On The Road: 5/6ths of a Circle

My goal was to spend a month in Tucson. I didn’t achieve my goal. Shortly after Gem and Jam I decided it was time to move on. I did however spend three fairly rad weeks in Arizona: two weeks in Tucson with a week at Cochise Stronghold squeezed in the middle. As luck would have it, Papadosio was headlining the Gem and Jam festival while I was in town which would be the culmination of my stay. After the show, I decided I was sick of sleeping in parking lots and left. Unfortunately, I am still sleeping mostly in parking lots.

The decision to leave early gives me an extra week to drive to Key West before making it to Asheville, North Carolina for three more nights of Papadosio. This plan change also gave me the opportunity to spend time with friends in Texas and see Lotus play in Austin. I happened to stumble into New Orleans for Mardis Gras and was probably the only sober person on Bourbon Street.

Every person you see is wasted

My journey has transitioned from a climbing adventure into a musical endeavor. I am currently logging LOTS of miles on the road chasing a few of my favorite musicians around the south. I will be in Asheville, NC at the end of the month and will be quickly moving through Atlanta, GA, and Nashville, TN on my way to Louisville which will complete my trip full circle from where it started just about 10 months ago.

The biggest thing I want to write about is something I am personally very proud of. Upon rolling into Key West, FL last night, I have hit 50,000 miles that I have driven since I converted Bertha to diesel. This equates to roughly 47,500 miles I have been living in Bertha. The 25^th of this month will also be 10 months since I was discharged from the Army and started living on the road. In those 10 months and 50K miles, I have also managed to drive to every corner of the U.S.

Key West, Florida

It has been almost 4 months since Dan left to backpack Asia and I can say that life on the road solo is starting to wear on me. Having a full time climbing partner made the journey all fun and games where as riding solo has been more of a chore. I am starting to feel that my life needs slightly more focus and that I need to spend less time driving around. In the last 10 months, roughly 20% of my time has been spent driving. I am not saying that I want to travel less, just that I need to slow down and spend more time at the places I visit. I think when I hit one year on the road and make the trip full circle, I will feel that I have accomplished what I set out to do.

On Tuesday, my buddy Becker will be joining the adventure for an undetermined amount of time. Becker is one of my good friends from when I first joined the Army and was living in Colorado. Becker is an incredible photographer and his company will be very much welcomed. Expect the next post to have some epic photos and stories to make up for the lack of stories and photos in this one…