Few phrases get the seratonin flowing like this one. But, it can also get the cortisol pumping as well. The main question is: where to? The answer is what determines what neurotransmitter gets the spotlight and whether the good or bad memories are to be etched in our minds.
I have plenty of memorable road trips. Lots with my childhood best friend and his family as we ventured to Myrtle Beach from our rural North Carolina farm town. I can feel the judgement of others seething through their screens as I write this, but I have no shame declaring that Myrtle Beach trips will ALWAYS be sweet memories in my mind. If it wasn’t there, it was to the mountains of North Carolina or Tennessee that excited us. I also convinced my own immediate family to make Myrtle Beach trips a family tradition. We already knew the mountains were a great destination. There was no convinving needed for that. The “Parkway” was all that was needed.
Now, all these seem to emit seratonin, right? Where does the cortisol come in? Well, it all depends on why we’re making the road trip. Could be to be comfort loved ones as they’re sick, a death in the family (God forbid), or some other dreaded reason that isn’t vacation. But, even in those moments, the nostalgia of the journey makes the stressful venture at least a little bittersweet. Also, when the road trip is for vacation, but, now that you’re an adult and can drive (yay.), you have a long road ahead of you. As mentioned earlier as well as on other pages on my website here; I’m from North Carolina but reside currently in Central Florida. Until recently, driving 9+ hours to get back and forth was the only option. Yes, I know flying is an option. Flights aren’t always that cheap, though. Also, until Avelo graced the budget airline industry, I had to fly in an out of RDU, smack dab in the middle of the “Triangle.” That’s a two plus hour drive from where my family lives. That made coming to get me and taking me to the airport a road trip in and of itself. But now that Avelo is here (Yes, Lord!), I can easily fly into ILM of Wilmington, NC, practically into the parking lot of my sister’s apartment complex.
But, let’s get back to that seratonin. It’s near impossible to pinpoint JUST ONE most memorable road trip for me. So, I’ll just throw a few details of my most memorable ones in a short compilation.
Most recently, I remember riding back from the mountains of NC with my wife, my sister, her husband, and her dog. We were destined to Wilmington where my wife and I would fly back to FL from. Well, predictably, we didn’t make it. So, we spent another night in Wilmington, destroyed some hibachi with the sqaud, and took a ride to RDU to finally get back to FL. Another year I remember riding to Myrtle Beach with my older brother and his wife as we listened to Lorde the entire way there. Now, when I hear any of those songs, those songs fill me with the nostalgic mix of dopamine and seratonin that only sweet memories and music can. I also remember piling in my dad’s manual ’98 Ford F-150 with a mini CRT-TV and the gamecube plugged into a cigarette lighter adapter. From there, I watched my brother master the old Zelda games with ease. Mind you, the truck was full. There were kids in the back seat, two parents up front, and the make shift entertainment center on the middle console. I also vividly remember riding with my best friend’s family to the mountains one early morning as his sick cousin somehow got snagged to come along. As he’s still dry heaving and screaming his lungs out after each heave, no amount of Nintendo DS volume could’ve drowned that out in the back seat. Thankfully, his sickness subsided halfway through the trip, but his young naivity did not.
I could continue to go on and on, but you get the idea. This is just a testament to how much road trips have meant to me, and just how much they continue to be a high point in my life. I look forward to making many more with my friends, family, my beautiful wife, and in the future, the family of our own.
Stephen Ezekiel Foy 
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