One Month

July 31st, 2015

It’s July 31st, and tomorrow will be the official 1 month mark of this crazy….whatever it is.  Maybe that’s a good place to start: what exactly is this?  Through talking to people as I pass by, I’ve been called various things, as well as what I’m doing.
Names for myself include: hippie, bum, crazy, adventurer, friend, and random guy.
Names for this include: sabbatical, post college trip, walk about, once-in-a-lifetime-trip, and cool adventure.
But as of now, I think I can offer a better name for both.





Myself, just a dude.  Though I am far from what anyone can consider normal, in the bigger picture, that’s just what I am.  Just another person, doing what I can to get by and live a life that fulfills my desires.  I’m doing what I can with what I have.  I have been very blessed with the fortunes that life has given me, but I’ve also worked hard to create my own opportunities from those fortunes.  A combination of both luck and work, but isn’t that what life is about?

This trip, a project.  This trip is merely a project for now, not knowing if or when I’ll finish.  I set out with one idea: to spend at minimum a week in every state.  That is the whole idea tying this project together.  No matter the weather, the circumstances, or anything, just a single week.  It spawned from a combination of factors, from my time abroad, to school, and some climbing films.



I realized during my semester abroad, that a weekend was in fact a ton of time!  That if you planned right, and were willing to push hard, the time a weekend allowed could make for some amazing times.  Next, from school, I was used to the quarter system, where one week was 10% of the overall course.  That week was crucial, and missing even a day mean falling drastically behind.  Making it to the end of the week not only felt amazing to have it done, but meant many preparations for the next week just to keep on top of things.  Finally, a climbing film I watched a few years back called “Honnold 3.0” which documents Alex Honnold on one of his trips.  In it, Alex and Cedar Wright talk about the Yosemite idea of “in a day” ascents, and how much can you stuff into a single 24 hour window.  With those ideas, this project was born, and now I’m in the process of executing it.

WOOHOO!