ROAD TRIP DIARIES

At some point, the security team at Hoover Dam realized that my friends and I weren’t a threat. Maybe it was the coloring books, maybe it was the unicorn pillow pet, or maybe it was the folded Harry Styles cardboard cutout in the backseat. If a life-size Harry Styles isn’t in your road-trip essentials list, I’d urge you to reconsider—it’s a great conversation starter. Whipping him out at state lines to take photos, or bringing him to campsite fires made us some new friends. Then again, it also attracted stares. It was really a roll of the dice.

Our road trip was one of shenanigans, goofy laughs and games of group solitaire and M.A.S.H. It was myself, my two roommates, Abigail and Emma, and our friend Frances. We were recent college graduates from