Hi friends,\r\n\r\nTurns out, I\xe2\x80\x99m not Nisha. \xc2\xa0I\xe2\x80\x99m Andrea M. \xe2\x80\x9918 \xe2\x80\x93 I\xe2\x80\x99ve graduated from MIT, but while I went here I was involved in East Campus, Course 2 things, climbing and other varieties of outdoor/ropes adventures, as well as being Nisha\xe2\x80\x99s dad. \xc2\xa0I look like this:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nI\xe2\x80\x99m here because I had an interesting summer, and Nisha wanted me to tell y\xe2\x80\x99all about it. \xc2\xa0In short, I:\r\n\r\n- \xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0Spent two months traveling and living out of a van, driving 16,000 miles\r\n\r\n- \xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0Hiked, paddled, cooked outside, and experienced America\r\n\r\n- \xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0\xc2\xa0Wrote about it a ton\r\n\r\nMy partner in crime for this adventure was the honorable and dignified Allie S. \xe2\x80\x9918:\r\n\r\nWe conceived of this adventure while balls deep in another \xe2\x80\x93 a spring break spent road-tripping in the Southwest with six of our friends more than a year before.\r\n\r\nStanding in Lake Mead and restocking on the heat we\xe2\x80\x99d been deprived of in the desert at night, we talked of the trip that had been, and the one that might be. We were inspired by the softly-lit campervans popping up all over Instagram and the ageless draw of the American West in equal measure, and by June there was a spreadsheet detailing what locations we\xe2\x80\x99d want to hit. \xc2\xa0It looked like this because I\xe2\x80\x99m a loose cannon when it comes to Google Sheets:\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nA great many things happened in the intervening year. \xc2\xa0Allie spent the summer in South Africa. I survived being a rush chair. \xc2\xa0We were both involved in the taxing fight to keep MIT the kind of home we\xe2\x80\x99d grown to love. \xc2\xa0We got together and we broke up. Allie got into grad schools. I put in endless job applications. \xc2\xa0We practiced letting go of the things our fingers had cramped holding onto. We signed a lease on a house. \xc2\xa0We finished our last year of MIT. \r\n\r\nAll too soon, we began our long-awaited odyssey. \xc2\xa0It\xe2\x80\x99s 36 hours after graduation. I haphazardly throw several more boxes of my stuff in the basement the morning we leave, and I have a really strong feeling that I forgot something. \xc2\xa0I pick Allie up from EC - she informs me that there have been tears, shared between her and her girlfriend, and it leaves me with a feeling that persists for a long time. I feel like it\xe2\x80\x99s somehow my job to make this trip worth her time, worth what she\xe2\x80\x99s giving up to do it.\r\n\r\nThe first few nights I\xe2\x80\x99m shocked by how comfortable the traveling is. \xc2\xa0We have a good setup:\r\n\r\nAllie\xe2\x80\x99s futon mattress is lifted a foot and a half over the floor over the van, leaving room to sleep on top and plenty of room for gear for climbing, backpacking, kayaking, and clothing ourselves underneath. \xc2\xa0The trunk held our food, water, and cooking supplies as well as a helpful assortment of tools and collapsible lawn furniture. At night, we\xe2\x80\x99d roll down the windows and put in screens to keep it cool. To answer some common questions right off the bat:\r\n\r\nQ: What did you eat?\r\n\r\nA: Largely sandwiches and snacks for breakfast/lunch, and Allie\xe2\x80\x99s amazing cooking for dinner. \xc2\xa0We very quickly gave up on trying to actually keep anything cold in the cooler, so we\xe2\x80\x99d go to a grocery store ever 3-4 days to restock. \xc2\xa0Allie loves In-N-Out, so on the west coast we ate there a lot.\r\n\r\nQ: Where did you go to the bathroom?\r\n\r\nA: In the woods, off of cliffs, in lakes. \xc2\xa0We dug holes for solid waste away from water sources, but more often just waited to be at a gas station, grocery store, or public restroom.\r\n\r\nQ: What did you do while you drove?\r\n\r\nA: We listened to music, podcasts, and one truly awful novel. \xc2\xa0I wrote a lot, and Allie played The Sims sometimes. A lot of the time we just talked or got lost in our thoughts and the way the road looks as it passes under your wheels.\r\n\r\nQ: What did a typical day look like?\r\nA: We\xe2\x80\x99d wake up a bit after sunrise. \xc2\xa0We\xe2\x80\x99d usually put on a bit of driving to get from our campsite to wherever we wanted to be for the day (camping for free in every location usually involves being a little further from the action). \xc2\xa0We\xe2\x80\x99d see some sights, go for a hike, take a paddle, or cover more ground. While driving, we\xe2\x80\x99d eat a few snacks for breakfast. We often skipped lunch in favor of being out all day. We\xe2\x80\x99d cook dinner in the sunset and read a lot in the evenings and after dark.\r\n\r\nQ: Were you worried about your safety?\r\n\r\nA: I spent several nights in the first few weeks of the trip kept up worrying about a variety of hazards - extreme weather, bears, car battery death, locals with guns. \xc2\xa0I even moved my crowbar (the closest thing I brought to a weapon) to where I could hold it at night, but none of these hazards ever threatened us. The only times I had reason to question my safety were those in which I\xe2\x80\x99d gotten myself into trouble due to some stupid shit I\xe2\x80\x99d done.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWe spent a summer on the road, and each day felt like a saga in itself. \xc2\xa0I wrote a small novel about what we did and how I felt. It would be both lengthy and unsatisfying to try to tell you the whole story, but this is what I see when I look back, in snippets and impressions and pieces:\r\n\r\nAllie and I have the camp chairs out and every door of the van open on the grassy shores of Glen Lake in northern Michigan. \xc2\xa0I\xe2\x80\x99m absorbed in The Argonauts. Allie partakes in her annual summer re-reading of the Harry Potter books. We cook dinner over the course of hours, and I realize it has been years since I\'ve done anything like this.\r\n\r\nWe cross into the UP under a weak afternoon sun that has Lake Michigan shining and the endless pine forests bright. \xc2\xa0It\xe2\x80\x99s desolate, it\xe2\x80\x99s silent. We miss the turn for our campsite and make a U-turn in the middle of a four-lane highway. \xc2\xa0The wind that blows off Lake Superior is cold and wild and the rocky island we paddle out to is deserted.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAs we climb into the green hills of Minnesota after we cross the Missouri, it feels like Allie and I begin to talk again. \xc2\xa0This trip we\xe2\x80\x99ve been stilted, quick to argument. If I\xe2\x80\x99m honest in looking back, it\xe2\x80\x99s been harder for us to talk, to play, to connect since we broke up. \xc2\xa0By the time we hit Wall, South Dakota, we have trip memes. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Badlands thrill us. \xc2\xa0The prairies are vast, the features alien, and the wildlife abundant. \xc2\xa0I run through the hills trying not to let my feet fall on cacti in bloom hidden amongst the tall grass. \xc2\xa0We meet bighorn sheep coming towards us amongst the towering muddy features and we move off of their trail.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIt rains for three days straight. \xc2\xa0We visit caves and strip malls. We accumulate a dampness in almost all of our clothes. \xc2\xa0Allie cooks under a tarp I set up strung from the open trunk. The storms rolling over the fields are formidable and beautiful. \xc2\xa0We watch people get stuck in the mud in Buffalo Gap.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nWe argue dramatically before grocery shopping in Sheridan, Wyoming. \xc2\xa0Up the steep pass of Bighorn National Forest, the alpine meadows are dotted with trees and exposed rock, covered in wildflowers. \xc2\xa0I want to walk into the hills until the light fades from the sky, but Allie doesn\xe2\x80\x99t seem on board with this plan in the slightest but won\xe2\x80\x99t propose an alternative. \xc2\xa0I wonder when Allie will ask to go home, and brainstorm cities that it would make sense for her to fly out of. I wonder if I can do this by myself.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nYellowstone is a behemoth. \xc2\xa0Driving anywhere takes hours, and there seem to be an unending number of waterfalls, summits, geysers, and trails to explore. \xc2\xa0We climb switchbacks to see vistas of the whole caldera. We get caught out in kayaks in a hail storm on the West Thumb and warm up in the car for hours afterwards, eating cookies in favor of dinner.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIt\xe2\x80\x99s blazingly hot in Tahoe. \xc2\xa0We read on the edge of the lake that reminds me of Geneva all day. \xc2\xa0I dip in the picturesque Emerald Bay fully clothed and am dry upon returning to the car.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nI haven\xe2\x80\x99t been eating well and have consequently lost decent amounts of weight, and I try to fix this before we enter Yosemite. \xc2\xa0I try to put down an avocados worth of guac, chips, and cheese for breakfast every morning. We summit Cloud\xe2\x80\x99s Rest and gaze into the valley, exhausted.\r\n\r\nIt\xe2\x80\x99s the fourth of July in Visalia, California. \xc2\xa0We see Incredibles 2 to get out of the heat and eat ice cream at A&W. \xc2\xa0We sit the van in an orange orchard and watch the fireworks go up. I\xe2\x80\x99ve struggled to be independent at MIT, and here I feel so grateful for the ways that my friends have given me space.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nGas is $5.34 in the hippie town of Big Sur, California. \xc2\xa0We climb up the hills of the Ventana Wilderness, watching the waves turn the ocean white where it hits the rocks of the coastline. \xc2\xa0The shrubs and the flowers and the grasses are overwhelmingly fragrant. The heat is visible in the air above the dry grasses, and at camp we simply lay in the tent mostly naked and trying in vain to cool down. \xc2\xa0\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nAt Valerie\xe2\x80\x99s apartment in Mountain View, I scrape two weeks of dirt into her pristine shower. \xc2\xa0Danny takes us on a whirlwind historical tour of San Francisco, and then to our dinner reservation. \xc2\xa0In the chill of the evening, the taste of chocolate froyo, and in the huge bear hug of Danny Ben-David, I feel so held.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe smell of ocean salt is strange to find amongst the pines of the Lost Coast. \xc2\xa0I hadn\xe2\x80\x99t done much planning past San Francisco, so our days in Northern California feel distinctly directionless.We\xe2\x80\x99re in the flat forests around Crater Lake, taking some mandatory rest. \xc2\xa0Late at night, I can\xe2\x80\x99t fall asleep because I\xe2\x80\x99m absolutely convinced that I should have taken a consulting job I turned down in April. \xc2\xa0In my head, I write an email to the recruiter explaining my change of heart. I desperately want to go home to a stable income, a career, and the feeling that I know what I\xe2\x80\x99m doing. \xc2\xa0Marcus talks me out of begging for the offer back, but it takes weeks for me to believe that that\xe2\x80\x99s the best course of action.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe van is parked in the hazelnut orchard belonging to a man I\xe2\x80\x99ve never met, a friend of my mom\xe2\x80\x99s from high school. \xc2\xa0I\xe2\x80\x99ve driven on country roads like the ones to his house a hundred times, but never have I experienced a farm from the inside. \xc2\xa0It\xe2\x80\x99s quite homey. \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nMt. Rainier makes me want to walk, to walk and walk for days. \xc2\xa0The hills surrounding it are some of the southernmost tundra in the northern hemisphere, and are cut by tempting, steadily inclined paths. \xc2\xa0The old growth forest glows on the banks of the Ohanocopesh, and I dive into the cold, powerful flow of water.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nIt\xe2\x80\x99s entirely possible that every road on the Olympic Peninsula is under construction. \xc2\xa0We\xe2\x80\x99ve had the most recent of many \xe2\x80\x9cwe really need to figure out the rest of this trip\xe2\x80\x9d conversations, and it hadn\xe2\x80\x99t gone well. On the ruggedly beautiful, rainforested shore of Beach 4, we say things to each other like \xe2\x80\x9cI\xe2\x80\x99m not sure why you brought me on this trip\xe2\x80\x9d and \xe2\x80\x9cIt made me so, so angry when you wouldn\xe2\x80\x99t try to enjoy that hike.\xe2\x80\x9d \xc2\xa0Back in the car, we talk with a somewhat stilted politeness about what piercings we can get to make ourselves look gayer while still looking professional. \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe kids - Avital and Mayukha - let us into the Bezos Balls with their Amazon IDs and smart casual and tangible tech internship guilt. \xc2\xa0I wasn\xe2\x80\x99t expecting their friendship, their camaraderie, the way they\xe2\x80\x99ve bonded over all the struggles EC Rush has had this year. They take us for dinner and ice cream and climbing on Saturday, and I find myself happy to not know what they\xe2\x80\x99re talking about a good bit of the time, to have some distance from East Campus.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nAllie drives the scenic, population-sparse road from Chilliwack to Kamloops. \xc2\xa0I gaze down at a map of Canada and marvel at how little I\xe2\x80\x99ve thought about Canada. \xc2\xa0There are thousands of miles of fields and mountains and lakes I\xe2\x80\x99ve never considered, and I realize I have everything I need to explore it all.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe mountains of Jasper are like nothing I\xe2\x80\x99ve ever seen before. \xc2\xa0The icefields are vast, the rivers are close to freezing, the mountains are insurmountable, and the tourists are sparse. \xc2\xa0On the quiet road as rays of sun slant down, Allie brakes hard and the steering wheel shakes. Thirty feet in front of us, a black bear crosses the road with her two cubs.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe Garden Wall trail has been eleven miles of stunning. \xc2\xa0When I get to the chalet along the trail, I know this is the last stop on the ridgeline before the trail descends. \xc2\xa0When I leave this hut, it\xe2\x80\x99ll only be a few more miles downhill until I\xe2\x80\x99m back at the car. Allie will be there waiting for me, and I\xe2\x80\x99ll get in the passenger seat and we\xe2\x80\x99ll drive down the mountain and back East. \xc2\xa0It\xe2\x80\x99ll be the end of the day. The end of the trip. \r\n\r\nI find myself needing to walk, and the only way to go is down.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe drive down the shores of Flathead Lake. \xc2\xa0Under the huge skies of Montana. In the fading light as bugs coat the windshield. \xc2\xa0Through the yellow fields under indigo clouds on I-90 to Fargo. Towards Minneapolis/St. Paul. \xc2\xa0Through traffic in Wisconsin. I point out the apartment building I grew up in in Chicago.\r\n\r\nAfter I drop Allie off at O\xe2\x80\x99Hare, it storms for the first time in six weeks. \xc2\xa0\r\n\r\n...\r\n\r\nIt\xe2\x80\x99s strange when I come back. \xc2\xa0I drive back into Boston on a hot, sunny afternoon, and I don\xe2\x80\x99t feel any of the closeness to the city I hoped I would. \xc2\xa0My house is very quiet. The streets aren\xe2\x80\x99t inclined enough to make me feel like I\xe2\x80\x99m getting anywhere. In the arms of a woman I\xe2\x80\x99d longed to talk to, we don\xe2\x80\x99t have any of the conversations I\xe2\x80\x99d hoped we would. \xc2\xa0Late at night and deep in conversation, I feel lost in the kinds of intimacy I used to crave. I get Thai food and sit on the fire escape of my house. I strip and shower and unpack. The sense that this is my home comes to me, bit by bit.\r\n\r\nI learned some valuable things on the road, and I\xe2\x80\x99ve worked to make them part of my life at home. \xc2\xa0I learned how to relax, enjoy being instead of doing, and how to be my own entertainment for twenty-four hours a day. \xc2\xa0After years of practicing doing without or struggling to hold too much, I learned how to give my body what it needs in terms of food, sleep, and activity. \xc2\xa0\r\n\r\nIt also told me some things I already knew. \xc2\xa0If there\xe2\x80\x99s anything that MIT has taught me, it\xe2\x80\x99s to chase my limits. \xc2\xa0Transgress. Transform dreams into desires into reality. Walk to the end of the road and then keep going - what\xe2\x80\x99s there is worth it.\r\n\r\n