In praise of the road trip
Our meandering drive from Charlotte to Augusta to Manhattan, with memorable stops at every turn.
There’s no denying the convenience of flying — you get to your vacation spot quickly and with minimal fuss (usually).
But Anne and I have come to appreciate the unique joys of a good road trip.
Long drives give us the chance to catch up with friends and family along the way, explore small towns we’d otherwise fly over, and discover unexpected roadside gems on our way to our final destination.
We also get to spend lots (and lots) of uninterrupted time together in the car, listening to podcasts, talking about life, and playing the license plate game (we finished six states short during our more than 30 hours in our Honda SUV).
Last August, we drove to Minneapolis to visit our son and his family, and in October, I made a solo trip to Michigan to meet that same son, Joe, for a Michigan football game in Ann Arbor.
And just like those earlier journeys, our drive this month to New York City was filled with memorable stops, good conversation, and the kind of moments you just don’t get at 30,000 feet.
Here’s an overview of our latest trip

Augusta, Georgia
Thanks to the generosity of Matt Creswell, a friend from church, Anne and I started our trip to NYC by driving three hours SOUTH to spend a Wednesday at the Masters golf tournament.
Wednesday featured a practice round and the Par 3 contest — a lighthearted prelude to the famed tournament that would officially begin Thursday.
The course, with its well-kept fairways and greens along with its vibrant azaleas in full bloom, was just as beautiful in person as it appears on TV.
We spent much of our time behind the tee box on the sixth hole of the Par 3 course. We saw the eventual winner, Rory McIlroy, along with Tom Watson, Gary Player and Fred Couples (some names recognizable to people of a certain age 😃).
One of the highlights: watching Keegan Bradley hit a hole-in-one, then celebrate with his kids.
We also got to rub shoulders with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who is a member at Augusta National Golf Club, where the Masters is played. She greeted each golfer at the tee box just a few feet away from us.
But the best part? Matt, who’s volunteered at the Masters for 40 years, gave us a private two-hour walking tour. He works the scoreboard at No. 10 and knows every corner of the course.
It really did feel like stepping into another era. No cell phones allowed (we had to dig out a small digital camera to take a few sub-optimal photos), no jeans, and pimento sandwiches — still just $1.50 — served on white bread.
Virginia Beach, Virginia
We hit the road Thursday morning with no real agenda — just a deadline to reach New York by Saturday night. No itinerary, no reservations. We were winging it. I don’t remember how we picked Virginia Beach for our next stop — but I’m glad we did.
We booked a hotel right on the city’s famed boardwalk, with a room overlooking the ocean. The sunrises were spectacular, and we stumbled upon two standout restaurants.
We liked the city so much, we stayed an extra day.
Friday took us to the Military Aviation Museum, home to an impressive collection of vintage aircraft from World War I and II — not just American planes, but also historic aircraft from England, France and Germany. Our tour guide brought the planes to life, giving context that helped us better understand their place in history
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel
When we left Saturday morning, we took the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel (CBBT) from Virginia Beach to the Delmarva Peninsula, heading north toward New York. That route saved us nearly two hours of drive time, allowed us to avoid the traffic of Richmond, Washington and Baltimore, and gave us the chance to travel through a unique and scenic stretch of land.
The CBBT includes 18 miles of bridges, two tunnels, man-made islands and causeways. It was named one of the “Civil Engineering Wonders of the United States” by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
The only catch is that once you’re on the CBBT, there’s no turning back — there are no exits or stops until you reach the other side.

Secaucus, New Jersey
We found a great hotel in Secaucus, which is across the Hudson River from Manhattan and also near the American Dream mall. It’s our new go-to hotel when we visit NYC, which we’ll be doing routinely until (and if) our youngest son, John, moves to another part of the country.
The best part of Saturday was sitting in front of our hotel TV watching our alma mater, Western Michigan University, beat Boston University to win the NCAA hockey championship.
Except for a couple of national titles in cross country in the mid-1960s, Western has never won a national title in any sport.
Manhattan, New York
The primary reason for this trip — at this particular time — was to witness the baptism of my friend Julian Nazar.
I hired Julian three years ago for a reporting job in New York while working at American City Business Journals. I had initially put his résumé in the “no” pile — he just didn’t have the experience. But God had other plans.
A colleague asked me to interview him anyway, maybe just so Julian could practice. Halfway through, I began to sense hidden potential in him.
After I retired, we stayed in touch. That’s when he started asking me more and more questions about Christianity.
Julian asked if I knew a solid church in NYC. I sent him to Redeemer Presbyterian Church, the Manhattan congregation founded by Tim Keller, who passed away in 2023.
Eighteen months later — on Palm Sunday — Julian was baptized at age 27 at Redeemer West Side, having surrendered his life to Christ.
Anne and I loved the service. Julian introduced us to his church friends — many of them part of his men’s Bible study group. More than one person grinned and said, “Oh yes, Julian, the guy with all the questions.”
Curiosity is a journalist’s best trait — and Julian has it in abundance. And the beauty of Christianity is that it welcomes questions. It shines under scrutiny.
Julian told us he’d only been to church twice in his life before walking into Redeemer.
“I was bracing myself,” he told us. “I expected a bunch of old white people talking about Hell. Boy, was I wrong.”
That’s one stereotype our culture — and the enemy — wants people to believe about Christians. But what Julian found at Redeemer was something else entirely: a multiethnic, multigenerational community filled with grace, truth and life.
Ridgewood, New Jersey
That night, we drove about 30 minutes west to visit Yong-ah Cha and her family: husband, Stone, and children, Hazel (fifth grade) and Daniel (second grade).
Yong-ah lived with us for about 18 months while attending college in Minnesota — nearly 20 years ago.
When we pulled into their driveway, she was so excited to see us that she burst out the front door, threw her arms around Anne (still “Mrs. Stych” to her), and wouldn’t let go.
The backstory is a long one, but here’s a short version:
Her younger brother, YoungSung, left South Korea at age 15 to move to the U.S. We became his legal guardians and he lived with us for three years before starting at the University of Minnesota.
Yong-ah, who is older, later moved to Minnesota as well — partly to support him.
We told YoungSung, who had grown up in a non-religious home, that church was part of our household routine. He hated it.
But during college, he surrendered to Christ and began attending a Korean Presbyterian church.
As we caught up, Yong-ah filled in a few details Anne and I hadn’t known.
After she moved to Minnesota, her brother began sharing the gospel with her. She eventually became a Christian and started attending the same Korean church.
That’s where she met her husband, Stone — and where Young-Sung met his wife. Today, both couples have two children.
“If you hadn’t made YoungSung go to church,” Yong-ah told us, “I wouldn’t be a Christian, I wouldn’t have met Stone, and I wouldn’t have this family. So, thank you!”
The final touch? She shared that their parents, still living in South Korea, have converted to Christianity because of their children’s influence.
It was a joy to see the life Yong-ah and Stone have built. Stone is an OB-GYN who’s also taking seminary-level courses. And their kids, Hazel and Daniel, are bright, funny and full of energy.
Statue of Liberty
On Monday, Anne and I played tourists, spending the entire day at Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.
Super-interesting, of course. I especially was struck by all the tests they did on the immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island, with up to 20 percent being denied entry to the U.S. because they failed mental or physical health screenings.
That evening, our youngest son, John, and his girlfriend, Kate, joined us for dinner in New Jersey. They have lived in Queens for nearly four years.
American Dream mall
We spent our final day in the NYC area with John and Kate at the American Dream mall, located in the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Having lived nearly 30 years with the Mall of America in our backyard in Minnesota, we’re no strangers to massive malls.
American Dream — opened about five years ago and owned by the same company as the Mall of America — is the second-largest mall in the U.S. (behind only the MOA). It features 450 stores, a water park, an indoor ski slope, and a Nickelodeon Universe theme park.
It may be “just” a mall, but we had a great time.
Hershey, Pennsylvania
On our way home, we made a stop in Hershey — about three hours west of Manhattan— to visit Hershey’s Chocolate World.
Hersheypark, which sits next door, boasts 15 roller coasters — more than any other amusement park in the Northeast. It wasn’t open during our visit, but that was fine. We came for the chocolate.
We had a great time touring the facility, shopping and learning about the Hershey story. It’s well worth a visit. There’s even a Kissmobile. That’s it at the top of this article.
Roanoke, Virginia
Our final stop was in Roanoke, home to my cousin Brent and his wife, Melissa. Since moving to Charlotte nearly 11 years ago, we’ve made the three-hour drive to see each other regularly.
Brent has served as a Presbyterian pastor in Roanoke for 22 years. I wrote about his struggle with unfulfilled dreams a few months back.
It’s always a blast catching up with Brent and Melissa — and this time, we got to meet their new dog, Wallace. They’re still waiting on the DNA test to figure out what kind of dog he is.
All in all, it was a great trip — a mix of family, faith and Americana. We logged a lot of miles, saw some places we’d never been, and came home with stories worth telling. Hard to beat that.