How a Failed Interview Led to My Best Road Trip

Southern Utah highway around 6 PM. My favorite state of the trip for scenic overlooks

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The real start of my trip came from a job opportunity. I had a final interview in person for a job working with robots in Columbus, Ohio. The interview was on a Monday. Instead of flying from the East Coast where I was at the time, I decided to drive. I'm bicoastal, but this choice was also tied to a bigger goal: possibly getting into the YC program, which is in the Bay Area. My idea was that if I flew to Ohio, my next flight would have been to Southern California to see my friend. Then, from Southern California, I would fly to the Bay Area in time for the YC program if they accepted my application. Columbus wasn't just a stop for an interview; it was a possible stop on a much longer trip. I even put my friend's address in Southern California as the last stop in my car's GPS, a hopeful note for where I might end up.

On Sunday around 5 PM, I left my apartment on the East Coast and just started driving. Even with the idea of reaching California if YC worked out, I had no clear plans beyond the interview. I remember after driving about 50 miles, I had this strong urge to turn back. It felt a bit crazy, leaving like this with so much I wasn't sure about ahead. But then I crossed the state line. Once that happened, a different feeling took over. It was like, okay, no turning back now. I had decided I had to keep going, even if I didn't quite know what I was doing past that interview in Columbus.

This whole adventure began with a practical decision about my old car. I wanted to trade it for a new model, but the trade-in price I was offered felt really low, especially for a car that had less than 10,000 miles on it. So I made a plan: I'd drive it around to some nearby states, get the mileage up to around 15,000. Then I'd feel a bit better about whatever price I got for it. This plan set the stage for the trip, which, as it turned out, began just two weeks before my tenth year in America.

In a way, this trip was the sudden, real version of a dream I've always had. I'd imagined taking a cross-country train trip to see every state in the U.S., an idea that first started in college, probably after reading Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. I imagined doing it someday, a big trip to really see the country before I eventually leave the U.S. The dream of that cross-country trip was still just a vague idea, but the trip's reality, heading west, had suddenly begun.

That drive to Columbus, Ohio, was an experience by itself, especially because of the car I was in. I used its supervised Full-Self Driving (FSD) feature the whole way. There had been a new update that was really helpful. It let me control the speed limit and switch between different driving modes, like hurry, standard, or chill, right from a knob on the steering wheel. It was interesting to watch how the car handled things like changing lanes. It would often move into a slower lane to let other cars pass and then smoothly move back into the right lane. The car also changed its speed by itself based on the speed limits posted. These changed quite a bit along the way, going from 80, then down to 70, 50, and even 45 miles per hour in different areas.

On this trip, I drove a car going 80 miles per hour for the first time in my life. I usually stick to the speed limit, maybe 2-5 miles over at most, since I can set my Tesla's maximum speed to the posted limit, and I generally drive the limit even when not using FSD (though I might go a little over to pass someone). But in parts of states like Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming, the speed limits allowed for it, and the FSD handled it smoothly.

The car's Nav (GPS) was also key. It planned out the charging stops I'd need on its own. It would guess my battery power when I got to a charger and even get the battery ready as I got closer to make charging faster.

This was my first real long road trip in an electric car, so I learned a lot about how EV travel really works pretty fast. One of the first things I learned was the charging curve for Teslas. The car charges much faster when the battery is almost empty. So, it's often best to get to a charging station with about 10% battery left and then only charge it enough to easily get to the next planned stop. So, more frequent, shorter stops can actually be quicker than trying to charge the battery to full every time. I'd heard stories about long waits at chargers. But I found it really depends on the station, how full your battery is when you get there, and whether the car had a chance to get the battery ready. The car's system was also smart enough to find a new route for me if it figured out that the next planned station was too far away and my battery percentage would not let me get there. I also saw how much the charging costs could change. Sometimes it was $0.37 per kilowatt-hour, and other times it could be as high as $0.77. The GPS sometimes did odd things too. There were times it seemed to want to take me through some pretty out-of-the-way places, almost like it was trying to make me drive more miles, though I'm sure that wasn't the real reason. It did make me think about the link between how you drive and your insurance, though. My Tesla insurance had gone from $50 to $126 a month because I was already driving more miles. I had thought that having a high driving score (100) plus taking longer routes would not affect the insurance price marginally like that, but it seems it did.

As for how I managed things on that first part of the trip to Ohio, I stayed in a motel only one night. My main plan for overnight rests was about how I charged the car. I found a bit of a trick. I'd look for Tesla stations that also had slower home wall chargers. My thinking was that if I plugged into one of those, it showed I had a good reason to be there, since I was using the charger. These slower chargers would take about 6 to 8 hours to give me enough range. This fit perfectly with my usual rest time of roughly 11 pm to 4 am. Sleeping during these hours also helped me avoid any possible drop scores from Tesla insurance for driving too much late at night (11pm - 4am). I would just move the driver's seat as far back as it would go and sleep there. Also, I used my Planet Fitness Black Card membership to my benefit. Since many Planet Fitness places are open 24 hours, I could park in their lots, again, as a real customer. This gave me a safe place to rest overnight and also a way to use their showers and change in the morning.

Other overnight options often seemed less useful. Campsites, for example, were usually along main highways. This wasn't very easy because my charging needs often made me drive into different cities and towns. So, using a campsite would have meant a lot of driving back and forth. Finding 24-hour Rest Areas also was hard; many seemed closed or being fixed. I think I only stopped at a rest area twice during the whole trip across the country. Truck stops were another choice I thought about, but they were usually very busy, and it was clear that truck drivers had the most priority. I also learned that some truck stops might not even let non-truckers use their showers, which was something I really needed. It made me wonder, as a side thought for future trips, if having a Rivian or Cybertruck would make a difference, if they would be seen as "trucks" for these reasons.

During the daytime, the EV charging places were often very easy to use. Many were near gas stations with food marts, or close to malls, or at least walking distance from food courts. This made taking bathroom breaks or grabbing food much easier while the car was charging. I also quickly learned how important it was to read city rules and parking lot signs very carefully to avoid any problems. My Panera Bread free Unlimited Sip Club deal was a lifesaver for drinks, and I often ended up buying their Mexican street chowder, which I really liked. Starbucks was always a backup for a place to rest or use Wi-Fi, though I don't drink coffee and didn't have a subscription with them. For other things and quick meals, Walmart and Sam's Club were my main stops. That Sam's Club pizza became a surprisingly common part of my road trip diet. One thing I was not ready for was clothes; I hadn't packed for such a long trip and ended up buying some things at Ross along the way. Luckily, I had thought to bring my own cleaning and personal care things, so at least that part was covered.

So I got to Columbus, Ohio, just in time for the job interview that Monday. I went through the whole process, but sadly, I didn't get chosen for the job. They did pay me $100 for my time, which was a nice gesture, but of course, I had hoped for the job itself.

While I was in Ohio, still figuring out what to do next, I had a really important meeting at a Panera Bread. I was working at my day job on my laptop, applying to YC, and applying to other robotics roles in the Bay Area, when I started talking to an experienced engineer. He told me he'd been laid off and was really struggling to find a new job. He was actually living out of his car at that point and was under huge stress because of his ability to find a stable replacement job. Talking to him was a very powerful and humbling moment. It was a clear reminder of the real-life struggles a lot of people are facing right now, and how unsure things can be, even for skilled workers. That powerful conversation stayed with me as I spent the next few days in Columbus figuring out what to do next. It definitely made me see my own situation in a new way.

After the interview, with some extra time in Columbus, I tried to make the most of it. I remember looking around a park there, just to get some fresh air and clear my head. I also spent some time working at a local library, which is often a good quiet spot to focus. A big part of what I was working on during this part of the trip was my application to Y Combinator. I was really trying hard to get that sent in. I remember very clearly filming the founder video for the YC application right there in my car, while it was parked at a charging station.

With my YC application sent in and the Ohio chapter of my trip complete, the journey west continued, my car still pointed towards that Southern California address on my GPS. The trip was still a bit unclear, just a long drive with a loose end goal. But then I reached Williams, Arizona. I remember pulling into a charging stop there, and as the car was charging, something changed in my mind. I realized that just driving straight to Southern California would be a missed opportunity. I had my car, I had some time, and I was already in a part of the country I'd never seen before. So right there in Williams, I made a clear choice: this wasn't going to be just a drive from Point A to Point B anymore. I was going to turn the rest of this trip into a real exploration, planned out, of America.

That choice made me look for some kind of guide or ideas for what to see. I remembered, or perhaps found again, a website that showed how to Compute the optimal road trip across the U.S.. It was based on a route that aimed to hit different famous spots and interesting places, and the great thing was that the code for the route itself was free to use and change. Of course, I was already partway through a possible trip across the country, so I couldn't follow it exactly from the start. I had to change it, starting from where I was.

My new plan became to use the famous places in that guide as my main stops. These would be the big markers on my map. The full list on the website covered almost every state, a true trip from coast to coast, border to border. I had already explored Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and Washington D.C. by road over the years. I've lived on both coasts and mostly on the East Coast for much of my ten years in America, so I mentally crossed those states off. For this trip, my focus was on the rest of the states on that list. It still meant I was looking at a trip that would take me through most of the mainland states, finally covering 41 of them. The amazing part was how my car's need to charge would be the real guide. I'd put in the next major place, and the GPS would automatically make a path through countless cities and towns, big and small, just to get to the needed charging stations. The need to charge became an unseen guide for my path, leading me through the middle of so many different places.

With this new way of traveling, I also made some stops I hadn't planned. For example, as I was driving between big famous places and my route took me through Arkansas, I decided to take a side trip for a couple of hours. I drove to a small town I had heard about from someone I knew. It was just a quick decision, letting my curiosity lead me, and it added another interesting part to my journey.

This new way of doing the trip, letting the need for charging guide me, really did open up the country in a special way. I wanted to look even closer into the cities and towns I was passing through, so I decided to take on a parcel delivery job for a while, an opportunity I learned about from the engineer I met at Panera Bread. He mentioned he did it on the side. I asked him if he'd checked their corporate careers page for engineering roles, since he was already a driver and knew about their products. We looked at the company's career page on my phone, and that's how I found out about the delivery role. I saw an opportunity there. My goal was to try the job and see how they handled last-mile delivery for personal parcels. I thought I could use their ideas to solve a problem I'd noticed at my old warehouse job: late truck depatures. This turned out to be one of the best jobs I've ever had because driving through different cities gave me a very grounded view of all the places I was visiting, helping me see how they were set up. It was a way to see neighborhoods up close, beyond just the main streets or charging station areas. The supervised Full-Self Driving feature of the car was surprisingly helpful with this. It could often find perfect parking spots, and it was great at finding addresses that were otherwise hard to locate, like houses where the number was on the garage with poor contrast, or where mailboxes were across the street from the actual house. I remember one time, a woman came out to explain their neighborhood's mailbox system to me, how it was set up for mail carriers in a certain way. It was these little talks and things I saw that started to build a fuller picture of each place. However, this job wasn't sustainable for a long road trip because you had to pick a 6-8 hour work block. So, I only did it about five times in five different states. I made sure to prioritize cities and states where I was interested in starting a family.

While the delivery job gave me a view of the neighborhoods, the long drives between them offered a different perspective. As I drove more and more, I started paying a lot of attention to the roads and signs. I was really impressed by the road markings, even on faraway roads that were hilly or had steep slopes. They were generally very clear and made driving, or watching over the FSD, feel safer. This really stood out to me because it was such a big difference from the road situation in my home country, where clear markings aren't always there. I also found it interesting to see signs like "Limit of City/County Maintained Roads" or signs saying that some roads were not taken care of by the state. It made me think about how different areas are managed and funded.

This habit of observing infrastructure naturally led to looking at buildings. The trip made me realize I have a much stronger sense of taste for how buildings looked than I ever thought I did. As I drove through many towns and cities, I saw so many different types of houses. I found myself forming ideas, noticing what I liked and didn't like. Some styles of buildings even reminded me of homes in Naija, which was a surprising connection. In some areas, I saw a real lack of sameness in housing, which sometimes made the neighborhoods look a bit like they didn't fit together or were messy to my eyes. It was all part of understanding how America looks.

Because I was thinking about the future and what I might want in a long-term relationship, I also started judging the cities I passed through as possible places to raise children. I began looking for specific things: how close homes were to police and fire stations, if there were libraries and parks, and if there were good, safe bike lanes and walking paths. These useful things to think about became a new way for me to judge each community. I also noticed some systems that didn't work together that surprised me. For example, in some places, a library card might only work for a certain city library, not for all the libraries in the larger county. This was different from my experience in Maryland where a card usually covered the whole county. It's small things like that you don't think about until you see them. I even had a funny, or rather annoying, moment when I got a $60 parking ticket at a Panera Bread, even though it was a free parking lot for customers. It turned out the private property, where all the shops including Panera were located, had a three-hour parking limit. It was another one of those little reminders of how systems can be different from place to place. These things I saw, both big and small, started to give me a clearer idea of what I'd look for in a future home and community.

One of the most noticeable things I saw was the link between how well-designed a city was and how active and healthy its people seemed to be. In places with good useful things, like easy-to-use bike lanes, well-kept parks, and town centers you could walk around, I generally saw more people out and about, being active. It just seemed like the place made people want to live healthier. Much later, I remember seeing a study online that actually proved these kinds of personal things I saw. It showed a real link between how a city is built and people's health. This whole trip became a real-life lesson in so many different parts of American life, just like I had hoped for with that de Tocqueville-inspired train trip.

Looking back, it's pretty amazing how this whole trip happened. It started with such normal, almost everyday needs: trying to get a better trade-in price for my car and driving to a job interview. But somewhere along the way, especially after that key moment of choice in Williams, Arizona, it changed. It became that deep and interesting trip to explore America I had always dreamed about, the kind of trip inspired by reading de Tocqueville back in college. In the end, this trip took me through 44 states and covered around 16,000 miles. What began as a simple drive turned into a real adventure, a way to see and understand the country in a much more personal way than I ever could have just by flying over it or sticking to main tourist roads.

And now, after this amazing experience, it's already given me the idea for an even bigger travel goal for the future. My next big journey will be a cross-country bikepacking exploration. I plan to compute my own "optimal bike trails" that link virtually every state in the United States and then create those routes on Strava. My goal is to ride at least 100 miles in each state. To reach all U.S. states reachable by road, I'll ride across at least three closer states at a time. An inspiring example is The Great American Rail-Trail, a planned cross-country rail trail running 3,700 miles between Washington D.C. in the east and the state of Washington in the west. The planned trail is already more than 53% complete, with over 2,000 completed miles on the ground. It runs through 12 states and the District of Columbia, and will be within 50 miles of 50 million Americans. I've actually already biked sections of the Great American Rail-Trail route in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Washington D.C. My larger plan is to use all the trails I know to create a safe route that goes beyond those 12 states, connecting even more of the country. It feels like a way to connect with the land and the different groups of people even more directly than I could by car.

Of course, a goal like that comes with its own practical things to think about. To make the bikepacking trip possible, especially carrying a bike and gear across so many states, I'll definitely need a truck. My first choice would be a Rivian; I really like their design. I'm not a fan of the Cybertruck's look at all. However, I'm also practical. My experiences with deliveries helped me see how important a capable vehicle is for moving my own gears and bikes around. For such a long trip, a very good highway driving assistance feature is important. Tesla's Cybertruck offers supervised Full-Self Driving, and I'd be looking for Rivian to have a similar advanced system by the time I'm ready for this adventure.

This next big journey isn't something I'm planning for tomorrow. I see it more as a reward, a really big reward for myself for when I've successfully sold one of my side projects. It's something to look forward to, a goal that will feel even better when I earn it by doing another important thing in my life and gives me complete control over my time.

This unexpected road trip, born from an interview and a wish to get a few more miles on an old car, ended up being so much more than I could have imagined. It opened my eyes, taught me a lot, and set the stage for future dreams. The ball is in my court now to really work harder and build more things that people want and will pay for, so I can go bikepacking.