On the Road

GEORGE Colton '35, the College's vice president for development, has a story for those who are worried about the disruptive influences of the comings and goings necessitated by the Dartmouth Plan. Barkening back to his undergraduate days, Colton tries to put a better face on year-round operations by recalling that in the 1930s many of the older alumni became concerned that widespread use of the automobile by the students would damage the intimacy, cohesion, and warmth of the Dartmouth community. Their theory held that the advent of roadtripping would destroy the College's traditional forced isolation, which at the time was believed to be largely responsible for "the Dartmouth spirit."

Colton points out that since its inception, roadtripping, far from wrecking the Dartmouth elan, has become a worthwhile tradition in its own right. Colton concludes optimistically that the comings and goings of the Dartmouth Plan, like the comings and goings of roadtripping, will at best help to foster and at worst not destroy what has come to be known as the essence of Dartmouth. (If this analogy has a flaw, it is that it fails to take into account that roadtripping is a voluntary phenomenon while the Dartmouth Plan, despite much administration rhetoric to the contrary, is not.)

What it is about the roadtrip that mere mention of it can calm the fears of groups of students and alumni harboring doubts about the Dartmouth Plan and the future of the institution? Why does the roadtrip, which originated to fill a real student need in the days of monosexual education, continue to flourish four years after the inception of coeducation and in an era of 60¢ gasoline?

The answers to these questions say a lot about Dartmouth College and put the lie to many outsiders' misconceptions about the roadtrip. For starters, the roadtrip has never been a wholly sexual phenomenon. Although for some oldtimers roadtrips are synonymous with weekend jaunts to Colby, Smith, Mt. Holyoke, Wheaton, et al., there have always been "asexual" roadtrips, too. Athletic roadtrips are the most common. Take, for example, the Harvard game. While many fans were delighted to see the football contest return to Hanover last fall after a long hiatus, most upperclassmen were disappointed. Seniors had trouped down to Cambridge during their first three years at Dartmouth; the idea of Crimson hordes invading Hanover during senior year just didn't seem right. Moreover, as one senior put it, "The Harvard weekend roadtrip has always been awesome." Every fall TheDartmouth prints a primer on the trip, warning freshmen not to wear Dartmouth warm-up jackets in Cambridge (Radcliffe women don't think it's cool) and advising freshmen not to look up old high school buddies at Harvard ("You have no friends at Harvard").

While roadtripping to follow a Dartmouth team is at its peak during football season, sports trips are by no means confined to the fall. The varsity hockey and basketball teams have large followings during winter term, as does the baseball team in spring. In fact, the April snows in Hanover have forced the baseball team and some of its fans "on the road" for "home games" originally scheduled for Red Rolfe field. Another memorable roadtrip was this winter's Harvard hockey game. Hoorot and Kappa Sigma fraternities chartered a bus to take the brothers forth and back for that one; the trip was oversubscribed and some members ended up driving down anyway.

The Fenway Park opening day excursion represents still another variation on the theme. This is the "ad hoc roadtrip," in which a group of Dartmouth students pile into a car and go somewhere other than a Big Green athletic contest or a friendly women's college. One of the more celebrated summer roadtrips on record was 1973's mass exodus to the Watkins Glen rock festival in upstate New York. The Kentucky Derby regularly attracts several carloads of self-styled thoroughbred fans. One senior claims that this year will be his fourth Derby in a row. A major roadtrip to Boston was slated for April 21, Patriot's Day. Participants took in the Yankees-Red Sox ball game before catching the end of the Boston Marathon.

Also to be found in the ad hoc category is the "reverse roadtrip," in which a group of off-campus Dartmouth students drive to Hanover. The longest reverse roadtrip on record was for this year's Winter Carnival. Four students, including one coed, who were spending winter term working at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, drove more than 70 hours to be in Hanover for the weekend. Myth has it that the longest roadtrip in history was to San Francisco. Details of this expedition are hazy, but the travelers are said to have gone from coast to coast and back to Hanover in less than a week.

One of the more bizarre jaunts of the year was the now-celebrated Lobster Roadtrip to Essex, Massachusetts. The roadtrip was conceived late one winter's eve amidst mellow music and a severe dosage of Jack Daniels. "Tomorrow," said one subdued but inspired senior, "yes, tomorrow. I know this lobster place - you can pick 'em out." The strong and sure rallying cry was sounded: "We're on the road." It was the consummate roadtrip: four good friends, road beers aplenty and electric anticipation pervading the over-the-speed-limit mobile. But more, it was the succulent lobster, the easy-going, slightly stewed fisherman-restaurateurs presenting the celebrants with the several-too-many clams that had been fried, the midnight walk over the dunes of Cranes Beach, and, hours later, the lingering sunrise experienced from Bartlett Tower - Dartmouth's highest point. "Definitely one of the best," was the appraisal of one experienced roadtripper.

But as long as the imbalance in the ratio of men to women at the College continues, sexually oriented roadtrips will still occupy the hearts and minds of most Dartmouth men. As a sophomore tells it, "Twenty guys from my house went down to Holyoke last weekend. We had a great time. . . . Part of the reason roadtripping is so much fun is sitting in the car with your friends for two hours on the way down and back. We don't go down just for female companionship."

"I love Dartmouth," he adds. "Don't get me wrong. But I think it's valuable to get away from the place from time to time. It gives you a new perspective. Especially in the spring."

Maybe that's why an encouragement many would have expected to have long since gone by the boards is still handed down to each incoming freshman class: "Son, some of your best times at Dartmouth will be spent on the road."