The Beginning

Thirteen months ago I wrote this in my journal:

some nights it's too much

tonight is one of those nights

i want to get in my car and

drive away

through the storm and to bluer skies

just me, the stereo, and an endless stretch of highway

All I want to do is leave it all behind me for awhile
to explore
and learn
and develop as a person
to really know myself
to know the world around me
 

One of my favorite people in history is Henry David Thoreau.
When Thoreau was 28, he escaped life for awhile.
He went into the Massachussetts woods, near a pond and built a home.
he spent his time eating the food he found on the land.
He wrote and he read and he lived in solitude
 

this is one of my favorite quotes from 'Walden" a reflection of his time spent in the woods

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it were sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion."

A month or two trip would be ideal.

What is so wrong with that?
People all the time dream about doing it.
Nobody ever does.
We just go on and on and on with whatever we are doing, whatever SOCIETY tells us to do.
 

One day, I hope I get the chance to go on my excursion.
To live my own Walden
Right now, school is too important.
But I promise myself, as soon as I have the chance to go (as in, my future won't be too terribly impacted)
I'm going. 

And now, thirteen months later, I am preparing for a five week cross-country road trip with my best friend. 

We will be journeying first to the east coast, down to the south, up through the west coast and over until we end up back in Wisconsin. 

My hope is that we don't run out of time or money before we get through all of our desired destinations.

We have a great deal of planning left to do, but are so incredibly excited to go on this journey. 

...to learn more about our country, and more importantly: more about ourselves. 

This blog has been created to keep family and friends in touch with where we are on our trip.
We will be posting stories and pictures from our days of traveling, wherever and whenever we can find Wi-Fi.