Teeth and Tolls

Hello from the Road!

I must talk about two experiences I've had which I think are important for anyone travelling on the road. They involve teeth and toll booths.

Teeth- important for how you look, and more importantly for me, they help you eat. I've always taken relatively good care of my teeth- I brush twice a day and will floss quasi-regularly. Having a tooth brush when I travel is important because after a long car ride, train jaunt, or flight, I usually feel the need to brush whatever has built up inside my mouth to feel truly at ease. I've never been on a long road trip and I felt the repercussions of forgetting my tooth brush on this particular occasion.

When you forget your toothbrush, what do you do? You probably do what I do, you smack your forehead, give an "oh darn", and head down to the front desk for a complimentary toothe brush from a front desk employee. Well, I soon learned that in budget hotels, they will be more likely to have run out of complimentary tooth brushes. Great. Perfect. At this point I was going on over 24 hours without a good brush of the pearly whites. I went back to my room, did the best I could with my finger and a gob of tooth paste, and called it a night. When I woke up, I realized that a trip to the pharamacy was necessary before I officially started my day. Immediately I felt something growing on my teeth that was thick, potent, and I needed to get it off soon. My advise for those out there thinking of travelling on the road- don't forget the toothbrush. Forget the comb. Forget the shampoo. Forget the hairdryer. Don't forget the toothbrush- you want those guys clean and happy.

Now, at the beginning of this journey, I thought it would be fun to see if I could cross our great nation on a shoestring- using as little financial resources as possible. That was fun until we hit my arch nemesis of life on the road- the toll booth.

We've passed through nine states and we've spent over 25$ in tolls. Next to food and fuel this is our biggest expense. Now, you may not think 25$ is a lot of money and I'll probably agree with you. But, when I think that we aren't even half-way done with our trip yet, I start to get sweaty palms and trembling hands. These tolls are starting to turn my once brilliant idea of a shoestring into a not so intelligent jump rope! After arriving at Chicago yesterday, it dawned on me that the shoestring isn't the way to go- bring on the jump rope! When I think about it, "The Bank of Bob and Sue" were generous enough to bail my sorry post graudate tail out of the depths of bankruptcy, I need to take what I can and run, right? Well, as my shoestring turns into a jump rope over the coming days, I hope that's what I'm thinking more and more.

See you miles down the road!

-rob