College Road Trip: First of Many

By Cameryn Baker ‘22

College road trips have always been something that I thought you did as an upperclassman in college; once you’ve found your tight-knit group of friends and feel like you’re ready to take on this rite of passage. I definitely was not expecting to throw pillows, sleeping bags, and USC gear into my car and embark on my first road trip only three weeks into school.

It was a couple weeks before the Stanford game when I entered the online lottery for tickets, upon a recommendation from my roommate. I entered the night of the deadline, and the next day found out that I’d received a ticket.

So I printed my ticket and held it in my hand—now what? I had exactly zero plans regarding how I was going to get up North, who I was going to go with, and where I would sleep. But syllabus week was long gone, and there were assignments to be written and quizzes to be studied for, so I put the Stanford Issue on the back burner, figuring that I would work it out later on.

But the days dwindled, and soon there was exactly a week left before the Stanford game. It was time to crack down on the situation and make some decisions. With this determined mindset, I called my father and asked, pretty please, can I use your car next weekend? (One of the perks of going to school only 40 minutes from your hometown is that you can ask your dad to borrow his car whenever you want to go on a spontaneous road trip.) I received a lot of lectures on staying focused on the road, about keeping the music at a reasonable volume, and about always keeping an eye on how much gas was left in the car. And then I received a “be careful, have fun,” and knew that I had the transport part of my issue figured out.

Next was the question of who was riding with me. I began asking friends and hall mates if anyone had a Stanford ticket—I quickly found out that my friend one door over and her friend from another dorm both had tickets, but were lacking transportation. We were happy to find a solution to both of our problems in each other. I now had a car, and friends to take in that car. The only remaining question was where we would stay while in the North?

Luckily for me, my friends also provided the solution to this last question. One of the girls had an older brother who was a junior at Stanford, and although school hadn’t started yet for them, he was already moved into his dorm building a week early for RA training. He offered us a place to sleep for both nights that we would be there. So in a matter of days, I had finessed a motor vehicle, formed a travel group, and found a place to lodge for the nighttimes. Come Friday afternoon, we were ready to go.

We left in the afternoon, and after a five and a half hour drive, and one stop for gas and In-N-Out, we made it to the school. It was dark, we were tired, and so we went to sleep as soon as we had found our room for the night. The next morning, my friend’s brother took us around campus, showed us all the sights, and then we retired back to the room for a few hours of homework before the tailgates began.  

(This was where I slept ^)

The tailgates and game were just as they always were—incredible. We didn’t end up with a victory, but it was great to sit in the student section and to know that, even when you’re so far from home, your family is still around you. The music from the band seemed to bring LA all the way up to the North, and there wasn’t a moment when I didn’t still feel like I was home.  

So if you’re a freshman, and you’re thinking that there will be plenty of opportunities for road trips in the three years to come, I advise you to ask yourself: Why not start now? Don’t feel incapable of getting some friends together, and committing yourself to figuring out what needs to be done in order to do something spontaneous. Find someone with a car, throw some supplies into the trunk, and drive somewhere and make a memory. I definitely won’t forget this first college road trip. I won’t forget Stanford’s trees or the very amusing spectacle that is their band. It was a messy and last-minute road trip to be sure, but nonetheless, I loved it—and am very excited for the next one to come.

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