35 years ago this August, my Dad went on a month long roadtrip with two other buddies of his across the U.S. and Mexico. He only took with him $300 and a journal. On this humid night, my father and I searched through the garage for that journal so I can take it with me when I embark on a two week roadtrip across the U.S., almost the exact same route my father did in 1975.
We found it after searching for about 20 minutes. The journal is a mustard yellow spiral notebook that was in a three-ring binder that had a picture of California's Redwood forest on it. He wanted me to read the entries to see what was going through his head during his journey. Why?.... Read the next paragraph.
What's fitting about this whole thing is the resemblance of his trip to mine. We are leaving almost 35 years to the date when he left: August 15th, 1975 to July 3rd 2010. He traveled to California and back... so are we. He went on the trip with a mindset that I have right now because of the same reasons of what happened to him and what's happening to me. His mother gave him a Saint Christopher's medal to wear on the trip. Saint Christopher is the patron saint of safe traveling. He has worn that medal around his neck everyday since then. I have a Saint Christopher as well as a Saint Jude medal around my neck. I got mine around 7 years ago and today we exchanged our Saint Christopher medals for this trip. I'm going to wear his and he is going to wear mine.
Everybody knows my love and passion for traveling. This trip means the absolute world to me right now. Two weeks, 6,000 miles, 100+ hours of driving, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Memphis and everything in between, white water rafting in the Rockies, vintage train riding in the Royal Gorge, visiting my favorite place in the world (San Francisco) and showing my friends what I saw in the city 2 years ago, coasting down Highway 1 along the Pacific Ocean, gambling my dedicated $50, crossing the Hoover, observing one of the worlds' 7 natural wonders, driving down Route 66 and stopping at a Diner in the middle of nowhere, and everything in between......2 more days....
Shadows & Light
2 months ago
