Ruminations

As a lover of travel and a restless spirit, I had dreamed of traveling across the US since the all-important date of receiving my license nearly eight years ago. After more regional road-trips than I could count throughout high school and college, I was ready to make my dream a reality come Senior Spring at Trinity. Of course, there was one substantial roadblock which stood in the way of fulfilling my prophecy--finding a job--on the date of my graduation. The daunting reality of the professional world had been eating away at my dream throughout the Spring, increasing in intensity as many of my friends signed away their souls to employers who, upon mentioning the word road-trip, would renege upon their offers with a calculated swiftness. As with any college Senior, the thought had crossed my mind that deferring work for the simple pleasure of travel would be a disappointing gesture to my parents and a sign of apathy towards the time, effort and exorbitant amount of money they spent to have me educated and thus prepared for the professional world. Luckily for me, this recognition of potential disappointment that would stem from taking time off was only a passing thought. In other words, for one of the only times in my life, I was incredibly decisive. As the fourth child in my family, my parents had exhausted their will to pressure their children into career choices--if they ever felt it necessary--on my predecessors. The true catalyst for my final decision to take advantage of the few months of freedom afforded by resisting the "allure" of the first job was a statement spoken by my father a few months before graduation. In retrospect, truer words have never been preached. I say this to both praise my father's sage-like qualities and depth of worldly experience as well as to pass it forward to those of you also hindered by the difficult decision of choosing between graduating employed or having a few months of blissful independence. Years before graduating college, my father was raising two children, working forty hours a week and taking a full-course load. Because of this burden, he missed such timeless events like Woodstock--let alone going away for the weekend--and taking two months to travel was completely out of the question. A lifelong regret, he made it a point to express to me the value of travel as a life-altering experience which has the ability to transform, or at a minimum, broaden one's perspective of the cultural bubble most of us exist in on a daily basis. As I remember, his statement to me upon graduation from Trinity went something like this: "Your time from here forward is defined and most likely consumed by the career path you choose. Right now is most likely the only time in your young adult life that you'll have the opportunity to travel without being encumbered by the stresses of work. Take full advantage of this special opportunity." Not only had I made the decision to take a few months off to travel, but of equal importance, I had the blessing of my unusually awesome parents. And just like that I was off with only my equally as free-spirited girlfriend, Francesca, a vague yet lofty list of potential destinations along our North-to-South route, some camping supplies, ample cut-off Tees to maintain a legendary farmer's tan, and of course two pairs of my suitable-for-any-occasion Nantucket Reds. Oh yea, I can't forget to include that our means of transportation--my brand spanking new LEASED Jeep--would be broken in on her maiden voyage by crossing our lovely nation twice and then some, well exceeding my yearly maximum mileage, and burning up the open-road for a total of 13,000 miles across 38 states and Canada in a mere 5.5 weeks. Before I continue I must make the admission that words are a wildly inadequate medium method of reenacting our epic adventure. However, I hope that my next 35 blog posts and a plethora of pictures will help do justice to a trip any thrill-seeker must take to truly absorb the breathtaking natural wonders, hidden and bizarre attractions that can only be seen via the road and fascinating idiosyncrasies of each state (especially Indiana) that comprise America and our silly neighbor to the North. Enjoy, and more importantly, take note of the sites, smells, food, music, people and all 38 state highway signs which I present in my excitable, often-times babbling, modern-day recreation of Kerouac's On The Road. Here's to my home and the beginning of it all: