I was moving from Kansas City to San Francisco for grad school.

The route shown here is the shortest route, but we couldn't take it due to weather. Just before we (my dad and I) were about to leave, a huge snowstorm came down over the rockies, making the northern route all but impassible.

Instead we had to take the southern route– through Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.

This route took us conveniently close to Las Vegas. And, you know, we needed a place to stop for the night anyway, so why not Vegas.

This is the essence of a road trip: you have an end in mind— somewhere you'd like to get to eventually — but everything in between is up for improvisation. Take a different route? Sure. Stop in Vegas? Um, yes. Sleep in one day and not make as much progress? Sometimes.

[Note: this was written while seated in the passenger seat of a car on its way to Tahoe. Feel free to favorite it just because of my dedication to method plinking.]