My iPod is full of selfies, my suitcase is full of dirty clothes, and my heart is full of memories. This roadtrip started out as a simple inspiration and a surprise question, “Karen, you wanna go west with me?” Umm yes?!

Several weeks later, Dad and I took off for Chicago at 3:00 AM in the middle of a crazy snowstorm and so our journey began. It wasn’t just a journey across several thousand miles of mountains, desert, and snow, but a journey of heart talks, laughter, and an effort to bridge the gap between a father and a daughter. My relationship with my dad hasn’t always been an easy one and its been filled with plenty of misunderstanding and stubbornness. There’s something about pain and mutual hurt that creates walls that are hard to break.

We stopped in Glasgow, Montana for the second night of our trip. After booking our room and admiring the grizzled motel keeper’s large collection of geodes and a trophy fish, he handed me the key. It was a little after 6:00 PM since we had stopped early to allow a snowstorm to go through the area before crossing Mariah’s Pass. I brought our suitcases inside and was relaxing in our room when Dad came in and asked what I wanted to do that evening. My sinuses had been feeling stuffy that day from the dry car heat, I was achy all over and just wanted a hot shower and a long night’s sleep. Fighting my hopes of hibernating in that little room, I answered his teasing request to “do more than sit in a little motel room,” “Ok, Ok, I’m coming.”

We went to Subway and after he persisted I choose the toppings for a foot-long, I picked my regular turkey, pepper jack, all the veggies, and Chippotle Southwest dressing. I wasn’t hungary and really wasn’t going to eat any of it and to this day I’m not sure if my appetite suddenly came to life or if Dad somehow convinced me I was hungary after all. Going out to eat was one of the last things I felt like doing that night but now it’s one of my favorite little memories from our trip.

I feel like I could fill a book with all the memories we made and lessons I learned. We had some hard conversations and I know we ended our trip with more compassion for each other, more understanding on each other’s perspective, and treasured memories of one last spontaneous daddy- daughter trip.

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