I believe it was William Blake who once said, "without contraries is no progression." Either that, or I fabricated the quotation from insomnia-induced stupor in college. The point, however, is that opposites - aside from begin annoying - make up a large part of the universe.

Planning a five-day drive from Saranac Lake to Logan, Utah was a daunting task, especially because before I could leave, I had to tie off a few very large loose ends. As a reporter for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, I didn't have a lot of time to look after my personal obligations, so when I left work on July 2 for the last time, I had a lot left to accomplish.

In my experience, there are only two ways to plan a road trip. First, there's my father's method, which involves no planning whatsoever, like when he and I drove to Florida in the winter of 1996. I woke up one Saturday morning shortly before Christmas and he was standing over my bed.