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The long way home endured, today I arrived.
First and foremost I would like to thank everyone who helped me along on this trip. Your thoughts, food, shelter, conversations will always remain something special in my heart, and I am very grateful. Leaving Tacoma six weeks ago almost seems like a lifetime ago. Montana, Yellowstone, even Minneapolis seems so far back. People have been asking me, "Where's the one place that stands out?" "What did you learn?" or "What are you going to do now?" The single most rewarding experience of this trip is having a better understanding of who I am. I made some ambitious goals when I left Tacoma, one being that I would figure out what I wanted to do with my life. But for a long time on the road I struggled in my inner dialog and found the difficulty was in not even knowing what really excites me, or what I love to do, or things I really believe. And so I daily challenged myself to find these things, and I now have a list of things I will do. All along this journey I have found inspiration: the man walking across America, in watching the landscape change in front of my very eyes, in feeling the weather, in feeling confident in my self-sufficiency. It has been an amazing transformational journey that I will always hold onto and will reflect back on for a long time. Thank you all for reading and being a part of this. I have enjoyed the comments, phone calls, text messages, emails, and am truly lucky to live in such a diverse circle of great loving people.
Happy Trails,
Kelly Totten
I think this trip is starting to catch up with me as evident from my day of doing absolutely nothing. I am reminded of my time backpacking in Europe and my last days in Paris. After a month of haphazard living, my friends and I found ourselves in one of the coolest cities in the world, but only able to muster the energy to change channels. Today I laid by the pool where I did some reading and writing and am finding myself in a different mindset. The rush is over, home is a quick two hour drive, the end is near and my body knows it. The furthest I traveled was down the street to get a latte.
I arrived in San Diego for the final leg of my trip. I met up with my friend Melanie and she took me down to the beach on Coronado island where we hung out and later ate dinner at a place called Miguel's which has bomb Mexican food. At this point of the trip I am beat tired and apparently am pretty worthless without a large dosage of caffeine. San Diego should be a very relaxing part of this trip full of beaching.
This is me asleep on a park bench.
After my usual scrumptrulescent breakfast of yogurt and granola bars Retta and I headed to the Salt River to do a five hour float. We heard rumor of the price to float and gathered the little cash we had and found out we were mistaken. In our best effort to be prepared, I think we walked back and forth from the car to the tube rental place like 5 times, had to drive 8 miles into town to find an ATM, and we're lucky we didn't lose her keys or for something else ridiculous to happen. On Saturdays, floating the Salt is the only thing to do because everyone in Phoenix was there, plus some guys from Oregon we met and some 'necks from 'Bama. The whole thing had a spring break feel to it... everything from drunks, to cliff jumpers, to drugs, to naked people, and I think that about covers it.
I enjoyed my hotel room until they kicked me out and I made my way towards Phoenix, AZ. I can tell I am getting closer to home because the Mexican food is getting better. My first stop was at a Men's Wearhouse where I think George Zimmer fitted me for a tux himself. This dude looked just like him. I eventually met up with my friend Retta from PLU who just moved back home to Phoenix post graduation and we did a self guided tour of the Totten Tubes Phoenix branch which I don't think I had ever seen. Her mom made dinner and later we walked around Arizona State University to find some nightlife at Border's bookstore followed by the worst margarita in the world ever at a place called "Margaritas". One would have higher expectation from a place named that.
Today I left Los Cruces, NM and made my way over to Tucson, AZ. Monsoon season has made travel a little slower than I would prefer but arriving safely is worth it. I pretty much just made the drive and only stopped to refill on coffee. I made it to Tucson and got a motel room where I spent the rest of the day reading, writing, getting some work done, hot tubbing, and a Real World marathon. Pretty laid back in comparison to other days but restful.
I write from Pensacola, FL where for the second time of my life, weather was scared me off the road. I take refuge at Denny’s with other travelers, a warm plate of Nachos comfort me. Roughly four years ago, there was a fog in Northern California on one of my commutes from school to home where I had to open my driver’s side door and look down for the yellow line, just to be sure I was not heading into oncoming traffic. The second time and the reason for nachos, is now and because it has been raining so hard that 70 mph traffic slowed to 5 mph with emergency blinkers and thunder & lightning aren’t playing tag, but are hitting at the same time and apparently are hungry for Grand Slams or something. I am going to sit this one out because whatever the odds of getting hit by lightning are, I imagine the chances of losing are higher than usual because the Denny’s workers are currently huddled around a coffee pot discussing going home to be with their families, and they told me storms were “routine.” It’s a motel night. Thanks Earth.
Here is a break in the weather.
Much similar to yesterday’s plans, I did nothing until about 4pm. Check that, I watched Jaws 2, which I’ll define as productive as all is relevant. For the 4th celebration, we headed to the Epcot Center at Disney World for some rides and explosions. The fireworks were placed on barges on this big lake and the show went something like this… patriotic music, about 100 feet of billowing flames, followed by real fireworks, lasers, and probably the craziest loudest grand finally my stomach ever felt. Disney World does Independence Day well; perhaps something they do not do well is walking traffic logistics. My 200,000 closest friends and I mooed all the way to parking lot.
This is me happy to have my phone back.
The day started with some morning reading of “Crossing the Unknown Sea,” a new book of mine that I’ve been excited to get going on. So far I am very much enjoying it, Thanks MaryAnn!!! Kristine was called into work at the last minute which totally disrupted our plans of doing nothing today, so I had to go on without her. First I laid by the pool, then went for a run, did some more reading, and then headed to Disney World intent on recovering my cell phone, which I did. The phone was right where I left it on “Mickey Mouse’s Fantastic Pick Pocketing Adventure Through Outer Space Ride” and needless to say, I was pretty stoked to find it. It took some work to get the phone back with a lot of looping and redirecting, but being connected again to my world was well worth the 12 minutes of inconvenience. Later in the day we assembled a small group to see Hancock, the new Will Smith movie. As quotable as predictable, but a lot of fun and I totally recommend it.
The giant monkey is actually one of Kristine's roommates.
Here is me looking really excited.
I am currently in Orlando, Florida. I spent today at Disney World where I learned a valuable lesson about cell phones and g-forces. My phone is somewhere on the Space Mission ride at Epcot. So if any body in the near future is going to be on that ride, maybe take a look around for a black LG Chocolate. I would like to get that back, considering that I am about 3,000 miles from home and I use it all day. Disney world was sweet (minus the cell phone mishap). I hit up most of the rides and enjoyed the ones that somehow involved air conditioning. Highlights of the day: hitting a guy with my car door, almost getting ran over by a tram, stepping on Kristine's sandals all day, the Tiki room, losing my cell phone, and the monorail.
I woke up today at the hotel with my parents and enjoyed continental breakfast in a real hotel! My dad and I went for a swim and then headed to Best Buy to pick up a James Taylor CD. While on our quest we encountered Rock Band and the big guy wailed like there was no tomorrow. "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now" will never be the same again, nor will the middle school kids who watched a 55 year old guy mop the floor with The Clash. In the video he hits every note. RockOn BigGuy!Tracy Totten performing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash.
Reunited at Smokey Bones BBQ Grill in Lakeland, FL. Who woulda guessed this would ever work out?
I arrived in St. Augustine and met my friend Lisa that I met once in Paris. Lisa was roommates for 6 months with my friend Jocelyn while they were studying abroad in 2007. While they were studying French, my friends and I were gallivanting Western Europe and we planned to meet up at the Eiffel Tower, and that's how Lisa and I know each other. So over a year and a half later I end up in Florida and we hung out. St. Augustine is a sweet little town on the coast with a cool mix of tourists, college students, locals, and reggae music. Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera out with us so you will just have to take my word for it. The day consisted of eating at this cool beach burrito place and hanging out at some local dives where there was live reggae music. If you ever visit St. Augustine, Florida look up Lisa cause she gives bomb tours.
Well the ferry ride took me to the mainland and onward I went through the Carolinas. I drove until about midnight yesterday and missed all opportunities to camp and then drove through a huge lightning storm. After the world settled down and the caffeine wore off, I came to the conclusion that I would get to Charleston, SC, find the nicest neighborhood and dive into the back of my truck to sleep under the lid. I set an alarm for five hours later and was out before anyone knew I was there. I popped my head up at one point and saw a deer, but he/she/it was the only witness of my presence in Charleston. I might do that truck bed camping thing again, it’s cheap and I feel like I am in a secret hide out, a really sweaty secret hideout full of stuff with a ceiling 2 inches above your face.
This morning I drove to Savannah and gave myself a tour guided by myself. To my dissatisfaction, I was not the tour guide I had anticipated myself to be as I knew nothing about the town, so I left Savannah and filed a formal complaint with the department of tourism. My other complaint this morning was with a “How’s My Driving” hotline because a trucker was hugging my bumper like he had never seen one before and then he passed me on the left in the third lane. The lady on the phone didn’t have a record of his truck number so like all other things I cannot explain on this trip, I will leave it at Zombies. But other than that, Georgia was cool.
An enthusiastic Georgian selling peaches at 6am at a Chevron. I would be reading a book too. Any thoughts on what the title was?
I woke up at about 6am. I slept under the stars by the beach sand dunes and had one of my better nights rest. Last night, there were some lightning storms in the distance which made the experience pretty fun, and the sea breeze made the temperature and bugs bearable.
As promised John and Kelly came and got me and the three of us went out to Gritz Grill where my breakfast consisted of sweet tea, biscuits & gravy, and grits. I was told that was the most Southern thing they had on the menu. So one stomachache later, I went to my car that decided not to start and with a few whacks here and there I get it running. A North Carolinian approached me and said, “You bruck dun?” I responded with, “Nope. All fixed.” Which then he opened his toothless mouth and from about 6 inches past my personal level of comfort yelled, “Well then Carry On!” You definitely had to be there but I got a lot of personal joy from that interchange, and it’s my blog anyway.
Eventually I hit the road and jumped on a ferry to the next island, Ocracoke. I had an hour wait so I went to a beach restaurant and ordered a fried fish sandwich that apparently comes with one side still covered in scales. So one more stomachache later, I jumped on the second ferry on which I am writing from now and I don’t really know where it is taking me.
John and Kelly riding off into the redneck sunset on their bike.
Some surfers from Virginia I hung out with.
My truck was the last vehicle on the ferry which was pretty cool because I had a seat right on the front of the ship. I offered the people around me a seat but their decline might have been more of a personal hygiene issue.
I drove to North Carolina which rivals North Dakota for "the most miserable drive yet" award. The temperature was about 100 degrees with probably the same in humidity, and I finally hit really ugly traffic. However, being as dangerous as I am on my GPS, I skillfully rerouted into what I believe was “Hill Billy Mecca,” where tractors were a kinder change of pace. The South is gloriously awesome. Needless to say, I have begun counting Confederate flags.
I drove through Kitty Hawk and am working my way south through the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina. I stopped on the first island where I grabbed a camp site, didn’t set up a thing, and ran and jumped into the Atlantic. This was an amazing feeling and the accomplishment of the last four weeks hit me hard. So I threw my hands in the air, let out some man-yells, and did some body surfing at sunset. On my walk back to my site I met John and his wife Kelly. John is the most incredible redneck I’ve met, and his wife Kelly is being converted to his ways, as she is a native Yankee and John's redneckedness is far too overwhelming for her to have any chance at all. John is about 6 foot 5 with one of the gruffest man voices I have ever been jealous of, so naturally I hung out with these two for about three hours. He told stories of his friends “BobCat” “Hound Dog” and “Dan Boone” and they all had something to do with drinking, farming, hunting bears, or heavy machinery. John is a 3rd generation farmer on the same land and has never been past Kansas, he says he has friends that have never left the county they grew up in, nor do they have electricity or running water. His stories often were littered with “reckon so” and “He dun shot his nephew” and some really creative swearing. I laughed and laughed and tomorrow morning the three of us will go into town for what he promises is a real Southern breakfast. He also wants me to make sure I don’t leave town without a Confederate flag. I can’t even begin to retell his stories, some because of the language barrier, and others because I laughed so hard I missed most of important information.
John and Kelly have an open invitation to the West coast.Here was my view of the Atlantic. Odd that the sun sets over the land.
This is the South.
Just some pretty beach with houses in Kitty Hawk.
Here is Dismal Swamp, North Carolina. In another section of the swamp there was a Confederate flag posted in the middle but I was driving and couldn't get out my camera fast enough.
Wednesday morning I awoke in a field about a football field in length and width and it was all to myself. The night before I rolled into my campsite in moonlight and firefly fits, and it was a little difficult to see just how big my plot was. With unknown size came unknown sounds, the groans of what at the time I decided were swamp zombies and freight trains. To my dismay I was correct about the trains, and armed with knife and flashlight I discovered the other terrible sounds were coming from hundreds of gigantic toads in the neighboring swamp.
The heat woke me up in the morning and so I left the outskirts of Cleveland and headed to Virginia. Today I passed through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, and now I am in a tent just a few miles north of Quantico, VA where I visited my two friends Chris deVries and Jens Gilbertson at their marine base.
The visit to the base was a great experience and I was able to get a more clear understanding of what Marine officer candidacy is all about, and what my two friends went through in their past two summers on the base. I have all the respect in the world for these two-second lieutenants. In all of today’s circumstances, why would two college educated young men choose to become officers in the Marines? My conclusion is that at this time, I don’t believe they would be satisfied doing anything else. They are tested and challenged to push their thresholds and understanding of personal possibility further everyday. It is difficult to articulate all of the feelings from today’s conversation, I am just very impressed. Not by the physical or mental challenges, but the whole ideal of that military branch and the reasons why my friends joined. I am jealous, in awe, and inspired. Thanks guys for making the time! I am waiting on Chris to email me some photos from our hangout.
But in the meantime, below is a video I prepared during my eight hours driving today. A month in your car will lead you to do funny things with your time. Some people in the car next to me enjoyed my rendition of "I want to know what love is" by Foreigner, but you only get the "Final Countdown" by Europe.
Sunday consisted of walking around Chicago with my buddy Nate from LA who is in town on business. Having a friend who travels as much as he does is a real blessing to the vagabond, especially when it means a free night at a sweet hotel in downtown Chicago. We saw the beach on Lake Michigan and laughed at the waves and the million people all packed in the mile stretch of beach in Chicago. I think the ratio of people to grains of sand was 1:1. After traveling a bit we took a break and napped, followed by a Chipotle run where we met Horace. Horace is a homeless man with a degree in political science from Depaul University (he showed me his alumni card) who kept telling us that the white man is going down. So naturally we bought him a beer and hung out for a while. We talked politics, family matters, and more about the white man going down and Nate was even kind enough to let Horace borrow his cell phone so he could make a few calls. After we said our goodbyes Nate got about four calls from whomever Horace was calling and we couldn't understand any of what she said, but I hope she keeps calling Nate cause I think it's hilarious.
I forgot my camera when I was walking around today, so no new photos.
Saturday consisted of playing a round of golf in the morning, driving, eating a gigantic Hardee's Monster Thickburger, driving and some more driving. I have included a photo of the burger I ate at Hardee's. I actually wrote a paper in a sociology class my senior year defending Hardee's and their ridiculous sized burger. In my personal book of morals, no burger no matter what size, can ever be claimed as damaging to society. So eating this monster was of particular interest and really helped justify my views.
Here is some riveting reading if your interested. Totally got an A. Hardee's Monster Thickburger Paper
Today started at 6:15am to say goodbye to Andrew and Stephanie and to get my bike onto a trail that led to the Mississippi river, 40 miles round trip from Cannon Falls through Minnesota country. So I rode, and rode, and rode to Red Wing, MN which is basically Wisconsin. On my way over I stopped six times. One time because there was a deer and it's fawn in the path staring at me like a deer in bike reflector, one time because a wild turkey was on the path, one time because I saw two eagles being chased by birds smaller than pigeons and that came off as peculiar. And the other three times I stopped because I was choking on bugs. Once I arrived in Red Wing I parked on a park bench and finished the book Brave New World about a dsytopian future. It was a fascinating read and really was something fun to wrap my mind around as I sat on the river. The book is based on a bleak future of world order by intense social control where feeling and free thinking is totally abolished through caste systems, extreme behavioral conditioning, and just some really crazy stuff that turns people happy all the time, but totally mindless. Society is at peace, there are no diseases, life's pleasures are at a whim.. but at the cost of free will and being numb to life. The optimism of the whole thing is that there are a few who are able to question the system. They realize that in it is not just the happiness and pleasures in life that give us the human experience. It is the pain, the sufferings, the challenges that we encounter in life that make happiness genuine only through the reference points of feeling life's downturns. We have the opportunity to live mindlessly through life's distractions and work through the system, or we can choose to really feel life.
"And that is the secret of happiness and virtue- liking what you got to do. All conditioning aims at that. Making people like their inescapable social destiny." - The Director, Brave New World
Thursday morning I packed up my belongings and left the Nesvig's home. The night's rest helped me recover from my crushing Farkel blow the evening before.
I drove into St. Paul and left my truck in a park to explore the city on bike. I know this sounds a lot like yesterday's post, but rather in the other twin city. However, I assure you that yes it was pretty much exactly the same, except for the fact that I had a Chipotle burrito for lunch making the day totally different.
After reading on the river for a while and conversing with some new friends, I packed up and headed down to Cannon Falls to stay with Andrew Holloway and his wife Stephanie. Andrew and I played football together at PLU, Stephanie didn't quite make the team. It was much fun to hang out and laugh at stupid things and eat good food. Some of the simple joys of my visit came from the stories these two west coasters had about their adjustment to Midwest life. Tatertot hot dish anyone? And from dubunking Waterworld. Here's our criteria: 1) You'd think that if it took hundreds (thousands?) of years for the earth to turn into an ocean, in that time wouldn't all the inhabitants of Waterworld lose their southern accents. 2) If the Earth is all water, why is everybody so dirty all the time? I'm sure the conversation is open to suggestions and theories. 
St. Paul from that park I left my truck at.
I dropped off my truck in downtown Minneapolis for the day and pulled out my bike to explore more on wheel. I rode around for about three hours within the city and gave myself a pretty good little tour including downtown, the University of Minnesota, the bridge that collapsed a year ago, the Metrodome, Starbucks, and a Barnes & Noble. Later in the day I left downtown and went to the Nesvig residence where I spent the evening with Kirk and Mary, and their kids John and Ben. Kirk and Mary went to PLU with my parents and offered a warm bed and some warm meals for my travels through the twin cities. Upon my arrival, I found a box from Lauralee full of her world famous, and now web famous, monster cookies. She somehow managed to get the cookies to arrive on my one night stay at the Nesvigs, a very narrow window. That's like hitting reentry on an Apollo mission. Many thanks Lauralee- Kirk and Mary would like the recipe. Post cookies, we ate dinner on the deck overlooking the golf course and played a riveting game called Farkel, a combination of Yahtzee and Russian Roulette if you were to ask Ben. Myself being the rookie, only took second to last thanks to his selflessness. The Nesvigs will send me off tomorrow with some worthy reading to think about and pocket Farkel to ensure that I make friends along the way and spread the Farkel magic.
Midwest Mountaineering is an oxymoron. 
Downtown Minneapolis, MN
Here is the wreckage from the bridge collapse in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007. Just up the river they are rebuilding. You can see the cranes.Some downtown Minneapolis bike riding.
