Intricate, jazzy soul music played as my friend, Kam, drove me through the Utah desert into the low Uintas. His lime green, Honda Element fought through the gusts of wind as I sat there giddy with excitement. Everything had perfectly aligned and on such short notice. The day before, I had realized the shuttle from…
Category: Adventures
California Highlights Part 2
I walked to the next town excited to be picked up in a helicopter. I had no idea how the logistics for this would work but common sense told me I’d need to find a flat, open area for the landing zone. I waited in a nearby orchard expecting confirmation from Susie but after an…
California Highlights Part 1
My first night in California caught me by surprise. I was fairly certain that I’d be camping outside next to the mountain bike trail I was on yet in the late afternoon I decided to send a logistical text message. All of my options to get into the next major town, Truckee, were less than…
Nevada Highlights Part 2
In order to save time in the morning, I began to skip breakfast and eat either granola bars or spam as I began walking. When I got to the next town, Battle Mountain, I began seeing state troopers again and got excited. When were they going to stop and talk to me? One passed slowly…
Nevada Highlights Part 1
I felt lethargic but I refused to let that get the best of me. I stopped looking at the time and didn’t want to know the mileage; instead, I began the reflect on my life. The person that I have become is not who I was. I may look the same but my mind is…
Utah Highlights Part 2
After 15 miles, I reached the rest stop along the interstate and sat at a shaded picnic table under an awning. I watched people come and go in their vehicles and wondered where they were going and what their stories were. One man stood out to me, he had a beat up RV and was…
Utah Highlights Part 1
Hello all of you beautiful people! Utah came and went in a blur but the multi-colored desert mountains continue to grasp my heart. For the first week I had the opportunity to walk with another cross-country hiker. Johnathan, and together we experienced our first Utah hail storm. Throughout the day a black wall of darkness…
Holly to Summaries…
I got word that my grandparents wanted to make the three hour drive to come visit me so I set into play a walking schedule that would match their timeframe. A short, ten mile day took me into the next town where I knew one thing: I wanted to visit the Japanese-American Internment Camp. I…
Lakin to Coolidge
I spent roughly a week in Texas and was surprised how easily I meshed back into the routine of things. I never felt restless or out of place but rather a sense of belonging. I’d spent the majority of my life in this neighborhood and I reclaimed hope in the idea that I wouldn’t be…
Canton to Garden City
What am I doing here? This vast expansiveness has filled me with emptiness. I feel like I’m on a never ending death march. The towns I pass through are little oasises for life yet when I reach them at the end of the day, loneliness is what fills me. I walk for shade. I walk…