Great American Road Trip 2013: Take 1 Kirksville to Las Vegas, NV

As OMS3 (third year medical students) we are gifted our last actually Christmas Vacation for more or less the next ten years. Last year we took full advantage of those precious fourteen days off and ventured off for A Great American Adventure!

Google Maps only lets you add 10 destinations!

Along the way we learned a ton of invaluable lessons, saved a few lives, ate a ton of great food, saw amazing sights, nearly broke a tailbone and drove over miles. Here are a few stories, tips and recommendations for planning and inspiring your own amazing road trip. 

Leaving Kirksville, MO on December 20th, we had 1,500 miles to drive and five states to cross to arrive in Las Vegas, NV on Christmas Eve and meet up with our classmates and friends.Our drive began uneventful enough, we got out of the clinic and hospital on Friday the 20th around noon and were off and on the road around 2pm. Destination: Kansas City, MO.

We couldn't resist, great place for elk selfies 

Lessons Learned Early on:

• Pack before the day of

• Do NOT drive across Kansas in late December 

• Have fun everywhere

• Do NOT rely on Pandora/iTunes for music

• Pick one hotel chain with great rewards program and stick with it 

• Plan, plan, plan...but don't freak if the plans change

Crossing Kansas is not a great idea in late December. The weather changes in the blink of an eye, clear to rain, sun to snow, and even clear to instant frozen roads. Just west of Junction City on day two of our great adventure we were faced with a life and death situation: the road dipped, the air froze and the road surface froze instantly on Route 70 and coming across the median of the four lane highway was a white jeep flipping end-over-end. 

As medical students, and with my EMS background there was no option. Pray the jeep didn't hit us, stop the car, grab a coat and run. Run to the overturned jeep, check for fluid leaks, engine on? occupants trapped? anyone thrown? No, ok. Slip under the jeep and find two boys, teenagers. One conscious and the other pinned in the drivers seat barely breathing. Other motorists were joining us, some helpful others shocked. With the help of a physical therapist we unbuckled and carefully released the driver, opening his airway and protecting his spine. I gathered their information from the passenger, also pinned but conscious while the driver came around. We had to keep them warm in the newly starting snow fall and keep them talking and awake. By the time EMS arrived (they had to get through a highway full of accidents and sliding cars to reach us) we had assembled a veritable conference of medical professionals on the highway median: medical students, physical therapists, army medics, an ER physician, two paramedics and a nurse. 

Thankfully the rest of Kansas was uneventful. But we did find a new burger joint obsession! Check out Freddy's Steakburgers and Frozen Custard, best patty melt and shoestring fries. This is what inspired me to start a Yelp account. 

Colorado is a beautiful state, and while I expected to immediately encounter mountains I was surprised at the flatness of the eastern side of the state.

Somewhere on Route 70, Colorado 

Our hotel chain of choice for the trip, and in general, is the Drury Inn and Hotel, a Saint Louis, MO based hotel chain. They have a super fast reward program and hotels all throughout the United States. The worst one we have every stayed in (been in a ton of them) was in Denver, CO. 

Even though we were moving fast and crossing states as quick as possible, we still took some time in each one. Our big stop in Colorado was partly due to the weather, and partly because heck, we were there. Vail, CO is beautiful! One big regret from this trip is not getting to ski while we were there, and my camera lens getting messed up without me knowing it. But we enjoyed ourselves in the Olympic Village and found the most amazing restaurant selection for dinner. Also, my Sorel boots are from Vail, an early Christmas present. 

Overlook on Route 70 in Utah

Colorado Shoulda-Woulda-Coulda

• Ski in Vail, they do have an option to ride the lift the the top of the slopes for non skiers too!

• Stay in Glenwood Springs, CO and bask in the hot springs pool

• Ride a scenic train, yes, I wish I had 

Utah, oh Utah. My brother and his wife need to go spend a month backpacking through the parks in Utah. One of the highlights of the trip was by far seeing Arches National Park in person. Growing up watching National Geographic, Travel Channel and Animal Planet with my dad has instilled an amazing respect for the natural beauty of the United States, and my god they barely touch the surface. Spending the day in Arches made it bearable that we had to drive by Zion at night to reach Vegas by Christmas.

South of Route 70 in the Moab desert is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. The weather in December is chilly, but mild compared to the regions we had just driven through. A light scattering of white snow highlighted the amazing palate of colors of the landscape. 

Road leading up and around from the park entrance 

Check out those boots!





Yes, Utah is slated as its own weeklong road trip adventure for the future. I don't know how, but driving through the night we arrived in Las Vegas late that night and had a great dinner with our friends, red footie pajamas and all.

Fremont Street under the tent

Las Vegas, The last time I was here I was seven years old and had a great time with my Great Aunt and Uncle, my mom and cousin Lauren. It was summer time and hot enough to fry an egg on the asphalt! 

This time around I was twenty-seven and traveling with my boyfriend and our very pregnant friend, her husband and diamond-roller dad. Christmas in Las Vegas: tons of amazing decorations, special buffets and so many Asians! I still can't get over the sheer number of Asian American people that travel from California for the holiday to Sin City. 

We got hooked up with a suite at Caesar's Palace for two nights (amazing!!!) and enjoyed the sights, food and a even a little gambling. 

Yes, this high roller made back 600% on my dollar in the penny slots. The longer you sit there the more drinks the lady in the little outfits bring you, and penny slots are the cheapest way to do it. 

 

View from the top of the Tropicana

There is an awesome little club on top of the Tropicana, The Ghost Bar, and while it cannot be included in the list of top Vegas bars it's worth the visit for the view and the more affordable drinks. 

Keep an eye out for the Great American Road Trip: Take 1 Vegas to Texas! 

Get Lost: Its Good For You

Today was a great day. Today was a win. Today I got lost.

Thousand Hills State Park boasts a beautiful lake with boats for rent, several swimming platforms in the back coves and miles of blazed trails set throughout rolling Missouri hills. Check out the link, the photos are ones I added (I love Yelp).  Sixteen degrees and I decided I was going to go out and jog the trails, get outside and challenge my body for an hour or so.

Yellow blaze trail

While the park isn't open to hunters, the surrounding land is so I was wearing more florescent and reflective colors than you can shake a stick at.

Phone charged, layers on, sneakers tied and clothing bright: check. When your dressed for the environment and the activity you have a lot more fun, and I didn't want to freeze.

The trails are decently marked with colored blazes, rather well traveled and visible thanks to the mountain bikers, and its rather hard to get lost with the lake in view. So how did I, a rather intelligent and experienced hiker get lost on a clear winter day in a park I'm familiar with?

I let go. My planned hour of jogging/hiking felt great, so I kept going, kept following the trail. I was taking pictures (to put on Yelp), listening to music, and monitoring calorie output with a heart rate monitor and texting friends (in the rare spots of service). Its amazing just how fast you can drain an iPhone battery when you are really using all the features.

The music stopped in my ears, no more messages to check, no more photos to take and (gasp) no more data for my exercise app! Its an eerie feeling, and its not that the music stops or the camera doesn't click. It the wash of realization that you are alone. The connection to the world beyond was cut, batteries dead and outside acknowledgment denied.

Did I turn around? Nope. There was a time before cell phones, when I hiked for the pleasure of it. For the simple fact that I could be alone, have time to reflect and just focus on the immediate world around me and my interaction with it. Its been a long time since I've done something for the pure pleasure of the activity.

Swim platform in the far cove

We spend so much of our day plugged in. Connected, networking, Facebooking, blogging, texting: chasing a feeling of inclusion and community. But we neglect ourselves in the process.

Take the time to get lost. Really lost. Let the phone die, the iPad battery run out, and the laptop closed. Maybe even go for a walk in the woods and find out where the trail ends.

Reestablish community with yourself, with your head, heart and body. Look inward for a sense of connection and completeness.

Happy New Years! Step away from the resolution and accept a challenge

I dare you, no I double-dog dare you to forgo the usual New Years resolution and accept a challenge when the clock strikes midnight. Kiss the girl, eat the grapes, fire the cannon and walk around the block with a suitcase: but no resolutions!

Why? Because they fail, resolutions are like writing a to-do list for the first week of January. Without fail those that resolve to loose weight will clog the gym for a week or two, then leave the rest of us again come February. Those that vow to eat healthy will be back to their drive through and huge portion sizes in no time, produce left in limbo in the salad draw. Resolve to improve your relationships? How do you do that?

So instead I dare you to accept a challenge (or all of them) this New Years Eve and turn anual failure into accomplish.

Challenge Your Mind

Pick out a good book, not from Oprah book club or the NY Times list, a real good book and read it. Start with one, one book that will help open your mind, change your point of view, or show you new lenses to view the world through and read it. I dare you.

• Blink 
• Outliers 
• The Tipping Point
• Abundance Principle
• Seven Habits of Highly Effective People 
• The Art of Self Deception and Leadership 
• The Miracle Morning

Challenge Your Body

Don't just aim to "be healthier" or "go to the gym," set a real goal with a real end point. Challenge yourself and register for a 5k, a lifting competition or a 30 day app challenge.

• 30 day Squat challenge - App Store 
• 30 day Crunch challenge - App Store 
• 30 day Plank challenge - App Store 
• 30 day Yoga challenge - YouTube 
• 5k road race (couch to 5k program) - Google local road races 
• YouTube - there are more fitness videos than you can shake a stick at! Just pick one and do it, I really like PopSugar, Fitness Blender and BeFit channels. 

Challenge Your Spirit

Do what? Challenge what? "But my spirit is so fragile, I'm barely surviving!" While its hard to hear, the best advice you will ever get is: fake it 'til you make it.

• Put on a happy face - several studies, including "Effects of Self-Generated Facial Expressions on Mood" from the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology demonstrate that you can effect your mood by facial expression. As in, assume the posture of happiness (smile, lift your head and put a bounce in your step) and soon enough you will actually feel happy. 

• Delete Facebook - yeah, I double dog dare you with a cherry on top. Stop, just stop posting everything good, bad or otherwise happening in your life. You do not need he outside affirmation that your life matters: it does. Facebook and its constant barrage of garbage, bad news, sensationalism and engagements does nothing for you. Nothing. 

• Learn a New Skill - A new skill, a new source of pride. You are never too old to learn something new, never to old to find a new source of pride and pleasure. And, it's super easy in the age of technology: you can be a cooking master with the help of an app or two. My favorite is Jamie Oliver's cooking app. Or.... Check out the Unconventional Quilting page and find some inspiration from a new found quilter. 

It's the Midwest Baby! Winter Edition

I have traveled all over the United States and seen a lot of amazing and awful things, but there are some things you only find in the midwest. 

Scary the Snowman, make of tires and inner tubes.

Winter brings out the creativity in some people around here too. This beauty is on North Osteopathy St. in Kirksville, MO. 

Its just Iowa

Lots of farm land, feed plants and old homesteads to bee seen though. There is a lonely beauty in driving through these "flyover states." 

First Light near the Missouri/Illinois border  

Winter in the midwest is cold and snowy, with freezing winds whipping across the planes right into your face. But, the landscape sure can be beautiful if you're willing to brave the ice and wind.

Route 63 Between Greentop, MO and Kirksville, MO

If you do decide to drive here are some of the more common sights, no big cities around here...or even decent sized towns.

Retired firetruck on Route 3 south of Kirksville

Active farm on rt 63 north of Kirksville, MO

So you don't want to drive to Kirksville? No problem! We have an airport, its only 5 miles south of town and this little twin engine beauty is the commercial airliner. I've ridden in the co-pilot seat because it was booked full, an experience not to be missed.

This is the commercial airliner

Mind, Body, Spirit

The three tenants that Osteopathic Medicine revolve around are: mind, body and spirit. Keeping these in mind help not only with the amazingly arduous task of becoming a doctor, but in caring for our patients and ourselves.

Mind

A common problem in medical school

The mind is a terrible thing to waste - we've all heard this before. But it is also fragile and needs a break from time to time. Medical school stretches our minds to the limit, with huge amounts of raw information to memorize, millions of connections to be made between facts about diseases, treatments, symptoms and side effects, and rigorous schedules of deadlines, due dates and exams.
Taking a moment to think about nothing and veg out seems impossible, but its not - and we need to. Even just a few minutes a day are enough to refresh and reset our minds for the mental gymnastics our education requires.

Its temping to turn to Youtube or Facebook for some brain down time, but try these ideas instead for your mind rest/refresh:

• Meditation - the Mayo Clinic has a great introduction to mediation and easy ways to get started. 

• Rest - "sleep like the astronauts" was the pre-exam catch phrase all through medical school, and for good reason. We need to recharge the batteries and get a good nights sleep to perform at peek mental power and agility. 

• Prioritize - don't let the day get too hectic and unbearable that your brain hurts. Plan ahead and create a must-do list for the day. Prioritize the top three things you absolutely have to do each day and start with them, then move on to the should-do items.

Body

NEMO triathlon 2013 - I'm on the far left

DO you treat your body like a temple? Or more like a cheep motel? 

To live a fulfilled life we need our bodies to be there (and get us there).  Nutrition and physical activity are hugely important for all of us to maintain the hectic pace we live at, note I didn't say diet and exercise. 

Changing the way we look at food, at activity and fitness is the next step. Taking the focus off low-calorie, low-fat, High fructose corn syrup, etc and placing it on food that is recognizable, grown and fresh simplifies the quagmire of the grocery store. 

Get out of the elliptical machine, bench press gym frenzy and build activity into everyday actions, make fitness fun and pleasurable. 

• Shop the perimeter - Yup, avoid the gooey-center of the grocery store and expand your horizons by shopping only on the perimeter of the grocery store. Here we find the fresh produce, the butcher counter and dairy section - identifiable food! Dehydrogenated and trans-fats are no where to be found.

• Use a hand basket - Yes, I said it. No push grocery carts. Not only does this limit drastically what we can fit in the basket, but also makes us use our muscles (gasp) to carry the food.

• Daily Exercise - Cant get to the gym? Awesome, take the stairs everywhere, park far away from the door, walk to the grocery store (bring a backpack) ride your bike to work. Make your daily activities active.

• Get Out of the Gym - Get outside when the weather allows and bring the family too. Look up local parks and trails in your area and go try one out. All you need is a pair of sneakers, and dress in layers. Teaching little ones active hobbies and weekend activities will instill positive life habits in them early and encourage you to be a great example. Heading to the neighborhood playground is great too, monkey bars are way more difficult as an adult and all the bending and squatting while playing with the kids builds relationships and thigh muscles. 

Spirit 

North East Missouri sunrise

Life is hard, and we can make it so much harder by trying to make it alone. Keeping in touch with loved ones, family and friends and maintaining and growing those connections to the world are extremely important. Medical school can make you feel so alone, only a handful of people in the country understand what you're experiencing, your language changes, your ideals shift, your understanding of the world and systems around you change and its so hard to adjust. 

Keeping the mind and body in line and on track are huge, but not as important as keeping the spirit up and engaged and feeling involved. Over the years I found myself calling my family members more just to chat, to keep a connection and feel like I wasn't alone. I was checking my phone, email, Facebook constantly to the validation that others existed and cared that I was there. 

It's hard to feel loved, worthy and human when you are constantly pushing and dragging yourself forward. Depression can sneak into your life without any fanfare, you can find yourself just not caring anymore, no drive left and no pleasure in anything. Depression can feel like you've run out of gas, no energy or interest. Depression can be sadness and despair, nothing is going to change and you'll never be happy. 

Listen to your spirit, keep in touch with yourself and know when something feels different, or you feel nothing. There is help, there are people that care and you can feel normal.

• Affirmation Statements - Check out this post by Remez Sasson to learn about affirmation statements and try out a few. Positive thinking can make you feel positive and change the attitude you approach the day with.

• Maintain Connections - Make that phone call. Call your mother or grandmother while walking to or from class. It doesn't have to be a long call, and you don't even have to have something to talk about, just reach out to say hello and know you are connected to the people that love you.

• Be Honest - Be honest with yourself, don't run or hide from how you are feeling. No one feels great all the time, and there is a point that you should seek professional help. I've been there and yes, its hard to accept at first, but there are professionals for this reason: we all need help sometimes.