Manifest Destiny, pt. 1. A Concentrated Effort of Wandering

I'm not sure if you're like me, but I incrementally planned out the first 30 years of my life. I hadn't put much thought into what happens after that.

Here's what happened:

I was laid off in April from a great company going through a tough time due to the pandemic as many of us are. With mass lay offs, there is a communal camaraderie about updating resumes and who's hiring and being constantly present on LinkedIn.

Here's what I did: 

I deleted social media, forgot about my resume and Linked In, bought a cot and truck topper and started driving NorthWest. My initial focus was to not focus on an end location but instead take my time at my stops. Albeit, my natural tour manager muscle knew the general stopping point for each day, but often I was driving around checking campgrounds at nightfall to see if they had vacancy.

Home is where your bed is.

For mental visualization, I drove up through Missouri stopping in St. Louis, Jefferson City and Kansas City to stay with friends and let them tell me how jealous they were. On the way out of the motherstate, I stopped in Nebraska to catch up with an old pal of mine in Omaha, NE.

This nomadic bed bumming was helpful in the sense that every person I stayed with, had a different perspective about the current state of things and their own version in the pursuit of happiness. It was a great sounding board to start organizing my thoughts of where I think my life should head. I also loved that every person I stayed with sent some sort of supplies with me, from elk sausage, to bear spray, to backpacks to simple affirmation that what I was doing wasn't the worst decision.

After Omaha, I felt I was jumping off a social ledge. Up to this point, I had slept in beds. Now started the camping part of the program. I drove to SouthWest Nebraska and stayed near a reservoir in the middle of quiet at a campground where I was the only inhabitant. I felt grandiose until the coyotes came close to the campsite at 3am. Disclaimer, I'm not afraid of coyotes. They're harmless pooches afraid of humans, but there is something about a pack of them howling at night when you're the only primate within shouting distance...

 

 

According to the plan, I went from there met up with a couple Denver buddies to camp in the Roosevelt National Forest next to the Cache de la Poudre (Cash of powder) River outside of Ft. Collins, CO. We spent a couple days gallivanting around public land and catching up over craft beers next to a fire.

 

That's a "Fanny Fridge" for sodas....

 

 

 

I justify selfies whilst traveling solo.

I then went to Denver for the first of what I deem as a "recharging stop". Things that were common on theses stops were refreezing of ice packs, recharging speakers, laundry, eating pizza and social reminders of community. You see, we're not made to be solo creatures for long periods of time. Being together gives us purpose and anticipation. I'll hit on this more later.

Part of the nucleus of this trip was the fact I hadn't been to two states still: Wyoming and Hawaii. Check. Hawaii beware, Hurricane José Moslé is headed your way.

Did I mention Wyoming is windy?

After Denver, the plan was to go to mid-Wyoming and camp. After further inspection I realized THERE IS NOTHING IN SOUTHERN/MID WYOMING BUT WIND. Pretty country though, in its own way. I decided to lock into the cockpit and make the haul to the outskirts of the Gran Tetons.

There's been a lot of lessons, self perspective and learnings that have come from this venture. I'll touch on those more as I progress, but my reminder here is that risk is part of life, especially now with our tumultuous current events, but your decisions are writing a story that you'll have to tell at some point. Make sure it's one that people will want to listen to. More in the next episode.

New in my life: Lions and kittens are the same animal. Pretzels should be mandated at breweries. Support your local farmers market.

Keep smilin'

JM