Hello Everyone!
My departure is getting closer by the day. It’s been a very busy week of trying to get everything ready and organized and packed, but I’m getting there. So far I’ve gotten many of my belongings loaded up and it still feels like there’s a ton of room in Shadow Catcher to spare – which is definitely the plan. Over the last year I’ve rethought a lot of my organizing strategy and so far it all seems to be coming together quite nicely. I have had a few family things come up this week which may delay my departure by a day or two, but I have every intention of being on the road by this time next week. I’m writing this post to make a very brief introduction of myself for those who have joined us recently, to take an introspective look back at some of the things I’ve learned and decided over the last year and a half and to look at the road ahead and where it’s going to lead me from here.
A Brief Introduction
So especially for those new to this blog: welcome. I’m thrilled that you’ve decided to come along for the ride. My name is Mike and I was born and raised here in Washington D.C. where I’ve been waiting out this pandemic for the last 14 months. I am a Penn State graduate with a degree in Wildlife and Fishery Science and a minor in American History. Putting those two interests/passions together, I became a small-group adventure camping Tour Guide back in 2000 at the age of 24. Since then, I’ve spent 14 years on the road guiding tours to every corner of the U.S. and Canada – from San Diego to Nova Scotia and Key West to the Arctic Ocean. During the early part of my career, I took my winters off to travel the world. At some point I looked up and I was 30.
Not too long thereafter, I decided to settle down a bit and see what life was like off the road. I moved to New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to help reopen the public school system there. I spent two years in the Big Easy and then continued teaching for a bit here at home in Washington before heading off to teach in rural Japanese public schools for two years. I enjoyed teaching and I loved working with children, but I didn’t love being inside all the time and I didn’t find that the M-F workweek suited me too well. I didn’t like counting down the hours of the day or week and I couldn’t get much of a break over the weekend (especially as a teacher as there was always something that needed to get done before Monday). I started to think of what I wanted to do with the rest of my life, and what came out of that very long internal discussion was this blog. I began planning and working on it in Japan and it started to come more clearly into focus. I decided I wanted to buy a van and live in it while I traveled to each U.S. state and spent at least a month learning what made each unique and individual. I bought my first DSLR camera (at a pawn shop in Japan) and started taking photography a heck of a lot more seriously.
From Japan, life blew me down to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a year and a half and then I returned home and started guiding tours again, saving all of my money to try and get this project and my dream off the ground. Sometime in there, I turned 40.
I bought Shadow Catcher, my beautiful 1998 Coach House 192KS Class B Camper Van, in 2017 and got to work outfitting it and getting it ready to hit the road - which I finally did in November of that year. Over the next 18 months I traveled to 10 states in the Deep South and Appalachia, taking photos, exploring, producing my history podcast American Anthology, and trying to live out the dream in my head. It’s been a challenging but amazing time.
I thought that I would be able to make enough money to keep this project going through advertisements and selling photos and maybe some freelance writing gigs or photo shoots along the way. That turned out to be an almost total bust, but I’ve been grateful to go and pick up some guide jobs when the money has gotten tight and be able to stay on the road. At the end of the day, it turned out I was pretty okay with being an unsuccessful travel blogger!
In January of 2020, I headed out again with the goal of crossing the country through the southern states to California, working the summer tour season out there, and then making my way back through the next layer of states up. I had an amazing month in Mississippi and had begun my long journey around Texas when the pandemic started turning up the heat. Through a lot of thinking, conversations with friends (including one who had gotten the virus early and really struggled through) and with my mother who is a nurse, and some serious soul searching on the beaches of South Padre Island, I decided to turn my headlights towards home. And here I’ve been ever since.
What I’ve Learned From My Time At Home
It’s sure been an interesting and challenging year for us all. I had no idea when I came home that I’d end up being here for as long as I have been, but I feel very blessed to have had somewhere to land during this time. As much as this wasn’t where I planned to be this year, I certainly tried to make the most of it and got to spend a lot of time with my mom and stepfather which has been great. Traveling around the area with my mom every week has helped keep me calm, let me keep practicing my photography and definitely allowed me to explore my own hometown and surrounds more deeply than I ever have before. I have been telling people for years both in this space and elsewhere that there is always something new to explore and it can be closer than you think. This year we’ve tested that theory and to be honest there are still plenty of places we never got to this year and look forward to visiting in the future.
Over the last 10 months, I got to be the best friend to a 2 year-old boy. This has been a life-altering experience for us both. I’ve dedicated plenty of space to my adventures with Mason on this site over the last year, so there’s no need to go into any great detail here. Getting older and with no kids of my own, it’s been truly special to be able to watch someone grow and learn and laugh on a daily basis for so long. We got to see the seasons change all the way through and discover things about the world and about ourselves in the process. Seeing him today and knowing he’s in a good place with other kids his age and wonderful adults watching over him made me happy, but I miss him and our daily adventures and conversations, our games and our inside jokes that nobody else will ever know or understand. No matter where my life goes from here, I’ll always remember the feel of his tiny little hand in mine as we went out to face the world together. I don’t know if there is anything more special in life than playing a role in the life of a child. I felt that way as a teacher and I feel that way now.
I also got to put some of my old math teacher skills to work this year tutoring Mason’s cousin Nick and helping him prepare for his high school entrance exams. We spent dark winter evenings converting fractions to decimals and decimals to percentages and every week I watched not only his math skills grow, but his confidence in himself as well. I’m very grateful to his parents for the opportunity and for sharing the experience with me of his acceptance to his first-choice school. It was very exciting news and I’m exceptionally proud of how far he came this year.
Beyond all of that, I also had the chance to look pretty closely at myself this year. Over the past few years, as more people have opened up about such things, I’ve been able gain a better understanding of the anxiety I’ve had my whole life and the depression that set in somewhat further along. Understanding these things and learning to deal with them, especially over this past year, has made me a stronger, happier, healthier person. I think I truly understand now that what’s past is past and while it’s important to learn from your experiences you can’t dwell on them forever. For whatever reason I’ve always been someone who beats myself up over the one ball I dropped in Junior High School instead of the hundreds that I caught – some quite spectacularly. I can’t go back and catch that one ball, but I can wish I had, understand that even the pros drop one now and again, and then let it go forever. It sounds incredibly silly, but I’ve tried to take some of these thoughts or fears or whatever and imagine shoving them inside a helium balloon and then watching it drift up and up and up… and then away.
I’ve also thought a lot this year about how lucky I am in this life, but in a somewhat different context than you may imagine. The best example that I can give is that a few weeks ago my radiator hose blew on my trip home from Gettysburg. That seems like a pretty unlucky thing to have happened. But in reality, I caught what was happening before it actually overheated and where I pulled over was right into a gas station. I couldn’t fix it myself, but my AAA membership covered the tow all the way to the wonderful mechanic who’s been taking care of my van this year. When I called my folks, they were home and were able to come pick me up and arrived within minutes of the tow truck. I went home to my folks’ house knowing my van was in good hands and that I didn’t need it like I normally do when I’m living in it. My hose could’ve blown anywhere in the country and it probably would have been much more of a problem – the fact that it happened when and where it did was actually incredibly fortunate. As I look back on different problems or issues I’ve had in the past, there was always a friend or a stranger there to help out. Whenever I’ve been stuck in the mud, someone has come along within minutes and towed me out. The one time I ran out of gas, the very next car behind me pulled over and gave me a ride not only to the gas station but back again with a full gas can. This is not to say that I haven’t had tough times, but it seems like when I really think about it I’ve always been very fortunate in this life.
I’ve also come through an interesting internal look at my relationship with alcohol over the past year. When I was a young man who had anxiety and felt self-conscious and all the things that most young people probably feel , someone introduced me to this magic potion that helped me talk to people and feel better about myself and the world around me. A couple of drinks can have that effect but a couple more can cause real problems and I could never seem to get enough. I’ve always considered the times when I felt I “needed” a drink to be the ones when I absolutely abstained and that has served me well in life, but when I just want a drink then open the taps and watch out! Alcohol has gotten me into a lot of bad situations in my life and it became a strange sort of hobby. Like a hobby, it was something that took my time and money and I became very good at it, but unlike woodworking or knitting, it didn’t leave me with some great finished product – in fact quite the opposite. I’m pretty sure my diabetes is a pretty direct result of the booze because my diet is now and generally always has been relatively healthy. As I’ve cooled it on the drinking, I feel better, more productive, less depressed, healthier and happier all around. I am a big fan of the TV show M*A*S*H and I always remember one time when Radar O’Reily was having a bad day and he asked Hawkeye for a drink. After having a slug, he says he thought this stuff was supposed to make you feel better. Hawkeye tells him “no, it’s supposed to make you feel nothing”. And there’s a place for that sometimes, but I think I’d rather feel my feelings than numb them. I don’t know how long I’ll live, but however long it is I’d like to be healthy for as long as I can and cutting my alcohol consumption will undoubtedly help with that. I doubt I’ll be giving up drinking entirely, but it’s been important to take a long hard look at it and put it in its rightful place in the grand scheme of my life. There are better feelings out there than being drunk, and there are other hobbies I enjoy more than drinking. This is something I’m really happy to have learned about myself and to have been able to face to some degree.
I’ve also been able to think a lot about the rest if this life that still lies ahead of me. At the end of it all, there won’t be a single thing that I can take with me, but hopefully there will be a small handful of good things that I leave behind when I go. I’ve never been much on material possessions and I don’t see that changing much. I don’t judge people who want a house and a nice car and jewelry but I’m pretty happy with my old van, some good tunes, a good book and a beautiful setting for us to be. I love sunsets, mountains, lighthouses, beaches, really old buildings, cool breezes in summer and warm campfires in winter. I love spending time with friends and family and I really, really love to laugh, but I also love spending time alone sometimes and that’s an okay thing to do. I enjoy hiking, kayaking, scuba diving, orienteering and going for long rides down empty, winding roads. I love taking photos, retelling fascinating stories from history in my own words, and exploring new places near and far. These are the things that make me happy, and these are the things I want to focus my attention on going forward – both in my life and on these pages. My ego is very much in check, and I don’t think I’m really great at anything – better at some things and worse at others. I look around at the super-successful bloggers, “influencers” and celebrities and I don’t really want all of that. I just want to spend my days exploring beautiful places, learning all I can and to have the opportunity to share it with whoever wants to listen. If you’re one of those people then I couldn’t be happier to have you along for the ride. I can’t tell you the meaning of life because I can’t possibly know that, but you can follow along as I try to find the meaning of my life and if that helps you on your own journey then all the better. Going forward I plan to strive towards happiness by doing the things I love and not worrying about the obstacles that inevitably come up in every path you walk down. Without the obstacles, it would actually be a pretty boring life, but I’ve never found an obstacle I couldn’t figure out a way around, at least not yet. And every time I duck under, climb over, crawl through, scratch past, or push aside those obstacles, I grow stronger and wiser. This is the way forward from here: laughter, sunsets, quiet contemplation and striving every day to find sustained and lasting happiness.
The Road Ahead
My actual road ahead is taking me north. By the end of next week, I hope to be in far southeast Michigan. After visiting the War of 1812 sites south of Detroit, I’m heading to the Motor City to visit Motown Records, learn more about the early days of auto manufacturing and explore the old industrial parts of town. There are a few orienteering courses in the area I want to hit and I will spend a day or two in Ann Arbor as well. Then it’s up the “thumb” to see small towns and enjoy the Lake Huron side of things. From there it’s a diagonal crossing through the middle of the state to see my friend Eric in Lansing, see where Kellogg’s makes its corn flakes (Battle Creek) and figure out what the heck kind of name for a town is Kalamazoo (with a name like that it can’t take itself too seriously, right?). Then it’s another lakeside ride along the coast of Lake Michigan, hopefully seeing my friend Julie at some point along the way. Sleeping Bear Sand Dunes should be amazing with a trip out to Manitou Island to get away from it all. I’ve been to a lot of islands in my life, but not a single one out in the Great Lakes (at least on the American side). Mackinac Island is another I hope to explore on my way north and then a couple of weeks in the Upper Peninsula learning about copper mining, Finish-American culture and some great hikes to quiet lakes and beautiful waterfalls. Kayaking Pictured Rocks and a trip out to Isle Royale will definitely be things to look forward to. I cannot wait to watch sunsets next to lighthouses on quiet beaches with my camera, a good book and a cup of hot tea. Sounds pretty nice, doesn’t it?
Leaving Michigan, I hope to spend much of August in Wisconsin and then see where things are and if I can have enough time to explore Minnesota before winter sets in. Then I want to head into Indiana from there. This winter I may pop over to Europe for a little bit, otherwise I’m heading back across the country to pick up where I left off when the pandemic hit. Only time will tell.
I plan to get a lot of exercise along the way with plenty of long walks, a few runs, some good hikes and a couple of trips to the gym when all else fails. I’m definitely going to be eating healthy most of the time with a lot more eating in than eating out and only splurging now and again on a recommended restaurant or takeout spot. This will be good for my health and for my wallet. I want to keep up with my yoga which calms my mind and my body as well. I’m going to drink a lot of water and some tea and some good coffee when the mood hits me. There are a few craft breweries on my list as well, but I won’t be spending a lot of time in bars this summer. I’ve enjoyed being up early this year and hope to continue that as well (with a few midafternoon naps along the way). I’m going to read more, write more and keep practicing my guitar and my violin in the back of my van at night - not with the expectation of getting good at them, but simply for the pure joy of making music.
As far as this blog and this site go, I’m going to do what I can to keep it updated and exciting - I know some of you have been looking forward to this journey continuing as much as I have. Now that it’s finally happening, I want to keep it updated as often as I can with short posts and a lot of beautiful photos. My podcast will definitely be starting up again in the next 2 weeks and I want to keep on top of that as best I can as well. I want to seriously upgrade my Instagram content and use that as my most central social media account to tell the story of this journey (find me @miles2gobeforeisleep). I want to do these things because I enjoy them and because sharing this journey makes me happy. I’d do it if not a single person read these words or listened to my little podcast, but I think it’s pretty cool that some people do. I’ve given up on the idea of making a living from this site but if I make a few dollars here and there, then all the better. A year from now, I’ll probably be back to guiding for a few months to make some money, and I’m pretty happy with that. That being said, I plan to rid myself of all my ridiculous self-imposed deadlines and just let it all flow when the time is right. I’ve always enjoyed working on this site and I hope to bring you plenty of good material as I go, but I don’t want it to come at the expense of the trip itself. I’m going to share the good and the bad here, but I’m very positive about how good the road ahead will be.
That’s a lot of words this week, y’all, but I wanted to let you know where I’m headed from here – in more ways than one. With any luck, by this time next week I will finally be back on the road. I will miss everything that this last year has been for me and the friends and family that have gotten me through it, but I’m definitely coming out the other side a happier, healthier, more focused and all-around better person than I was 14 months ago. And after the year we’ve had, that’s saying something. We’re coming out of the storm, y’all, and I see brighter days ahead for us all. Come on back next week and we’ll get this journey up and running again. Thank you so much for reading, you can’t know how much it means to me. Have a great week out there and we’ll see you next week.
