The bucket list

There's an odd feeling when you cross an item off your bucket list, and last year was a big one.  As part of my cross-country adventures, I finished my goal of visiting all 50 states in the U.S. (and Puerto Rico too).  Ending with Florida.  As I stepped out onto the beach, facing the Gulf of Mexico, I pondered not only the strangely warm water, but that this was the farthest south in the country I'd been, and it was my last state.

A year ago, my carefully planned route was listed here.  The "Southern Segment" from Pennsylvania to Arizona was carried out pretty much to plan, with the addition of a detour up to Hot Springs, at the welcome insistence of my Aunt.  But the "Western Segment" never quite came.  You see, last year not only had adventure and the challenges of facing hours of being alone with only a very well behaved Australian Shepherd and some audio books in between the highs of social interaction with dear friends and family, but it also had physical challenges.

An improperly diagnosed infection threatened to sideline me, but I still launched into the Southern Segment, willing myself to improve and not be shut down by the side effects of various medications.

It was worth it to go white water rafting with my cousin in Charlotte, to spend a day wilting in Savannah with my dog, to go on banana yellow speed boat adventures to isolated beaches with old friends and their children in Naples.  To visit other friends in New Orleans and Baton Rouge and have the most perfect pot of tea with a much needed productive day in my friend's lab on campus.  To struggle with getting my hydrophobic dog back into a pontoon boat in Arkansas, to meet new friends at delicious barbeque found at a gas station in Austin.  To catch up with an old friend in the little town of Fredericksburg, reminding me that there are happy little corners where you least expect to find them.  To power through the long drive to a decadent hotel room in Las Cruces before the last stretch to the oasis of my mother's home in verdant Green Valley.

But that took the last of what I had.  It was time to rest, heal, and work.  And figure out where to set down roots.  The 50 states were done, even if the last segment of the epic road trip didn't lead me full circle.  You never can tell where life will take you, and that's my reason for embracing a bucket list with the best of intent of experiencing opportunities as they present themselves.  For you can never tell what tomorrow will bring. 

Equally awesome in its own little way

I have become a modern day nomad.  A science nomad, as a friend of mine has pointed out.  A friend with a patch that reads, "Not all who wander are lost".

Courtesey of wiktionary:

Noun

Wikipedia has an article on:

Nomad

nomad (plural nomads)

1. a member of a group of people who, having no fixed home, move around seasonally in search of food, water and grazing etc.
2. a wanderer

I'm not alone in embracing a nomadic existence this year.  I can think of two friends who are similarly taking advantage of flexible work situations (telecommuting or contracting) to have some adventures.  One has taken the plunge and purchased a very fine looking RV for her humble abode, while the other has taken a more international focus to her wanderings.  I've admired the fearlessness both of these women have shown over the years I've known them, and it makes me happy to include myself in a list of similar adventures with them.  Of course, I've taken the comparatively tame approach of loading the back of my truck with supplies for 3 seasons across the country, but it certainly wasn't an easy decision.  

To see how I arrived at this particular hare-brained scheme, it's worth a look at the past 12 months.  (Skip ahead to the next paragraph if you aren't interested in the details.)  In my last post here, I had no idea what my job prospects would be after my position ended in December.  Sadly, the grant to stay longer didn't come through (always take the word of higher ups in any administration with a grain of salt), but I did have options.  One was a temporary position, in which I would share my area of expertise with a large scale govt/ private sector project, letting me keep one foot towards academia while getting a taste of how I might like an alternative position.  The other was a short-term position in Alaska, doing the very things I love and have done for the past 10 years.  Both incredible opportunities, I made plans to do first one and then the other.  Things were looking good.  However, due to both personal and professional reasons, I eventually decided that moving to Alaska was not in the cards. 

It's tempting to think of the adventures I'd be having if I chose to move to the far north for a year. There's something incredibly terrifying about not doing "the next step".  But then you realize that the things that "they" think you should do are really just coming from inside your own head, and sometimes you need to re-calibrate to find your own voice.  And catch up on writing some papers.  So, I put most of my stuff in storage, and hit the road with my dog and a very full truck.  The Tacoma only gets about half the mileage my Civic did, but since it doesn't get the challenge of Alaska I had planned for it, it's earning its keep hauling clothes and books and various important items like Clue.

Looking at a map of family and friends, I realized that I could make a loop around the country.  Working 40+ hours/ week in between drives and visits, it's a slow trip in the best way possible.  I get to visit some of my favorite people, hang out in my favorite cities, and see those last 7 states (now 4) on my bucket list.  Here's a purely logistical look at my route and what I have planned.  Pictures and stories to come.

Northern Segment (Montana to Pennsylvania):  completed

Bozeman, MT

Rapid City, SD

Des Moines, IA

Ann Arbor, MI

Milford, PA (extended base for side trips)

• New York City, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• various locations in NJ

Cambridge, MA

• Burlington, VT
• Lincoln, NH
• Portland, ME
• Salem, MA

Southern Segment (Pennsylvania to Arizona):  up next

Takoma Park, MD

Charlotte, NC
(Savannah, GA)

Naples, FL

Baton Rouge, LA

Austin, TX
(Las Cruces, NM)

Tucson, AZ

Western Segment (Arizona to Montana):  tbd

Pasadena, CA

Santa Cruz, CA

Portland, OR

Seattle, WA

Bozeman, MT

To tide you over for the more entertaining posts, here's a picture from the farthest north-east corner of my trip:

Portland Head Lighthouse, Maine

What would you do?

This past Friday, I was fortunate to meet two incredible people who were staying with some friends in town.  Adam and Christy Coppola are spending a calendar year traveling across all 50 states via bicycle.  Having embarked in January, Montana was their 41st state.  They entered Wyoming today, their 43rd state, after Idaho.  Obviously familiar with the idea of adventure to have cooked up such a scheme, they are also doing it for charity, inspired by their brothers- the Peace Corps volunteer inspired connection to World Bicycle Relief and the other inspired a connection to Achilles International's Freedom Team for Wounded Vets.  Christy writes the blog, while Adam takes stunning photographs- I'm really hoping they turn this into a book, they've gotten an incredibly close experience with people from all walks of life and the photos to match.

After watching Harry Potter 7.2, a gaggle of us headed to a local pub where I finally tried their famous Moscow Mule (potentially very dangerous).  I can't remember if it was there or waiting for the movie at the theater when, in the course of the conversation, I told Adam about last fall when I went from ~71 deg N to ~77 deg S in the course of five days or so.  His response was a smiling and incredulous, "Who does that?".  Coming from a guy more than halfway through a bike tour of all 50 states, I'll take it as a complement!  But it definitely reminded me of why I do what I do.  

Meeting them in someways feels like a bit of fate poking me in the rear.  With my current job ending in December (unless that fellowship comes through, fingers crossed!) I've been facing the possibility of being unemployed in January.  While I've been quite excited about a few job openings and applying for every job that I'm remotely qualified for, anyone who's looking right now can tell you that prospects are thin.  Terrifying in some ways, exciting in others.  Moving back home is certainly not an option, so I've been thinking of what other folks have done.  Like the friend who quit his job, traveled the world, and then lived out of a van when he went back to grad school to pay off his credit cards.  So, I started to thinking about what I would do if I couldn't do what I do now.  Of course, the fantasy of doing what you love doesn't always meet the reality of the grocery bill, but I'm a little less scared of that unknown now than I was just a little while ago.  Not that I'll hop on a bike and tour the 50 states, but maybe something equally awesome in its own little way.  I still have 7 states and 1 continent on the list.  And a dog who has decided she really, really, likes day long hikes.  Heck, I turned working for a rental car company after undergrad into a month long backpacking trip in Europe.

Cologne (I think), Germany, 2001

If you had the opportunity to take a year out of your life or to start over, what would you do?

Wish list

In reviewing some older blog posts, I came across a travel wish list from 2007.  I've been fortunate enough to cross several places off the list without it being a major aim.  Of course, there are very few places I wouldn't return, and several of the last places I've visited I've imagined living there.  So, as a short break from crunching data here's the old list now updated:

Amazon River Basin (vacation planned to Brazil in 2012)
Antarctica
Athens, Greece (although I'd like to see Athens, Georgia as well)
Australia
Bali
Budapest, Hungary
Caribbean
Costa Rica
Iceland
Morocco
New Zealand
Prague, Czech Republic
Rome, Italy
Scotland
Semester at Sea (really would like to teach for them someday)
St. Petersburg, Russia
Valencia, Spain
Venice, Italy
Vienna, Austria
Yellowstone, Wyoming

Six wish list places visited in less than 4 years!  Australia, St. Petersburg, and Iceland were also close possibilities, but there is only so much you can afford to tack onto a work trip (which most of these were).  Of course, the list is constantly revised as my curiosity often runs rampant.  Lake Baikal, for example, along with various parts of Canada sneak in when I'm not paying attention, or I'll find myself lost in an episode of House Hunters:  International.  If there was some way to bring my furry sidekick with me, I imagine it'd be even harder to pin me down in one place.

Top Ten Travel Destinations (so far)

Inspired by a question on Yahoo! Answers, I've decided to list my top ten travel destinations. Given that my current wish list is far longer (Amazon River Basin, Antarctica, Athens, Australia, Bali, Budapest, Caribbean, Costa Rica, Iceland, Morocco, New Zealand, Prague, Rome, Scotland, Semester at Sea, St. Petersburg, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, and Yellowstone), I've decided to just stick with places I've been.

1. Zanzibar

2. Paris

3. Hawaii/ Maui/ Kauai'i

4. Lake Tahoe

5. Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

6. San Juan Islands/ Bellingham/ Glacier/ Victoria/ Seattle

7. Yosemite

8. Nara, Japan

9. Cinque Terra, Italy

10. York, England

Never smile at a crocodile

I never saw anything like that when I was in Tanzania. Here's a few pics I took when I was there back in the summer of 2000:

Camping trip

This past weekend, Jen, Sassy, and I went to camping in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Sassy was not amused by the large racoon that tried to eat her food at the campground the first night. She took the first chance she had to tell us how she felt.
Friday was gorgeous- we went to the Munising side of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We were fairly limited in where we could take the dog, but we still had some spectacular views.

We stopped at Sand Point along the way and discovered Sassy's dislike for the water. We kind of got her to swim in knee-deep water, but it was more like a hop from one leg to the other.

On Saturday, we stuck around Taquamenon Falls where we camped because it was raining buckets in the morning. In early afternoon, we went on a couple short hikes to see the falls. Sassy was quite worried we were going to make her go in that water as well. She was actually more interested in all the people and made friends with a little boy who was glad "she's not one of those biting dogs".

After the Lower Falls, we took a break and went to the Whitefish Point Lighthouse and Shipwreck Museum. Michiganders are big on their shipwrecks. Funny thing, when you try to have a ton of commercial shipping boats go through a narrow channel east of Lake Superior, sometimes they run right into each other.

We went the Upper Falls on our way back from buying more firewood. On our walk back to the parking lot, we decided to take the "nature walk", i.e., the unpaved trail. When we were almost back, we heard two distinct woofs. Couldn't see it and Sassy was oblivious, but it was likely a black bear.

That night, it was hard to start a fire (damp newspaper and damp wood), so I had to take a picture of our hard-won log cabin fire.

We made one last stop in Mackinaw City.

After our adventures around Anchorage, we took the train northward, spending the night in Talkeetna on our way to the fair city of Fairbanks. We were lucky to see McKinley and the observation deck provided fabulous views.

Here's my mom holding a really big chunk of ice that fell off of Aialik Glacier (Kenai Fjords N.P., near Seward, Alaska).

I have a bit of catching up to do, so there will likely be numerous posts in these first few days (although I am starting a really big experiment tomorrow).

Butchart Gardens in Victoria- Tibetan Blue Poppy and a crazy Peony.

To get to Victoria, my lab mate and I took the train from Ann Arbor, MI all the way to Seattle. We were able to spend a bit of time there visiting with friends before we hopped on a ferry all the way to Victoria.

Thanks to this cross-country trip, I now only have nine more states to see in order to meet my goal of seeing all fifty states before I turn 30. Left to see in the next 19 months:

Arkansas, West Virginia, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida