Introduction

My American Tour is an account of my first cross-country camping trip. It is really my first trip where I set out as an adult—no parents to plan logistics, pay for things, or guide me in the ways of the world. I’d taken a solo, week-long, 2,200-mile road trip last summer which I considered a trial run and practice for this big trip that always lingered in my mind.

This travelogue is inspired by my grandfather, who kept detailed notes on his travels and always created an album of his photos and souvenirs, and included a typed log of his trip. I have saved all of his travelogues, and when I read them I come to a better understanding of what inspired him and where he derived joy in his life—I understand him more by reading his words.

The excitement of this trip is that everything was going to be new. This will be the first time I see much of the country, the first time we camped on our own, and with that newness there is a lot of excitement, anticipation, and wonderment.

My friend, Andy, and I began discussing a trip of this nature and the idea slowly fermented in our brains. We met several times over the fall of 1993, and winter and spring of 1994. I spent many hours in bookstores researching what to see, how to see it, where we can camp, etc. The amount of information to digest was a bit mind boggling; however, like any deep interest, the fun lies in investigating everything about it.

Over the prior year, we met several times and discussed where we wanted to go. We compiled lists places to see, things to bring for camping, cooking, tools, clothes—all the things we’d need to live out of the car for many weeks. We made a dozen lists and revised them many more times.

We roughly estimated that we would spend about $500 on food, $400 on lodging, and about $550 on gas for the car. Because we did not really plan our route until a night or two before, it was difficult to estimate our expenses with any accuracy.

By the time summer rolled around, we began amassing our supplies. We cordoned off an area in the house and piled everything there. It filled up quickly.

We were taking my five-speed, 1986 Honda Accord. It had 86,000 miles on it, but it got great mileage. The night before leaving, we packed it with all our stuff. A few things needed to be left behind, but everything fit fairly well, including all our camping stuff, our personal items like clothes, all our cooking supplies and food, and even a couple shoeboxes full of tapes so we could have our music with us.

Sleeping the night before proved challenging. I was pretty amped up, but eventually the body overcomes the mind and I fell to sleep. At six o'clock the alarm will go off and our adventure will begin!