3/27/2011
Last day in my old home of which it may always remain to some degree. It is time to go, and I am overly excited. It is anticipation of a different level. I received some unexpected advice on Montana from two unlikely sources this weekend. The two sources are the friends of Warren Nelson’s parents who lived there a long time ago and an old friend from high school who had logged in Montana before. Haven’t decided on Montana as a new home definitively yet but if given the choice today I would choose Montana over my other possible choice, New Mexico. That is all I know right now. I talked to Cousin Steve Malone last night in Wadena at the VFW and he said, “Lots of people give out lots of advice, but it is the following through on the advice that is the difficult part.” How right he is. Bless that high score I leave in Wadena VFW on the Ms. Pacman machine. I say goodbye to Mom and my little sister Katie on my last night, but run out of time to catch Dad before he leaves for work. I wake up to find Dad left what added up to be his last two weeks pay for me under his bed mattress and an encouraging note to seize this new opportunity as began to pack up all my things into my car. I am stunned but happy for his help. I don’t have a lot of money saved up going into this blind move and I know that two weeks pay for him is a sacrifice from the heart. I leave a thank you note and tell him I will pay him back with the money from selling my fishing boat. I also leave him my favorite movie Shawshank Redemption to cheer him up. Finally I depart. In St. Cloud, MN I eat a late supper with Jacob Braith and his new wife as my last visit before the remaining 24 hour drive to Salt Lake City. He is moving to Virginia soon to become a Marine officer and I wish them both well. We laugh frequently about the past and future in that last minute exchange. We both know that we probably won’t see much of each for a long time. We both agree that it is about getting the gumption to go do something about it, to face a challenge head on. I hope to make many new friends and everyday keep an open ear ready for opportunity which is only grasped by those who are ready to hear it and act on it. You can most certainly lay to that as true.
3/28/2011-4/5/2011
I’d recommend pacing yourself in a high paced race across the West. Memories of nearly rising up with the sun as I come into the Salt Lake Valley will always remain. A car drive for over one full day by myself in a car with all my things. Fatigue hits hard as frequent hallucinations seem to occur once I approach the empty and mountainous regions of Southwest Wyoming. Driving through the Eastern edge of Wyoming adjacent to the Black Hills gives me solitude along with the puffing of a slow moving cigar to aid relaxation. It makes me happy that I had time to spare a few moments to see Crazy Horse before pressing on into the evening. I couldn’t recall any better moments in my life as I approached Cheyenne on the road. Never in years previous I’ve encountered the lifting feeling these last hours of sunlight on the road provided me in barren Eastern Wyoming on Highway 85. It may happen again but never in this same place or in the same way. Sometimes you have to stop thinking so much and just go.
Arrive at couch-surfer host Matt’s place in Salt Lake City much later than my good friend Adam arrives. The hitchhiker beats me to Salt Lake from California. He covered miles by hitchhiking and train riding, and I by car. I encountered bad weather in two spots across South Dakota and Wyoming. Even so, it doesn’t prepare me for the canyon roads I’d be haulin’ through somewhere around 75 mph. There will be few times again where sleep will feel as good as it did that night of arrival. Adam is the early riser and I benefit from that on the trip as he gives me a good kick to wake me every morning. I could use that some other days. Skiing is standard in Salt Lake City, so we take to it. Adam (Dean Moriarty to me) and I make full days on Brighton, Snowbird, and Canyons ski resorts over three consecutive days. We also meet local brews at the Beerhive, some cute Mormon missionaries at the Temple, throw a house party, meet a dozen or more couch surfers, and have a day in the park with April Fools jokes steady. I meet a girl named Lizzie whom I’ll remember well. She was thinking about riding as guest to Montana with me but couldn’t at the last minute. She shows me around Salt Lake and I had next to zero cares out there with her for it was another 65 degree afternoon, the first experienced since last November. Adam and I depart our new friend Matt’s apartment on Friday night April 1st. We thank him for hosting us, the random occurrences, and the party we all threw together on Thursday night. We depart and enjoy one last night in Salt Lake at ‘Cheers to You’. I spot two couch-surfing friends Rob from Salt Lake and Amanda from Darwin, Australia. Lizzie and I take them on in pool and I get lucky and sink our winning shot before bar closing time. Adam’s mind is on the road and I don’t blame him. My mind wants to stay one more day but we finally decide that it is time to depart Salt Lake. Last memories are talking to Amanda about the movie ‘Australia’ which she says was filmed in her hometown of Darwin. Rob gives me real advice for a man if he ever considered moving to New Zealand permanently. Matt, I hope will remain a good friend into the future. He is full of knowledge on traveling, soccer, LA, and beer. All good things, except LA. Adam and I left plenty of memories for him this past week as he did back to us. Lizzie will be remembered as the present day vagabond woman who simply can’t get enough of its fleeting lifestyle. We will cross paths again, hopefully in the Western summertime.
Adam and I pull into into Muddy Gap, WY early as the sun rises the next morning. We proceed to eat breakfast in my car. At that moment we both know the trip was great as I say, “This trip exceeded my expectations.” I then ask him for his opinion. The man being who he is says, “I didn’t have any expectations.” That is why the traveling lifestyle is made for him, he carries little for preconceived expectations. I tell him, “You couldn’t have said it any better”, as I smile. He departs on his next hitchhike to South Dakota as I travel north to Lander, WY. Finally, I am able to capture a photo of Adam in his element hitchhiking alone down a sunny Western road. The random meetings he had hitchhiking from Reno to Salt Lake inspire me to attempt similar travels soon enough. We never did smoke any of the free weed he acquired while hitchhiking across the Nevada desert. I think it was better that way.
Approaching Lander, WY, home of Cam Mitchell, the local hero at around 10:30am Mountain Time. This city feels like a slightly hip Wadena, MN surrounded by beautiful canyons which attract the skiing/climbing counterculture of individuals. We eat, then roam to the Wind River Canyon roads. Cam runs across his friend Chris Marley the expert boulder-er. As I heard he is a 13 or 14 skill level which is just below the very best in the world at the sport. Sleep is needed but we stop by quick to watch the frenzy of trout turned piranhas who attack any food thrown their way. Not natural but trout can be trained like any animal. Cam and I dust off from the 30 mph winds that day for a needed long nap. I doze off and dream a bit as something comes into my mind reminding me that, “ Good words cost little but are most valuable.” I am awakened by a phone call from my nephew Jack. He’s happy to talk and I to listen, as a pair of local police officers enter the door. I hang up on Jack without finishing our talk and wonder what is happening. I imagine Adam might be in trouble hitchhiking, but I was mistaken. The cops arrest Cam’s roommate Michael in old handcuffs. He had run a stoplight on his bicycle. That and some unfinished file was found on his record from 2008 which also caused the arrest. Me, Cam, and their other friend Mitchell had never bailed someone out of jail but we broke that first later that evening. Bicycle obstructions and drug dealings might just be on similar terms in some parts of Wyoming. The aftermath of these type of situations are some of the funniest meetings in life, this was no exception. All four of us laugh frequently over the situation later that night.
The move to Montana is approaching and I prepare myself for it. I will need a place to stay for a day or two there, then an apartment of some kind. Days off help me finish this and soon enough it is back on the road again. Michael and I stay up late and discuss children, fathers, family, religion, and technology candidly before the end of my last night at their Lander squatters residence. It was a good talk, a talk with conviction. Before I depart Cam and Michael go through their squatters workout with me which isn’t a bad combination for a low budget. Overall it contains pyramid pushups, crunches, planks, leg raises, wall sits, pullups, dips, and rest. I leave Cam a ‘Trampled by Turtles’ album and a good Minnesota Gophers hat as well as thank him for the stay. He is a genuine man and will do well as long as he can continually seek his outdoors lifestyle. The outdoors to him is religion just as much as Christianity is to another. That is a good example to live by, finding this peace without the traditional institutions. I believe a humble man will give a better example to live by than a overly persuasive and opinionated person. Naturally, Cam like Adam is a doer so I take a common and quick bond in that. It was good to see both brothers Cam and Will on opposite ends of this great nation in the previous two months of my travels which now come to an end. I’ll remember me and Cam pushing a stranded car out of the intersection, bailing Michael out of jail, reading ‘Dharma Bums’, and the blind musician at the music store in Lander. Also, my car is on its last leg due to fast approaching transmission failure, damn. Now on to Montana.
4/6/2011-4/8/2011
I arrive in Missoula, MT around midnight on April 6th,. Everyone needs to have some free air to trap them from all sides. The West has this feeling. It is a feeling I’ve longed for. Now its beginnings are about to be realized. I hope I can make new friends worth having. Already within two days it is easy to realize that it is not difficult to converse with strangers here. The first person I met in Missoula is Suzi. It is fitting she has lived in Minnesota and now Montana. I don’t think this is a coincidence. There is no other feeling like moving somewhere new. It holds all your thoughts to move forward. It is rare that thoughts of this direction follow me when I’m in a familiar and comfortable area. Goals are something to find right now. Just finding a job shouldn’t be my only goal here. I should attempt to work in some fashion in which I may never have the chance again. Not long after arrival I visit four places to rent. One stands out clearly above the others. It is a house on the upper rattlesnake section of Missoula. The fellas I will be rooming with seem to be good men and neighborhood has plenty of open space. With camping season fast approaching I am right at the doorstep of a wilderness and couldn’t be more content with that prospect. I speak to Dad on the phone tonight and I can tell he is happy to see I am trying a place away from home for awhile. I remember riding on the motorcycle with him as a boy with him telling me to go and check the world out when given the chance. Advice is well received from whom I respect. Suzi tells great stories of India and her own travels. She has her own small niche in Missoula. She also makes the best Indian food I’ve ever had. Once again I find no reason for any complaint and only reasons for satisfaction in these moments. It also seems I might have a friend who knows his automobiles well and lives a social life. His name is Cameron, and I’m already glad to be living with him. Hike up the hills to the peace sign, uptown diner chatters, darkroom photo-store visit, the paper, last business matters to attend to back home, renewed.
