24 hours on American road

By Folu Olamiti

George Bush, US PresidentTEN days, seven states? That was how Adejoke, my darling wife, reacted when I told her my whirlwind itinerary during my recent visit to the United States of America, my sixth in 24 months. Although I have been visiting the acclaimed God’s Own Country regularly since I first ‘discovered’ it in 1980 when I went to cover that year’s presidential election between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, as an editor with the Nigerian Tribune, none was like this one in terms of adventure and coverage. It was short. It was breezy. It was fun-packed. And all the trips round the seven states that I covered were made by road! Not one minute was spent in an airplane. And by the time I was done with it, I had traversed California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Atlanta, Colorado and Kansas. All within 10 days, specifically between April 20 and 30 this year.

Let me make a confession here; since I was not aiming at any medal, I didn’t deliberately set out to travel by road. In fact, as our flight made its final approach towards Los Angeles International Airports, I was already thinking of my connecting flight to my next destination.

But hardly had we landed and I walked into the warm embrace of Ayo Fatunbi, a long-time family friend domiciled in America, than he suggested that I should connect Kansas City by road to meet with my son who is now living in the city. “Uncle Folu” Ayo enthused, “you will be thrilled, and you will find it worthwhile experience.” I agreed in anticipation of the promised excitement but when I requested to know how many hours the journey would take and he said “just 24 hours”, with superb nonchalance, my eyeballs intuitively threatened to fly out of their sockets as I screamed! I asked: How could I be on the road for such long hours, after having flown from Lagos/London/ Los Angeles for over 17 hours aboard British Airways? ‘’No big deal,” he retorted again.

“Travelling by road in America is fun; it will accord you the opportunity of having a fuller view of the country side.” Despite his assurance, I was skeptical. As a home-based Nigerian used to suffering and smiling on gully-infested roads, I could not but imagine the horror of road transportation. I could not but imagine the torture and pains motorists suffer daily on Ore - Benin road. Last December, a motorist on NTA spoke on how he and other passengers spent 48 hours on the same spot along the Ore - Benin expressway. I temporarily forgot this was America, Uncle Sam’s own country, where things are generally made easy and appreciably beautiful.

In America, the roads are well laid in concrete - four lanes on either side. There is a dedicated lane for those who travel in groups, while single passengers are left with three lanes. The logic behind this as explained by my host is to decongest the roads by encouraging people to keep their vehicles at home while they ride with friends.

It was truly a fun to drive on American roads. Ayo Fatunbi and Bolaji Adedigba, my mutual friends, rented a 2008 Cadillac and we hit the road in a jiffy. Before we embarked on the marathon journey, however, I had traveled by air to Atlanta, Georgia to see my nephew, Bidemi Adebamiwa from 21 April to 22 April. On April 23, we hit the road from Los Angeles. It took us 52 minutes to drive out of Los Angeles, a melting pot of a sort for many communities.

America is blessed with vast arid land that makes settlements, business and tourism along the routes easy and exhilarating. From Long Beach to Ontario, Covina, Victofio, Basto to Ghost and Dead Valleys, it was a spectacular sight all the way. One valid reason you won’t feel the rigours of driving over such stretches of distance is that at every 60 kilometers interval, there are rest places and exit into towns where you can refuel and refresh. The often reported cyclone devastation in some part of America, I discovered on this trip, is essentially because of the desert nature of the affected areas.

As I absorbed the beautiful scenery through exotic car’s windshield, and thought of the cyclones, and all that, I couldn’t help but thank God for arming Nigeria with a strong immunity against such natural disasters. Unfortunately, quite unfortunately, what we lack in natural disasters, we compensate with self-inflicted disasters such as - oil pipeline blow up, setting fire on buildings to, in several cases, cover up fraud and corrupt acts, and avoidable deaths via collapsed houses, due to structural defects.

Unlike in my country, where truck drivers compete with and, indeed, drive in such a way as to chase other road users off the road, truck drivers in the US are civil and strictly drive by the rules. They are restricted to limited hours of driving and once they clock their statutorily allotted hours; they simply pull over and rest.

I only read about the Dead Valley. It is the hottest point in America. I read about it in regional geography books of North America in my secondary school days. Please don’t ask me how many years ago, because I won’t tell you. But what I can tell you is that, it is one of the exotic scenes in this part of America, and has the world’s tallest thermometer, standing imposingly at several feet, and reading 90 degrees Celsius by the time we got there.

Now, have you wondered why Las Vegas in Nevada State is dubbed sinful city, gambling capital of the world of the paradise city? Well, I think it is simply because the city is home to the good, the bad and ugly. It is a city for saints and sinners. A city with hell and heaven in its belly. To me, it looks like a city painted in gold, with its glittering peak jutting into the azure sky with regal elegance, its night skyline dazzling with neon lights.

The city is also crafty in a way that it boasts of landmarks that mimic similar scenic structures in other world’s major cities - like New York Towers, Eiffel Tower in Paris, Monte Carlo Hotel in Italy, Madame Tussaud in London and Caesar’s Palace in Rome. Still, there is more to Las Vegas - it is the headquarters and amphitheatre of world entertainment. It has hosted most of the world’s historic boxing bouts.

Las Vegas is also one huge theatre of the absurd. For in this city of saints and sinners, I saw able-bodied men hawking sex on the streets. They also hawked pornographic pictures and selling same to would be buyers. If you want your children to be upright, then Las Vegas is not a place for you. It is a city for sexual perverts, for partygoers, gamblers, drug addicts.

Lest I forget, we drove through Valley of Fire and I saw Dry River beds stretching over 30 kilometres. We passed through Salt Lake City into Arizona and Utah States. One significant sight is the Johnson Tunnel that was carved out of a hill. We drove up hill and at a point we were driving up to 30,000 feet above sea level! Here, the weather became humid as we felt the heaviness of the earth.

From there, we drove into Denver in Colorado State in a heavy snowstorm. Since motorists had been forewarned not to cruise or drive fast through the storm, we drove at a snail speed, making the journey in two hours instead of the normal 30 minutes, arriving Denver in the wee hours of 24th April. Denver is significant because this year, it is playing host to Democrat Convention later in August. The beauty of electioneering campaigns in America is the comportment of the electorate. Rallies are devoid of violence and hooliganism. They drum, dance, holding banners of their favourite candidates, and listen attentively to their messages. Debates mostly are on issues not personalities. Nigerians watching how these campaigns unfold on satellite television stations in their various homes should take a cue and for God’s sake let us be civil in the conduct of our elections. Let us do away with hooliganism, thuggery, bitterness and rancour.

We entered Kansas State through Colby Junction, after we had been on the road for over 20 hours non-stop except when we refuelled. The city itself sits in the centre of a region that is rich in history. No matter which direction you go, you will find a city full of friendly people.

Call Kansas the food belt of America, and you wouldn’t have missed it. Here, agriculture is one of the mainstay of the people. It touches on every fibre of the being of every inhabitant - like the food they eat, the clothes they wear, their way of life, their culture, the economy etc. They owe it all to Agriculture.

By the time we got to Kansas City, we had spent 24 hours, 43 minutes on the road. We spent three days in the city and every moment of it was memorable. One thing I noticed along the route is passion with which the Americans serve God. The Ten Commandments and other quotable quotes from the Bible are strategically erected for motorists to read. That America wants to rule the world is an understatement, indeed, God loves America. An average American will tell you “In God we trust’

How can I tour America without speaking with or seeing my big brother. and one of the most celebrated Nigerians of all times, Chief Harry Akande? After a few frustrating dials, my call eventually went through and the man simply went wild with joy that small me called him. He was so thrilled that I was in America that he requested that I should spend a night in his Chicago mansion. I did. And his lovely family overwhelmed me with hospitality.

Harry Akande, is one of the few Nigerians holding the nation’s flag flying proudly both at home and abroad. His passion against corruption is so intense that he wants our jail to brim with corrupt leaders. He vehemently disagreed with me when I argued that prevention, rather than hurried prosecution, in the fight against corruption would go a long way in reducing corruption in our country.

It was an illuminating dialogue. One of the high points of my flying visit through seven American cities in 10 days! For me, it’s an unforgettable adventure. And I recommend it to all busy executives and professionals desirous of an exhilarating vacation.

Olamiti is Media Consultant to the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC).