gnumatt

This great country

Greyhound leaving town.

> Head out to the middle of nowhere. Take that road as far as it takes us….This is a beautiful country Monty. It’s beautiful out there, looks like a different world. Mountains, hills, cows, farms and white churches. Every man woman and child alive should see the desert one time before they die. Nothing at all for miles around. Nothing but sand and rocks and cactus and blue sky. Not a soul in sight. Silence. No car alarms. Nobody honking at you. No madmen cursing or pissing on the streets. You find the silence out there. You find the peace. You can find God. So we drive West. Keep driving till we find a nice little town. These towns out in the desert you know why they got there? People wanted to get away from somewhere else. The deserts for starting over. -James Brogan (Brian Cox) in 25th Hour

I’ve figured out my plan for September and October. I am traveling all across the country for at least 30 days. I bought a 30 day Discovery Pass from Greyhound, a new travel backpack and I will be getting some new shoes. I’ve never done something like this without my “safety blanket”, my car. I’ll be at the mercy of strangers more than ever before. While I don’t have an itinerary I am trying to line up places to stay in a few cities: Knoxville, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Denver, Portland, and San Francisco. I’m hoping I’ll find people before I go and along the way who want help me out. Once I get out West I’m hoping to hike across the land. Just walk out the station and keep walking till I find the next station.

I want to reconnect with the country. I feel so isolated here. Forget the red state, blue state bullshit. I want to see the places and people that make this such a great nation. I want to remember why I’m going to vote this November. I hope I hear some great stories from the people I meet. I get such a thrill hearing someone who was a stranger 15 minutes ago talk about when their mother died, the time they hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim or ranting about long haired hippies who didn’t fight alongside them in Vietnam. I want my wanderlust quenched.

I’m tired of never being filled and always having to move. The urge to wander grows inside until it’s all I can think about. Push it out of my head and it pops back in like a chronic pain. I find myself wanting to take bigger and bigger risks each time hoping that I’ll cross some line and be done with this. I don’t think this will be that time. I’m already thinking about a Eurail pass in some vague future.