On The Road

Finally, I am moving. Left this morning. Writing tonight from Franklin, Indiana.

For those of you who do not know, I am driving to Alaska. The goal is to arrive in Skagway, Alaska by July 30. Then it will be a few days visiting my buddy Emily on the island of Sitka and a week of bicycle touring beginning back at Skagway. I am very excited to see my dear friend and her home. I am just as excited about being able to explore some of the spaces in between North Carolina and the Yukon

Besides the freedom of the road, gorgeous and interesting places, and intriguing and fascinating people, these are the things that are helping inspire me on the road:

Book I am currently reading:
"Undaunted Courage" by Stephen Ambrose -I should have read this last year before I did the Lewis and Clark seminar in Montana. It's the story of one of the greatest expeditions in history and the president who backed it all. I'm not physically close to the Lewis and Clark trail (maybe on the return drive), but I feel very close to the spirit of the Corps of Discovery.

Books that that have gotten me here:
"On the Road" - Kerouac, "Grapes of Wrath" - Steinbeck, "White Fang" - London

Text message:
"Hey coach can u bring back sarah palin for me if not a shirt lol :)"
from Enrique, one of my wrestlers. I am just glad he knows who Sarah Palin is, even if he has never met a punctuation mark in his life (and no, :) doesn't count).

Theme songs of my trip:
"Lost!" - Coldpay
Running with the idea of "Not all who wander are lost". Plus, it's a great song.


"Rise" - Eddie Vedder
from Into the Wild soundtrack. I have other music on my iphone, but this CD is the one in the car player. Also, the embedded video has sweet scenes from the movie.
Such is the way of the world
You can never know
Just where to put all your faith
And how will it grow


"When You Were Young" - The Killers
This song just came out when I was last in Alberta. I remember ripping around Banff and Jasper in my rented Chrsyler 300 with this blasting. You can believe that this song will be loud when I the Rockies. Plus, I needed a Killers' song on here.


"Highwayman" - The Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kirstofferson and Johnny Cash)
This is for the Superfans. It's the song the GT Superfans play and sing before we go into every game. I get chills when I watch the video, right about 2:05 when Johnny Cash breaks into verse 4.
I fly a starship across the Universe divide
And when I reach the other side
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can
Perhaps I may become a highwayman again
Or I may simply be a single drop of rain
But I will remain
And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again

"Drive" - REM
The quintessential road trip song.

"Society"

One of my favorite movies of the last year came from one of my favorite books. Senn Penn made John Krakauer's "Into the Wild" into a movie and I really enjoyed it. I thought Chris McCandless was well portrayed as a bright and engaging young man but I also thought the movie did a great job of not glorifying him into a heroic figure. It's as if Alexander Supertramp stepped right out of a Greek tragedy: in many ways mighty and brilliant, but ultimately flawed.

Eddie Vedder does the entire soundtrack and I highly recommend it. My favorite song on the soundtrack is "Society", track #8. I can't get enough of it.

The irony is great. Here is Chris McCandless, saying goodbye to society and hoping it's not too lonely with him gone. In the movie it's McCandless, the Supertramp, who is "scared" and "lonely". That's the most haunting scene to me, because I see a lot of myself in McCandless: the wanderlust, fascination with nature, rejection of the "rat-race", infatuation with Alaska, love of Jack London and Russian authors. While all of that is great, it means nothing if we do not have others to share it with.

We are made for relationships; I truly believe that. From small interactions with the cashier at Target to friendships, family and love, we are not supposed to be alone. We can only enrich our lives so much on our own, but it's the relationships we have with others around us that ultimately bring us fullness.

Here's a clip if you have not heard the song, the lyrics are below. Get the entire album, it's worth the 15 bucks.


Oh it's a mystery to me.
We have a greed, with which we have agreed
And you think you have to want more than you need
Until you have it all, you won't be free

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely, without me

When you want more than you have you think you need
And when you think more then you want your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
cause when you have more than you think, you need more space

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely, without me
Society, crazy indeed
I hope you're not lonely, without me

There's those thinkin' more or less, less is more
But if less is more, how you keepin' score?
It means for every point you make, your level drops
Kinda like you're startin' from the top
and you can't do that

Society, you're a crazy breed
I hope you're not lonely, without me

Society, crazy indeed
I hope you're not lonely, without me

Society, have mercy on me
I hope you're not angry, if I disagree

Society, crazy indeed
I hope you're not lonely...without me.