Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear
Zipping across the US
By Diane Daniel, Globe Staff, 12/1/2002
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Sensible traveler Destinations Where they went Travel gear
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This summer, Alphen took Paul C., 17, on a whirlwind cross-country trip, hitting 17 states in about 21/2 weeks.
Alphen, 47, a lawyer, ''spent about a year planning the whole thing'' using mapping software and the book ''Road Trip USA'' by Jamie Jensen, which details two-lane highways and back roads.
Paul, a senior this fall at Westford Academy, was not particularly excited at first by the idea of a vacation with Dad. But near the departure time, ''I really started to get excited about it.''
''I can't blame Paul for thinking it was a dorky thing,'' Alphen said. ''It looked like it was overplanned. We had to squeeze things into a certain time period.''
Squeeze they did. From June 19 to July 7 they packed it in, rarely staying in the same spot more than one night.
But they squeezed in style. Alphen's sister-in-law graciously lent them her year-old Mustang convertible. They would have rented a car, ''but we couldn't find a rental car company that would allow a 17-year-old to do any of the driving.'' So instead Alphen shipped the car to Oakland, Calif., and they flew out to start their drive back.
From Oakland, where they picked up the car, they stopped in San Francisco to see Alcatraz Island and then hit the Pacific Coast Highway.
They drove to Los Angeles for the Red Sox's first regular-season game ever against the LA Dodgers. ''On the way down we had sports radio on and all the shows were talking about it,'' Paul said. They had reserved a room in Chinatown, near Dodger Stadium, one of a few reservations they had made. The night was ''awesome,'' Paul said, even though the Sox lost, 3-2.
In LA they cruised Sunset Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, and toured Petersen Automotive Museum. ''Both of us are car buffs,'' said Alphen. He drives a Limited Edition Mustang and his son has a Taurus. If you're detecting a Ford theme, that's because his in-laws own Framingham Ford.
From LA they headed east on Route 66, which they loved. ''If there's one part I'd do over again, that was it,'' Paul said.
They headed west to make their long-held reservation at the Bright Angel Lodge, which overlooks the Grand Canyon. The following night they stayed in Holbrook and discovered the town ''was full of evacuees'' from nearby, where the Arizona wildfire raged. ''The next morning when we walked out of the room, you couldn't see your hand in front of your face,'' Alphen said.
Many nights they would e-mail friends and family (Christopher, 14, has time yet to dream about his road trip). They documented the trip in 800 photos that Alphen has turned into a video CD accompanied by maps and music.
Off Route 66, they stopped in Fort Worth for steaks and visited Dallas to see where President Kennedy was assassinated, an event that Paul had studied and his father remembered. They drove through Louisiana, and spent time in Montgomery, Ala., visiting the Civil Rights Memorial.
In Columbus, Ga., they stopped at the Dinglewood Pharmacy for a scrambled dog - ''chili, hot dog, the roll, cheese, onions, and pickles, and they smush it all together in a plate,'' said Paul.
They visited Savannah, Myrtle Beach, S.C., and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. They waved to Kitty Hawk, and stopped in Norfolk, Va., where they went to Dumar's Drive-In, home of the waffle ice cream cone, and toured the battleship USS Wisconsin. Next came some college stops and then the nation's capital.
They drove home the next day, and washed and detailed their borrowed Mustang the day after. Paul called the trip ''one of the best times of my life.'' His father agreed.
Send suggestions to ddaniel@globe.com.