I’ve been hiding out in Denver.
A little over a year ago, I began a highly ambitious project.
My goal was to travel the entire span of the Americas in a year. I intended to document my travels, as well as performing detailed research on questions of economics and society.
In order to take this trip I quit my job as a banker with M&T Bank. I sold many of my possessions and liquidated most of my stocks. I had enough cash in the bank, as I saw it, to make a one-year voyage around the Western Hemisphere.
Nevertheless, I failed to achieve my primary goal of reaching Argentina by August of 2007. Certainly to drive that distance in a year’s time is possible, even if the driver maintains only a moderate pace.
However, while I was traveling, I was engaged in intensive documentation and research efforts. Documentation took the form of videography, photography and note-taking. I performed eight formal interviews, and fifty or so informal interviews, during the first six months of my travels. All of this took an exceptional amount of time and effort.
Partly as a result of the time required for my research efforts, and partly as a result of unforeseen circumstances – such as the untimely demise of my 4Runner – the pace of my trip has been much slower than anticipated.
However, I am pleased to report that both the quantity and detail of my research has been exceptionally high. And I am now convinced that I will do a much better service to myself and my audience by taking ample time to gather more research along the way.
Going forward I do not plan to adhere to a strict timeline, which I had done in the beginning of my trip. Instead, I will remain in each city for as long as I feel is necessary, and then I will move on to the next destination.
My plan now is to resume traveling in the first part of 2008, and from there to continue traveling for the next three years or so. After I reach my final destination of Buenos Aires, I will return home, and soon thereafter I will take a trip to visit my Grandma Lemmon in San Luis Obispo. After that I expect to devote two years or more to editing video footage to create a film documentary. The film documentary will primarily emphasize the conclusions of my research. To a lesser extent it will serve as an exposé on the joys of traveling.
During my first four months on the road, I maintained a strong pace. I drove from Thousand Oaks, California, up the Pacific Coast, inland through Idaho, Alberta and British Columbia, up through the Yukon Territory, north through Alaska, all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska. I stayed a week in Fairbanks, and two weeks in Anchorage. I also took two side-trips from Anchorage: one to Southern California for a friend’s wedding, and one to Bogota, Colombia, for research.
During much of my travels, I was accompanied by my assistant/sometimes-girlfriend, KereAna. In many ways, KereAna has been tremendously supportive and helpful. For example, she drove the car for almost the entire stretch of highway going south from Alaska to South Dakota. I suspect she offered to do this because she was eager to spend time with me. However I did not object in the least bit, traumatized as I was by my unfortunate car accident in British Columbia.
Those early months on the road were full of triumphs and disappointments of every kind. During this period I saw some incredible sights, met some incredible people, and captured some very good video footage. I also totaled my car. And I was robbed no fewer than four times. Among items that were stolen from me are: a cell phone, a small digital camera, $120 cash, a cheap acoustic guitar, two backpacks, a camera flash, an unformatted 500 gigabyte hard drive, and my dignity.
When I reached South Dakota I was completely drained – physically, mentally, and emotionally. I took up residence for two months in the Castle Inn, located directly at the center of Rapid City’s burgeoning Pawn Shop district. It was nearing Christmas time, and I was planning to fly to California for the Holidays. I remember experiencing a feeling of dread about leaving my belongings in the motel nestled among the Pawn Shops.
My feelings of apprehension served me well; when I returned, the lock on the top carrier of my car had been broken, and several important objects had been removed.
Nonetheless, I have always been careful to protect my most important assets, which inclue the hard drives where I store my photos, as well as the numerous videocassette tapes which I have filled with footage during my trip. I have also kept careful track of my favorite watch, the loss of which would be devastating from an emotional perspective.
At any rate, after six months on the road I was exhausted, and desperately in need of a break from the stress of my travels. Additionally, much of the funds in my bank account had been depleted. I decided that I would continue driving until I ran out of money, and I would get a job in whatever city I happened to be in when my last penny was spent. I would work as a waiter or a landscaper or whatever. The important thing was to continue to travel.
Not a day after I made this decision, I received a phone call from Jeff Evershed, the President of M&T Bank’s Western Division. He informed me that he had an urgent need to hire an experienced banker to work in Denver, Colorado. His timing was excellent, as I had just made up my mind to find work somewhere. And where better than Denver?
And so it was that I put on a shirt and necktie , and returned to work. I started working in M&T’s Denver office on March 5th, 2007.
I committed to work for nine months, which, if my math serves me, means that I will be in Denver at least until December 5th, 2007.
This work arrangement was quite fortuitous for me. The timing and location were very convenient. Moreover, the job pays somewhat better than landscaping work might. Additionally, the job represents a promotion from my previous responsibilities with M&T. Without intending to, I have advanced my banking career by at least by a small degree.
However, my daily work does not compare to the exhilartion of world travel. In addition to dealing with day-to-day interactions in the workplace, my responsibilities include writing extremely long and detailed financial reports. As a result, I am afraid that my writing style has suffered irreparably.
I have kept busy while in Denver, and as always I have met many new and interesting people. Nonetheless, I ache to get back on the road. Even as I write this post, I can hear the road calling me, beckoning me to return…
