Here I sit. I'm at a Truck Stop slash Casino slash Restaurant in a town called Duson, Louisiana. The coffee is pretty good (Community Coffee), the WiFi is curiously fast, and the cute girl behind the counter slinging poutine and cracklin' is checking me out. I'd like to think it's because I'm remarkably handsome, but it's probably because I'm the only person sitting in here.
On the drive here, it dawned on me that I never really explained how I got here (on the road, in general. Not just the lovely town of Duson). How I ended up in a van. How I ended up travelling the country exploring and volunteering. I mean, I didn't always live like this. I didn't always have a beard like this. I shower at least once a day. I enjoy the simple pleasure of indoor plumbing. I have a vested 401K, and love the pleasure of coming up with marketing plans to help your business. It just always seemed that was life's only trajectory. But if you know me, you know I believe that "conventional wisdom" is sometimes just popular stupidity.
But, my heart was just never really in that life. That life of car payments, and rent, and 4K TVs. It took a long time of self introspection to find the things that really made me happy: travel, volunteering and writing. But, how can those things correlate?
True happiness happens when "what the world needs" meets "what you have to offer".
I sit here, sipping my "Mountain Dark Blend" coffee, thinking there's still this alternate universe. A universe where I'm sitting on my couch watching Netflix, dreading looking at the clock because it's almost time to go to bed. But, I find myself here. In this universe: Lonely. Caffeinated. Smelly. And, I won't be able to sleep tonight because, like a kid on Christmas Eve, I simply can't wait to see what tomorrow holds.
Rewinding back about 6 months is where I started to fine-tune what and how I was going to do what I was going to do. I had a myriad of decisions to make, each leading to a different story, much like one of those "choose your own adventure" books I grew up reading.
The initial thought was just to buy a 4Runner, and politely ask my sister to keep Onyx for 6 months while I navigated the U.S. and Canada. But, then a particularly eventful Saturday happened while volunteering with the Tampa H4H. I've been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity for over a decade, but I've never been involved in "The Final Day". The day where the finished product is handed over to the deserving recipient. Today, the home keys were handed to Sgt. Hayes and his family of EIGHT! Seeing that (even being towards the back of the group of volunteers) just solidified that fact that I need to incorporate volunteering in my travels.
"Before you get a dog, you can't imagine what living with one might be like; afterward, you can't imagine living any other way".
Much like any major goal, the details will constantly change. My plans changed from a solo trip in a 4Runner to building a van and sharing the journey with my 10 year old black lab, Onyx. This will please him.
"The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step."
The first thing I got rid of was about a thousand dollars worth of bowling equipment (don't judge! I can still roll low 200s!). I originally put it up for sale for $100. I got a message from a guy lowballing me for $20. I laughed. But, then he told me the story of his son getting out of jail tomorrow, and they used to bowl on a league together. He wanted to surprise him. Jarvis teared up when I drove to north Tampa to give my equipment to him. That was the catalyst that started it all. The next 2 months would be a complete gutting of all non-essentials in my life. At the end of it all, I would own 114 individual things.
During this time, I bought a van. Built it out (see details in previous posts). Said goodbyes. And, now here I am. Discovering what "cracklins" are.
And, I have so many stories to tell you. So many pictures to share. And, it's only been 3 months on the road so far. BUT, I've gotta leave something for the book, right?
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