
company and get back on the road. Things here had gone exceptionally well but
not good enough to create a connection. We all understood that. Nevertheless
the experience and the wonderful little time that was spent were something that
was quite valuable by its own merit.
Rapid City, South Dakota (a tourist hub)
When I finally hopped back in the expressway it was already
later in the afternoon. My next planned destination
was Rapid City in South Dakota, a tourist hub. It was almost
600 miles away. I felt I wouldn’t be able to cover that much distance before
dark – my cut off time for driving - regardless of the fact that by now I was
making 100 miles or more per hour consistently. I called ahead to the motel in Rapid City and changed my
booking to the following day. As for that night I would have to drive as far as
I could before dark and look for a motel in the small towns next to the
expressway. I assumed being a well traveled route there would be plenty of
motels and finding a suitable one on a short notice wouldn’t be too difficult.
Wrong. It was already nightfall and my hunt returned nothing
in two towns 40 miles apart. Another 30-40 miles and I exited in the next
nearest town, seriously worried. The expressway was already barren and I wasn’t
looking forward to be the only car heading nowhere. After couple of more
failures finally I hit target - a vacancy in a motel that looked lonely, dark
and beaten up – almost like one of those places from scary movies. Worried that
I might meet some nuts in this sparsely populated part of the country I quietly
rented a room and holed up inside it before the drunken patrons of the small
bar located in the motel office had a chance to notice me. Later I heard somebody
spitting up remarks like – “go back home”. This was usually directed to the
blacks. I wondered if this cowboy knew the difference between African Americans
and East Indians. Either way, I wasn’t about to educate him about it. I was
awake a good part of the night.
I started for Rapid
City as soon as dawn broke. I was to stay there for
one night only, however there were too many things to see and do. I wasn’t sure
if I would have enough time.
Images of Black Hills
South Dakota
is famous for many things; black hills are only one of them. The badland
national park is a very scenic part of the landscape. Dotted with beautiful
hills, meandering roads and occasional native Indian souvenir stores – the area
enjoyed a healthy traffic of summer tourists. Reluctant to spend too much but
yet quite taken by the display of wonderful Indian crafts I was tempted to buy
two souvenirs from one of the stores – an Indian knife and a lonely native
Indian boater, both of which are still in my possession.
Rapid City
and vicinity has many world famous attractions. Namely: Mount Rushmore National
Memorial, Crazy Horse
National Monument, Dinosaur
Park, the Devil’s Tower National Monument
(located in Wyoming but not too far from Rapid City). I wasted literally no time and tried to cover
as much as I could.
Mount Rushmore National Monument
Crazy Horse National Monument
I hadn’t checked in the motel in Rapid City until late in the evening. It was a
quiet and pleasant place with a small indoor pool – quite different than my
experience the night before. I had the pool all to myself until they shut the
facility down around 9 PM.
Bikers heading for Sturgis Motorcycle Rally
Next morning as I drove out of Rapid City I noticed thousands of bikers on
the road, all heading west on expressway 90. Curious I kept close to a large
group and followed them to Sturgis, a town not too far from Rapid City and found out that the town was
having its Bikers rally for 1997.
Bikers Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota
With no prior knowledge on how popular this
rally was I was astonished to see a sea of bikes – all kinds and makes – and the
swarming bikers both male and female in their fanciful biker’s clothing. Later
I read that this particular rally usually attracts over half a million bikers
and their families. Interestingly most
were Caucasian with a handful of Blacks. I was definitely the only Brown guy
around as far as I could tell and that was also in a car. I noticed a
helicopter was offering 15 minute rides for $50 to provide an aerial view of
the rally, which was more than I was willing to pay. Fortunately a TV crew had just arrived and I was allowed to hop in
along with the crew for half the price. No wonder all I saw from up in the air
was more bikes. This was a true extravaganza for all bike enthusiasts by all
means. I was anything but one. Once back on the ground I climbed into my four
wheeler, pulled it out back in the expressway and headed for Devil’s Tower – close
to 80 miles away.
Devil’s Tower turned out to be quite interesting. With its summit over 5000
feet above sea level this naturally beautiful rock formation has a dramatic
effect in the otherwise plain surroundings rising ~1,200 feet above the ground.
It is the first of all National Monuments in USA and a very popular spot for tourists
and rock climbers scaling the almost vertical surface using traditional
climbing techniques.
I found many families visiting the spot with kids who were
having a blast climbing up the large boulders that were scattered at the base.
My next destination was Yellowstone
National Park in Wyoming
with the plan to stay the night in a small town called West Yellowstone in Montana right off the border of Wyoming
and in the midst of the Rockies. This was
about 550 miles from Devil’s Tower. With the
sun being around past 8 PM I knew I could reach there comfortably before nightfall.
I drove on 90 West through Montana
until I hit 89 near Livingston. Running South
into Wyoming this road led me into the famous Yellowstone national park – a
place that can easily mesmerize any traveler with its natural beauty, flora and
fauna and diverse wildlife. However, the
primary reason why this park was established as the first National park of
America in 1872 was for the geysers – Old faithful (located over a mile above
sea level is called one of the most predictable geographical feature on earth
erupting on average almost every 91 minutes with eruption height up to 185 feet)
and majority of the world’s geysers are preserved here. As I drove through the
park I was fortunate to see herd of Bison and elk and even a grizzly bear. I
had to wait almost an hour to see the Old faithful go but the wait was totally
worth it. However there’s one thing I learned that didn’t completely match what
we learned in school – geysers do not erupt in a fixed frequency. Instead they
have a range. Old faithful have a range from 45 to 125 minutes.
Old Faithful Geyser
Hot Spring in Yellowstone park
After roaming through the Yellowstone Park until late in the
afternoon I drove to West Yellowstone – a small town in the Rockies about 7000
feet above sea level. I had a motel room booked in advance. This was actually a
good idea as most motels looked pretty full.
West Yellowstone town
I called Bangladesh from a pay phone here to inform my
parents about my whereabouts who were eagerly following my progress. My father
had purchased a map of USA and seemed to know more about the landscape than I
did.
The following day I drove about 500 miles through the
Rockies in Montana and Idaho reaching Coeur d’ Alene around late afternoon – a
beautiful little city and a tourist hub in Idaho located next to lake by the
same name. Spokane is only a short distance away from here. I was so impressed
by the natural beauty of the city that later I wrote a story based on the
location.
[
Free electronic copy (a great read) http://www.shujarasheed.com/Freestuff/Novel_EI_Jatra.htm ]
Spokane, Washington
Later that evening I drove to Spokane and checked into a
hotel. Located by the Spokane River it is considered the most productive mining
district in North America. It is also known for the birth place of Father’s
day. The metropolitan area has close to half a million people.
In the next couple of days I roamed around to rent an
apartment and finally settled in one next to a farm house that had several Emus
and a wonderful view of the Selkirk mountain far behind. Mount Spokane was the highest peak of this mountain rising almost 6000 feet above sea level and had a road
suitable for driving all the way up.
Six months later I went back to Bangladesh and were married to a
beautiful girl. We returned to Spokane together. Two month later I quit the
contract and arranged for a new job in Massachusetts. Interestingly enough, we
drove back to Boston, bouncing off Toronto to see couple of my friends who lived here.
Two and half years later we moved to Toronto.
[Read the author's current book - Kicking in Toronto. Get it from Amazon.com]
