How it started
I romanticize great adventures like the 1800s classic thrill seekers of yesteryear — Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer — but my adventures of the 20th century seem to be met with hordes of people. It felt as if I was at an amusement park watching a mother black bear and her three cubs climb to the top of an apple tree early one morning in Smoky Mountain National Park. Where is my Wild Wild West today?
My grandmother tells me stories of her dad turning a Model A automobile into the original campervan and traveling across the United States fishing. I can tell you there was no AutoZone or gas station around every corner back then. Now imagine how much it would cost in fishing licenses alone to fish across the US today — and then think about the water quality and whether those fish are even edible. I am traveling with no plan, which is completely against my nature, but it has led me on a modern-day adventure of sorts. I don’t think my exploits compare to Huck and Tom, but they are mine and I feel satisfied.
I spent the last twenty years working and seemed to have lost all sense of pleasure. My life revolved around work, therefore all my pleasure revolved around dining and socializing in the metropolitan. I still considered myself the "outdoorsy type" because I participated in an array of outdoor activities like boating and athletics — you could say my activities revolved around my means. Now as I begin my voyage I have run into a number of young men who appear to base their means around their activities. They still have passion for life even though they work as a clerk or a sandwich maker. Their activity is the fruit of their existence, and I can see the fire in their eyes. I find myself in admiration. The world I left measured your worth by career status. The world I am entering now seems to be based on passion.
I’m not sure where I’m going, but I can tell you it has been an amazing voyage thus far. I have always been the checklist kind of guy who planned in great detail and prepared for the worst — which served me well and still does — but now I have allowed the randomness of life to enter my quest for adventure. I just watched Forrest Gump and for the first time really understood that feather blowing in the wind. It is a bit of a mystery to allow the wind to just blow, but I am slowly letting go to see where it blows.
What a journey it has been. I hope to meet you along the way.
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