Completing my Masters in Occupational Safety & Health from Columbia Southern University was a major accomplishment.  And then it was time for graduation, if I wanted to go.

During the third week in October, graduation was set to be held in Orange Beach, AL.   Being that all of the education I received was online, it would have been easy to pass up going altogether.  I wouldn’t know anyone and nobody would know me.  I wouldn’t be missed. But I knew that if I didn’t go, I would regret it.  So, I set my course to drive from my home in Colorado to the coast of Alabama.

I asked many people to go with me but all were unavailable for one reason or another.  Still I was committed.  I had to go.  I promised myself I would (and to my life coach).  So I set the path.  Remembering traveling across the country on mostly back roads for six months in my 1979 Volkswagen transporter bus after my undergrad, I intended to do the same.  I earned my undergrad from the University of Colorado at Boulder. As all my colleagues left to travel Europe, I planned to travel the USA. I bought my bus, learned how to maintain and fix it while on the road, packed it up and headed northeast.  With the bus converted to sleeping and writing quarters and gas hovering around $1 per gallon, I had all I needed.

I traveled first to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming before heading to Mt. Rushmore and then northeast again towards the headwaters of the Mississippi.  At each stop, I decided where to travel next – what roads to take; what to see; how far the Balanced Rock was out of my way;  and so on. I stayed at state parks, hotel parking lots, back alleys and even on the beach of Lake Michigan.

I wanted this trip to Alabama to be very much the same except Id be driving a rented Nissan Altima (primarily for mpg as gas is no longer $1/gal).  My girlfriend asked me where I was going to be on certain nights during my trip to the Gulf.  I really had no idea.  I knew I had three days before my graduation.  I hoped to be in southwest Kansas or even the panhandle of Oklahoma on the first day.  But where exactly, I had no idea.

It wasn’t until later in the evening on the first day, I decided on a state park, Meade State Park in southwest Kansas – almost to Oklahoma.  State parks seemed like a good place to stay as I could camp out or even sleep in the car as I had done before and in the morning, I could take a shower.  Meade State Park was nearly empty which meant I had a choice of the best camping spot and also the best sunrise.  As planned, the showers were open and warm.

After getting back into the car, I set my sights on driving all the way across Oklahoma.  Surprisingly, the scenery along the two-lane roads I took was interesting.  I drove through Anadarko, Ada and Allen – all in the OK state.  I even stopped at the Shattuck Windmill Museum which consisted of a slew of windmills from the turn of the century.  I never would have seen these or true small working town USA from any interstate.  And one may never know what Wednesday nights looked like. Wednesday night is church night and whole town piled into the local churches. Towns seemed empty. Gas station attendants were preparing for the onslaught of customers as soon as services were over. As I drive further east over rolling hills, through more small towns surrounded by the colors of fall, Oklahoma soon passed.

I spent my second night at Lake Catherine State Park outside Hot Springs, Arkansas.  Again, a beautiful park but this time, camping was limited.  It was “the Halloween weekend.”  Still, I found a good spot near their warm showers and with a good view of tomorrow’s sunrise.  This is a park I’d like to come back to with my kids for the hiking, swimming, fishing, boating and camping experiences.

After seeing the sunrise and paying my park fees, I headed southeast to coast of Alabama.  For most of the trip, I used the navigation available on my iPhone.  I had to be creative in requiring my path to avoid all interstates at all costs.  Sometimes, I’d have to navigate from small town to small town just to avoid the accidental merge onto an interstate.  Once, I stopped just short of an interstate to avoid the navigated route into an interstate. The drive took me past lumber mills in Arkansas and a huge brick plant in Mississippi.  Speaking of Mississippi, to get across the Mississippi River was one of the few moments I had to take an interstate.  I remember this leg being about 9 miles into Vicksburg, MS. But quickly I was off again.

Once I got into Mobile, Alabama, there isn’t a convenient way to getthrough town or to Orange Beach, Alabama without driving once again on an interstate.  I stayed in side streets until I had to get on Interstate 10. Then the long bridge from around the Church Street East Historic District across Mobile Bay.  That was scenic but tacked on another 24 miles onto my interstate mileage.

It was 7:30 when I made it to the welcome graduation party.  The festivities ended at 8 and even more pressing, the food was slowly being picked up.  I took whatever was left including warm lemonade and promptly sat down next to lots of graduates, all of which I didn’t know.  After meeting Gail and her family from Wisconsin, I drove to my hotel where I would be for two nights.  It sat right across from the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama.  Nothing fancy, but better than another night in the car. The next day, I had some time to walk up and down the beach, eat some local fare and walk for my graduation.

The morning after graduation, I had planned to hug the coast through Louisiana and into Houston, Texas to see my sister.  Sadly, in response to the storms from the hurricane driving across Mexico (and since I now had a masters in safety), I couldn’t be unsafe. So I decided to postpone a trip across the south and head back northwest along a similar path as the one that brought me to the Gulf.

But I wanted to be sure that I didn’t drive on any of the same roads I had already been on; so I headed more north towards Meridian, MS.  Then a bit west and across the Mississippi River again but avoided the interstate this time.  The two lane road was supported by a gorgeous white suspension bridge.  On the other side, I drove into the town of Lake Village, Arkansas… again.  I drove through this town on the way down.  I ended up driving only a few miles of road I had been on but this little town was a cool place.  Lake Village sat on an oxbow lake, which a long time ago was actually part of the Mississippi River but had since been cut off.  I ate at JJ’s Cafe and had the buffet lunch.  Southern fare and quite good.

I was making good time and continued driving west through Arkansas through Prescott and De Queen.  Shortly after and before Broken Bow, OK, the sun went down and the storms were hitting me with rain and wind.  And being on the back roads (even farm roads at one point), I was getting nervous.  If I broke down or fell off the road, or whatever, there was no telling when someone might find me.  And cell service was no more.  That stretch was the scariest stretch I had.  Still, I continued on more back roads until I was able to find a hotel in Durant, OK.  A hotel was a great decision after being in the car for nearly 14 hours.

The next day was the longest and most boring drive of the entire trip.  I headed west again out of Durant along the southern edge of Oklahoma.  I drove across Lake Texoma.  I wish I absorbed more of that view because the rest of the drive was going to be the most boring day yet. The southern border of Oklahoma and northern border of Texas is terrible.  “DON’T DRIVE THIS ROUTE.”  The land is flat and nothing grows.  Being on a two lane road means that you don’t drive very fast and you go through every single town along the way.  This took forever.

Reaching Amarillo may seem like a good thing except there were a few more miles of interstate to get around the city and still, there is nothing to look at.  I headed north out of Amarillo to Boise City, OK and then finally back into Colorado.   A wind farm in the southeast corner of the state was at least something to look at.  After stopping for a bite to eat and three more hours from Lamar, CO,  I would be home.   And sleeping in my own bed.

Like I said before, I could have passed the chance to walk for my graduation, especially when I realized nobody was going with me.  I could have flown down there like almost everyone else.  But I stuck to my guns.  I committed myself to do this.  I promised myself.  I took it one step further and took only back roads.  It was a challenge that I could overcome, if I wanted it.  And I did want it.

It is truly amazing what is possible when you set yourself to go after it.  Relatively minor planning for somethings, like this trip, and a whole lot of commitment made my trip possible.  It also resulted in other successes I’ve enjoyed in my life recently which I will share in future blogs.  The point here is not only can you see, touch and taste our great country by driving relatively slower through it, but you can accomplish anything you commit yourself to do.  I did.