With my exit from Seattle complete, the road trip had begun.

I had trouble finding sentiment in my last days in Seattle, I was able to find it in spades along the road trip. Especially the first half of the trip, where each leg of the trip seemed to tie space and time together within my mind's eye.

Goodbye Seattle, Goodbye Washington

To be honest, it didn't take long for the magnitude to hit me, which is likely what kicked off the cascade of sentiment over the coming days.

I don't love Seattle. But I also don't hate it. I don't. As I drove out, I felt these last 3 years here. Not my best years. There are tons of events in my life that I wish I had done better, but don't necessarily regret what I did do, because I chose best with what I knew at the time. That's not the case for Seattle.

I had an opportunity to redirect my life up here. All the tools and opportunity were in my hand. But I didn't, because I wasn't healthy enough to. That's that. And as I drove out of Seattle, I knew that the regrets I already have will likely stay with me for years to come.

Keep driving south, past Seattle, Tacoma and the entire urbanized region and you hit the green, beautiful treescape that makes the Pacific Northwest so ridiculously wonderful. In those last miles of Washington State it was 2021 and I was driving North. Seattle. Surely, I'd be able to thing turned around once I get to Seattle!

Hello Portland

Driving into Portland, I had plans to meet an old friend from Intel for one last lunch. Before getting to the lunch spot, I was busy traveling time.

Entering Portland, to see my old Intel friend, and it was 2017 or so. By this point, I should have left Intel for sure, I was done. But, as much as I hated my time at Intel, the flat honest truth is that Intel was never the problem. I was.

In those few miles between Oregon's state border and our lunch spot, I was sad and even a bit ashamed of what an ass I was during the very years I shared with the dude I was about to have lunch with. It kind of sucks that there's an entire "generation" of coworkers who've only seen me at my worst.

Luckily, as I said, lunch was a few short miles in.

Goodbye Portland, Goodbye Oregon, Goodbye PNW

After lunch, I headed East.

Traveling East out of Oregon, I was reverse-tracing the exact steps I had taken in 2009, as I was coming up for what would become my college adventure and all that followed. Sure enough, as I drove east, I was transported 15 years back to the start of the "Life 2.0" adventure.

Driving along Oregon is like driving through a post-card stand. Shot after shot, it's an insanely beautiful state. I could remember my literal elation in those final miles. I was so eager to get to Oregon and start what I was sure would be a better life.

Ha.

I continued the journey, bathed in Oregon's beauty, my own regret, and a reminder of how hopeful I was. I tried to use it as a galvanizing agent... trying to cajole something even closely resembling that level of hope for the current adventure.

Idaho - no time flat

I crossed the Oregon-Idaho border in the evening and drove through and past Boise before settling in for my first night. In the morning I got up and kept going. Shortly after I was out of Idaho

Sorry Idaho, you don't get any prose. 😋

Utah

If driving through Oregon was like driving through my 30's, crossing into Utah sent me into my 20's. During those years there was someone particularly close to me. We lost touch years and years ago getting in touch again isn't any sort of option these days. But I couldn't cross through Utah without being transported to a very specific point in time.

The path through Utah had my driving through Ogden, which is 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake City.

Against better judgement, I decided to take a detour through SLC.

Now... here me out here. Not to sound like a stalker, but I happened to look up my old friend online and found that they have their own business in SLC. I had no plans of trying to see them again, as I think it was would be as awkward for me as it would be for them. But being this close, I thought I would at at least drive by and... if felt like I could do so incognito... sneak out and grab a selfie in front of their place.

Not for any reason other than... I don't know... just a reminder of that time and place, I guess.

Well, I got there and... long story short... the address listed on their store's website was not their physical address! It's a UPS PO Box! 😂

What a fucking dick, right?

I laughed at myself and all of my non-stalker stalkerness.

Back in the car. On with the trip.

Wyoming - Time Travel Done Right

While my travel so far has been this strange time-travel through my own life, Wyoming took the time-warp to 11.

Wyoming's Western landscape is a starkly barren desert landscape with the Earth itself pushed and folded up for display. The rough exposed terran crust clearly tells the story of the planet's 4 billion years. Driving along the alien-like rockscapes, the layers of sediment exposed reminds you of how old this rock of ours is. And you can imagine Earth's billions of years without feeling immensely tiny yourself.

I kept driving East. Along the way, Wyoming changed from desert's brown palette to the greens of life. Bushes grow less scragily, Trees being filing into their designated spots along the landscape. As I'm driving through Wymoing, I'm driving billions of years through time. We're in the Carboniferous Era now, and the earth is covering up in a new coat of greenery.

From earth's earliest days to adoption of flora, driving along Wyoming, the time warp continues as I hit farmland. Man is here, and they've established agriculture.

Edging closer towards the sunrise, Wyoming's agriculture grows into modern life as I drive through the town of Laramie, with all of it's modern ammenities.

Crossing Wyoming's final stretch finish's this chapter of the time travel, with horizon after horizon filled with air turbines for creating green-energy. I entered Wymoning 3-4 billion years ago, and I drove out in 2024.

Nebraska - Where Time Stands Still

Then came Nebraska.

What to say about Nebraska?

Hmm... how about this: If purgatory was real, then it would likely be driving through Nebraska for all of eternity.

If the trip so far as has been about traveling time, then Nebraska's trick was to show that time could stand completely still, no matter how much you moved.

Nebrask has two landscapes: a flat, boring desert scape with no notable changes, and a flat, boring green landscape with no notable changes,

I'm not sure how long it took me to get through Nebraska. It may have been several hours, it may have been 11 years. I truly do not know.

On Iowa! On Illinois! On Indiana!

After Nebraska... well, I'll be honest. The time-traveling narrative mostly goes to shit. 🙂 By this point, it was day 3 of the trip and quite honestlly, it was mostly a blur.

Up until now, I was very much "on the road"; surrounded mostly by truck drivers and other people on cross-country trips. In this last leg, I was clearly back in civilization. Rest areas had (what looked like) locals and roads became more and more populated as the surrounded neighborhoods did as well.

I spent the night in Iowa, and finished the state on the morning of the 7th. Illinois took 5 hours and Indiana was a brief 1.5 hour stepping stone.

Into Michigan

On August 7th at 8:54 pm, I entered Michigan. 🙂

I made it almost to Dearborn before settling in for the night.

On August 8th at 12:10 pm I arrived at the campus of the University of Michigan - Dearborn. 🙂 🙂 🙂

My trip of 2,597.9 miles, that burned a total of 90.768 gallons, was over. Now, the work begins.

Beyond The Present

The next step is to find myself an apartment. And, since I'm writing this post on August 11th, 3 days after I've arrived in Dearborn... I can tell you that will be it's own story. One that's still being written actually. As a tiny sneak preview, I will say that things are not going very well. Verging on catastrophic.

It's been a tough, tough few days... but that's for the next post.

Currently, I'm still homeless and am a smidge worried. Apparently all the fucking leasing offices are closed on Sundays here in fucking Michigan. So.... although I should be trying to find a solution to this gigantic problem which I'll you about next time... instead I'm sitting in Starbucks writing this post (and the previous one actually). Not only as a way to kill time, but also, I'm, fucking, homeless. If I'm not sitting in my car, I'm sitting in a coffee shop or restaurant as a way to not be in my car.

Anyway... I'm bleeding too much detail into the wrong post.

I'm here. I'm here.

A road trip through space was a road trip through time. I had a lot of free time on that road and, as you can tell, I spent a lot of time contemplating my first four and a half decades on this little rock of ours. I feel my age. I feel my failures. But, if I can get past these last few hurdles, I'm hoping to spend less time on the past and more on the future.

If I can get past these last few hurdles...