Initial Post July 2022 (last updated December 2022 to add new content)
By way of introduction, in case anyone reads this who does not know me, in 2021 I left my legal career to rehab some old insufficiently treated injuries and begin my travels across the United States, not just driving through but actually taking the time to explore each State, find some beauty, and meet some of its residents. I am not new to travel, however, this adventure is different as it will include all the United States, is not foreign travel, and it will involve a lot of driving and a moderate amount of camping, the latter something I had decidedly written off many years ago (other than on the back porch of a too moldy to sleep in beach house in El Zonte, El Salvador some years ago). One other bit of background is that although I am quite self-sufficient and adaptive, I have had to work with, around and through anxiety which will become evident in some of my posts (such as outsized fear of bears, mountain lions, and other wild animals – but are they outsized, really?). I add this disclosure as encouragement since sometimes the hardest part is putting aside the fears and doubts and just getting started.
Before I dive in further, and by way of update after 5 months in from my original post, I have confirmed I still do not love camping though I am learning to not hate it – more of that in the Kansas post. I also am adding information in each post on free or nearly free things to do as I am finding that there is so much great stuff out there which costs nearly nothing (other than gas to get there) and trying to stretch out travels means passing on the pricey. Helps if you enjoy hiking but there are a few things that are indoors or outdoors in cities as well. My posts will include any notable places I ate, drank or slept as well as gear I found useful or not useful (turns out a dog bed with a built in pillow and a second dog pillow extension for sleeping was not the brilliant idea I thought it was and the portable toilet seat remained unused).
I am finding (in addition to food and chain stores of course) three things of prominence as I travel through the U.S. – religion, alcohol, and coffee. All of these can be found in abundance everywhere I go – the epicenters of social gatherings. In mulling this over, in addition to feeling a temporary sense of belonging, it seems so many of us are seeking an altered consciousness or maybe a respite from a mundane existence or a missing individual or global connection. Something to take us away from that rarely opened drawer filled with old takeout menus, forgotten photos, unknown origin keys, and dried up pens. We are of course social animals.
But many of the church parking lots are empty. Perhaps a factor of so many competing churches and not enough residents. Or maybe a result of Covid which has left many in isolation, either out of fear or having just becoming used to not leaving the house except when necessary. The streets seem just as empty. This is not the case everywhere. For instance, I am currently sitting at a café on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica and it is as busy as it has always been. Though traffic is down in San Francisco, Union Square and many of the neighborhoods are bustling. Austin was hopping with people walking, jogging, and just going about, as was Boulder, Colorado and to a lesser extent, New Orleans. But places like Wichita in Kansas, Little Rock in Arkansas, Kansas City in Missouri, San Antonio in Texas, and Oklahoma City in Oklahoma (other than the Stockyards area) had so few people around, and several that were out were homeless and often mentally ill, that in several areas it did not feel that safe to venture about on foot, my favorite way to explore. And maybe this was always the case and I just did not see it but divisive fear-laden political signs seem more pervasive in certain areas, so far primarily very rightward leaning and many stoking fear and damnation rather than anything positive, hopeful or helpful, but the people I meet don’t share those sentiments so I do think these sentiments can be attributed to a very vocal minority.
Another observation, having traveled all over before the internet, is that in some ways having a cell phone is a burden and detracts from the adventure. While it is now easier than ever to find a place to stay, choose a wine, locate a nearby restaurant, and learn where to hike, the social interaction has diminished. For those of you who have never traveled sans cell phone, it used to be you would reach your destination and then look around for where to stay, looking at rooms before committing, negotiating your room rate, and where no obvious rooms were to be found, walking into a bar or restaurant or asking a hotel front desk person or even someone at the train station for anyone with a room to rent for the night. Then you would ask around for the type of neighborhood you wanted to see, where to eat, and what to see. You carried your Lonely Planet or Fodors guide book but this was a starting point, not your end game. You learned things like not to stay near a train station as those were the seedy areas of town.
Now, this seems a bit risky in today’s world given the increase in meth addicts and mentally ill on the streets and this is the U.S. which frankly now can feel less safe than much of Europe, New Zealand, Asia, Australia, South American and even Central America, all places where I walked around at night alone (and in the U.S.). But, this was all before Covid changed the landscape of our streets so perhaps I could not walk alone in Panama or Peru now as I did in January 2020 and before.
I do have to say that towns are starting to look the same and I continue to hold to the world view I had in my 20s that people are basically good, well, most people. This is not at all a Pollyanna view. As a pawn broker/diamond dealer I dated then told me, there are two ways to view the world, one is that people are inherently good and sometimes do bad things (and there are a few that just are not good people) and the other is that people are inherently bad and that sometimes they do good things. He held the latter. This was reinforced at various stays I have had along the way. The older I get the more I appreciate my view despite some pain along the way. In any event, it is still a wonderful journey.