In No Hurry
"I don't mean to disturb your peace," he said, "but you look like a man with a story." And he had a point. There I was with my New York plates, fresh off a few hours stranded in the desert, sitting watching the sunset over a piece of art I studied in college. My hiking shoes and long board coated in salt from the Bonneville Salt Flats sat almost as if on display in the back window of my car.
I really do have a story. At the time this man wandered with his girlfriend back to their car, I was only 80% sure of where I was sleeping that night with no clue where I would end up the following day. The only schedule I had to keep was my own. I traveled in daylight to see the most scenery and tried to eat at least one real meal a day but everything else was up to chance and whim.
Let me back up a bit.
June 2022, I hatched a plan of seeing the country while I still had the privilege of being on my parents' health insurance and didn't yet need a "real job" to provide that for me. Being me, and having ADHD, I postponed leaving over and over until a friend needed me to be with them in Ohio and so I loaded my life into my hatchback sedan and took off in under 24 hours. (This wasn't the first time I would do that part, nor would it be the last.) A week later, I found myself at Indiana Dunes National Park, the furthest from home I had ever driven on my own, solo camping for the first time and watching a glorious sunset over Lake Michigan silhouetting the Chicago skyline.
I'm not often one to drone on about the poetic beauty of a moment but I felt so free and at peace in that moment. I didn't have a single plan on the books. I had no idea where I was going to sleep after that first night. Or when I would return home again. But none of that mattered. In front of me I had an open horizon and no one to be accountable to but myself.
The US really can be a land of opportunity if you start with the privilege of time, a bit of money, and unending familial and friend support. I'm damn thankful I had all three.
For the entirety of the next two months, I traveled the United States with no plan, beholden to nothing other than my own whims. I saw places I had only dreamed of, reunited with friends I hadn't seen in years, and explored cities I had only visiting on airport layovers. Some days were spent hiking and swimming while others disappeared meandering city streets, exploring museums, or lounging around and enjoying the peace. My nights were spent at official campgrounds, or dispersed camping under the stars, or often cramped in the back of my car with all my belongings. I was, quite honestly, the best way to spend the summer, even with the hiccups I met along the way.
"It is so hard to leave—until you leave. And then it is the easiest goddamned thing in the world."
~ John Green, Paper Towns
After two nights in Indiana Dunes, I spent a day in Chicago exploring all the cliche stops and walking a meager 10 miles through not only locals enjoying the beautiful July day but also masses of intoxicated 20-somethings all done-up for Lollapalooza. That night I slept in the back of my car in a Walmart parking lot, terrified I was going to be woken up at 2am to a knock on the window. Instead I woke up at 7, picked up my groceries and brewed myself some coffee in the parking lot before taking off to Minnesota.
Another two nights were spent in Minneapolis, enjoying art and time with a dear friend I don’t see often. They took me on a tour of art museums and sweet-talked our way into seeing my first Van Gogh in person. Two nights wasn’t nearly enough time but I will forever cherish that visit as it acted as such a beautiful launch into the rest of my trip.
When I left Rose’s, I had only one destination in mind: West.
I made my way through Yellowstone National Park and up to Glacier National park before heading to Seattle and down the west coast hitting as many tourist traps and national parks as I could along the way.
By the time I found myself watching the sun sink beneath the horizon over the Spiral Jetty in Utah when that man asked me my story I had seen so much and was only just beginning to understand the extent of it.
Nothing will be able to replace the free (and freezing) feeling of swimming shirtless in glacial and volcanic lakes at Glacier and Crater Lake National Parks or the surreal feeling of standing on the ghosted streets that were set to be the booming riviera community of the Salton Sea in 120 degree heat. The absolute childlike glee I felt upon glimpsing the Pacific ocean over the hills as I drove will stay with my forever as well as the absolute fear of a misstep at Tunnel Falls in Oregon that would have resulted in a 100 foot fall five miles from civilization. I thought I would get halfway across the country an be tired of the driving but there is so much to take in, even on the stretches that felt like forever through Montana and North Dakota but instead I found that I long for those times as I’m now back home and traveling the same 20 mile stretch of road to and from my job as a UPS package loader.
The last days of my trip consisted of a trip to a fast food restaurant mentioned by John and Hank Green on many occasions and an aborted trip to Safetytown in Huntington West Virginia. Now one may assume the trip was canceled due to ruined pants however it was instead because of an encounter with a stray pup in need of a home. In the course of an hour I went from no clue what my plan was to starting the ten hour drive home with a new dog in the car. Her name is Beacon (after Duck Newton’s sword from The Adventure Zone) and she is a healthily spoiled pup now.
While there were plenty of road-bumps encountered along the way (like finding out my tent wasn’t waterproof on my second night, and getting stranded in the desert in Utah for many hours with only a tarantula for company) I enjoyed every moment of this trip. If I were to do it over again, I would spend more time at some of the places and be sure to hit up others a bit off the beaten trail but when push comes to shove, I have no regrets. I made it home safely, and with a new companion who is sleeping soundly on my bed as I write this.
