It doesn’t take long of not being on a roadtrip for me to miss being on the road. I drove out to SoCal in September and I’m already ready for it. As much as I worry about car problems and all that sh*t you shouldn’t worry about, driving from campground to campground with no day to day duties has to be one of the best feelings ever. If you throw a bike or a board in the back you pretty much can’t go wrong. Travis Splain recently went on a trip and did just that. Check out the little interview I did with him below.
Travis is a really awesome photographer who resides in Baltimore, Maryland. He let me ask him a couple questions and was nice enough to provide IntheGnar with some photographs from the trip.
ITG: So what did this past trip you just went on entail? How many people were you with and where were you guys coming from when you texted me and I couldn’t help you out?
TS: My friend Jkrantz and I left Baltimore, MD with the intentions of driving across the country and back in 3 weeks. Our final destination was San Francisco, but we went south and west and then headed up the coast to SF. We hit up Athens GA, Mobile AL, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Bakersfield, Death Valley, Las Vegas, Flagstaff, Albuquerque, Oklahoma city and Dayton OH. We were in Long Beach when I texted you. We ended up staying with this 16 year old kid we just met. He lived with his parents and at least 6 other relatives. It was weird.
ITG: Damn you guys got pretty crazy for a 3 week trip, that’s crazy that you stayed with that kid in Long Beach, were his parents skeptical on you guys staying with their 16 year old son? Did you guys camp a lot or stay with people?
TS: Haha, nah the kid lied to his grandma and told them he knew us. We only met her and his uncle. He was really cool, but the living situation was just crazy. He lived with his Mom, Dad and Step dad too. Someone had a makeshift room in the kitchen and we saw them in bed when we left in the morning. We only really camped one night in, Baton Rouge. We didn’t know where we were and we scoped out a spot around 3am on LSU campus. We set up next to some homeless dude and froze for about 4 hours until we couldn’t bear the cold any longer. We got up and realized our tent was on the bank of the Mississippi river. We slept in the car maybe 5 times. the rest of the time we had someplace to stay, with friends or friends of friends.
ITG: What rig did you roll out there? Did you have any break-downs out there?
TS:We used Jkrantz’s tiny Toyota Corolla. It wouldn’t have been bad if I didn’t have so much photo and video equipment. We didn’t have any breakdowns but for some reason Jkrantz thought it was normal for the car to just lose oil and start making noises. So we had to oil her up a lot.
ITG: Did you have any reason for hitting the road or was it just a vacation?
TS: The whole trip was just a vacation. We wanted to get away from our shit jobs, shit weather and just see the rest of the country for 3 weeks.
ITG: That’s awesome man. Was your shit job okay with you taking 3 weeks off?
TS: I work at a law firm and I am beginning to hate it. There was a lot of bullshit surrounding the whole thing including one of my bosses lying to me so I couldn’t take off just because he doesn’t like me, I’m pretty sure. Everything got sorted out and my friend Ken covered for me the whole time. Thanks Ken!
ITG: What was the best spot you hit? I’m sure you hit some cool normal places on the way too, what was the best tourist spot you hit?
TS: The best spot over all was the Salton Sea. The pool there was awesome even though I can’t ride stuff like that very well. That whole area is so weird, dead animals everywhere, abandoned cars, RV’s, hotels, houses. I took a lot of photos in that area. The best tourist spot would probably be the Grand Canyon, you can’t really appreciate it on TV or in photos until you are there climbing over the guardrails and hanging out on 5,000 ft cliffs at sunset. I also really liked this natural hot spring that was in the Sierra Nevada mountains. I think that is more of a secret spot than a tourist attraction though. My cousin told us about it.
ITG: I definitely agree with you on the Grand Canyon thing. I went on a similar trip a couple years ago and I hated the Grand Canyon until we hit this spot with no one around and it was just us in looking down. Then it was amazing. That hot spring sounds awesome, was it up near Tahoe? There’s one outside Portland, OR that I want to go to.
TS: Nah it was near Bakersfield somewhere. I had never been to one before, and I didn’t know what to expect. I pictured a big natural thing with naked hippies dancing around it, but it was small and man made. It was still sick though considering the temperature was around 40 and the water was steaming hot. I would definitely like to check more of those out.
ITG: Best fast-food spot of the trip?
TS: We didn’t really hit up that many different places that we don’t have around us. All that shit usually sucks anyway. We went to In N’ Out and that was terrible. There is a sick place in SF called Ali Babba’s Cave that was pretty fast. Foot long falafel wraps for $6. Definitely beats subway.
ITG: Wow, Man i can’t believe you didn’t like In N’ Out. That place is sick, I mean the fries aren’t amazing but the Double Double and the neapolitan shakes. I guess I’m just a big fan of fast food.
TS: There are awesome fast food burger places called Five Guys that are located all around the Mid-Atlantic area. They are the best burgers, they would kill In N’ Out. I guess I hate the majority of fast food though. Subway and Taco Bell once in a while.
ITG: Alright, so what was the Best beach?
TS: The only beach we went to that wasn’t covered in dead fish was Santa Monica. The water was too cold to go swimming though.
ITG: Most essential item for traveling?
TS: Besides a sleeping bag and stuff like that I would have to say a bike and a camera. Cities are much more interesting when you can explore them on a bike. And a camera just so you can take photos of all the weird and interesting things you see along the way. I could do without anything else really.
ITG: Are you going to be doing any other trips soon? I know once I go on a trip I’m glad to be home but shortly after I get the itch, you get that yet?
TS: I always want to travel even if its just to Philly, DC or NJ for the weekend. I am working towards quitting my job and going on a longer trip this summer with some friends from New Jersey. I think I had the itch the day after I got back and had to go to work at 9am.
ITG: Most played music?:
TS: We listened to The Boss; Bruce Springsteen almost everyday the last 2 weeks I think. I had convinced Jkrantz to get a “Born To Run” tattoo when we got to the shop my friend works at in Dayton, Ohio, but we got in to late and they were closed.
ITG: Sounds like our soundtrack. It’s weird that when you go on a trip you think you wanna have tons of music, but every time I’m in the car I always end up listening to the same thing over and over, whether it be “Hey-Ya” or some guilty pleasure like Saves the Day, actually Saves the Day isn’t a guilty pleasure they are awesome.
TS:Well I tried to not play the same stuff over and over but some things are too good not to. Some stuff just fits really well with the mood of the trip. Everything Jkrantz listens to is a guilty pleasure. haha.
ITG: For sure, thanks Travis!
To view more of Travis Splain’s photos please click here.
4 Comments
love this guys photos, and his peg leg part was my favorite of the video
that part is sick, just watched it. really nice photos too. yeaaa travis. yeaaa nick
Very interesting interview and super photos. I was born south of the Salton Sea in So, CA in 1939 (Brawley, CA). The SS has changed a lot over the years, I understand. I guess it is pretty much of a nasty wreck now. I recall from my childhood the smelly bubbling mud pots. That is what we called them. Really weird stuff. Oh, by the way, the JKrantz dude who went on the trip with Travis is my grandson.
best comment ever! thanks for checking out the site, mary.
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