A Public Land Road Trip – Looking For Answers

You learn a lot when you spend any significant amount of time alone.  Just watch that show Alone and you will see just what they go through.  Now that said, I have not been out alone in the wilderness like any of those people.  Just out along in the “wilderness” of this great nation of ours.  I say “wilderness” because I’ve been on a bit of a public land road trip cruising around much of the western half of the country.  Not true wilderness, but exploring a lot of the out of the way places and staying as far from the interstates as possible.  I have seen some really amazing things so far, met some cool people and had lots of time to talk to myself over the last several weeks.  Learning a lot in the process.

At the moment I am sitting at a coffee shop in Spearfish, South Dakota.  It’s the last day of March and there is a winter storm warning.  Woke up in the front seat of my truck tucked back on a forest service road in the Black Hills National Forest in the early hours of the morning to snow coming down pretty heavy.  A quick look at the weather report and discovered they are calling for up to 6 inches today.  That has put a bit of a damper on my plans for the day.  However, this has been a great trip.  Today is day 14 if you don’t count the 5 days I spent in California at my sister-in-law’s wedding and have 3 or 4 more days left until I am home in Virginia.  

After 14 days alone in the truck with the only other interaction with humans other than talking to people at the various stops or on the phone, you start to develop a bit of clarity on things.  At least that is what I have discovered so far.  This trip is the book end on a 26 year career in the Marine Corps.  The book end on the front end of that career was very similar.  The day after I graduated my buddy and I took off in my truck for a three week trip across the country.  Have to say it is pretty cool being able to almost mirror that trip 26 years later.  The difference is I am doing it alone, I’m a lot older and a lot more reflective than at that time.  

So far, I have put in about 5,000 miles of window time on this trip.  That is a lot of hours sitting in the truck.  I have seen a lot of beautiful country, scores of wildlife and countless conversations with myself.  I think I have learned a lot in these last few weeks.  The biggest thing I feel I have learned is that we take so many insignificant things entirely too serious.  We need to put down the phones, turn off the televisions and take a look around at our lives.  There are so many things that are way more important.  I have spent the last 26 years in overdrive, constantly going at full throttle and I can now recognize what that has done to my body and mind.  

Taking the time to slow life down has really had an effect on me in both good and bay ways.  Not surprised about the good ways honestly.  I have been fortunate enough to have some great backcountry adventures over the last several years and they have really shown me what is possible when you unplug.  What has surprised me is just how I have found myself lost in many ways.  It is hard to explain in my own head, let alone here in this forum.  Maybe it is the fact that this is the first time I have been returning from a trip and will not have to go back to work.  At least not back to being at work in uniform.  Perhaps it is the uncertainty of the future, the next chapter of my life, after the Marine Corps.  Either way there have been many times throughout this trip I have felt pretty alone and not just in the literal sense of a solo road trip.  

As I sit here watching the snow come down thinking about the coming days that will bring me home, I am grateful for this opportunity.  I do not know when I will be able to take this much time to do what I have done over the last several weeks.  There have been many meals on the tailgate of my truck, nights in the tent or the bed of my truck listening to the night unfold around me.  Countless pictures have been taken of incredible scenic views and wildlife.  Old friends have been visited and I feel like I am in a place where I can turn the page to the next chapter of my life.