This story is about Mike. And his first road trip.
Mike and I met on our birthday week, last September. He turned 12... I turned 30. Pretty interesting singularity in the big picture of things--now looking back close to a year later. Life is pretty much divided into a trilogy of trilogies... kind of like star wars. Here I was ending my first major trimester, him just barely beyond his first minor trimester. For the kid that means teenager stuff. For me, whatever you call finding what you believe in and going after that prime directive.
Part of that finding and going after involved signing up to sponsor Mike last fall. He comes from a pretty impoverished childhood, and the best birthday present he could have had, unbeknownst to me at the time, was just someone to hang out with outside the house. That's about it. Such a beautifully simple thing. And when you start with simple things, they grow into fantastic meta-things. Mike gets straight As now, has become an amazing athlete, has a great sense of humor, the curiosity of a mad genius, and even discusses some pretty deep and mature concepts for someone his age--due in part, no doubt, to some of the dire conditions he has experienced growing up. My roommates and I have grown to love him, and hopefully his opportunities will continue to flourish well after we are physically gone.
One thing I did get to share with him before having to go away is a road trip. Wanderlust can derive from so many deep rooted desires... but it doesn't solidify until you actually hit the road. That's something I wanted Mike to experience now. No pretense of a family vacation in a station wagon or visit to a relative or really any reason for
him to go anywhere. Just a trip. Some of my best solo memories are of the motorcycle days, which I covered ad nauseam in that other old blog of mine... amateur chautauquas, ultimately self reflecting despite every attempt to remain
life reflecting. But those trips were amazing, and useful for the soul, and always at their finest when done on a whim, sometimes with no reason to really
go anywhere. Of course memories shared with friends beat out the solo adventures any day (with
others you easily transcend soul to find spirit), so getting to combine the rambling of a road trip with the company of bud is a great--and time cherished--amalgam.
This little adventure was for him the universe. For me, an eerie likeness of so many trips gone before. Fleeing wildfires... writing to loved ones... stopping to hike mountains... (testing how long we can coast down hills without using brakes)... old diners... sunup to sundown, hammering on, wind beating, odometer ticking. Although I had a purpose... get myself to a wedding in Detroit then get my car delivered to Boston (thanks Chris James for the parking spot)... every day I said "Mike, we're aiming more or less in this direction, why don't you map it out and tell me where to go?" Learning to live in the now is an important development, addressed by so many platitudes but not often taken to heart. The bottom line is... just drive.
The night before Mike and I set off, I met with others in the desert and celebrated our friend Mark... whose funeral three years ago happened to be the final stop of my last and longest motorcycle trip.
And after hugs and goodbyes and see you laters and I'm going to miss you so much's, Mike and I set off, the fine antelope valley wind literally at our backs, and for the first time in his life, he left the state of California.
Nevada flew by after a quick stop at the Mad Greek in Baker... and then Utah, and Zion. Time afforded a few nice hikes in the main canyon. For Mike, a real canyon.
Emerald pools
Uncharted territory... Cliffs? Echoes?
Careful not to lose the bomber hat up top
Top of overlook trail in Zion! We were fortunate to find a campsite late that night. I deployed a hammock in which I would subsequently freeze, and Mike waited quietly by the fire for a while then took the sound option of racking out in the car. He got an opportunity to feed a pair of mating-pen horses the next morning before we pressed on.
The drive through the Rockies was the first big gasp of discomfort, as some paradigms began to become unphased for Mike. How could we spend so long in a car? These mountains just keep coming... how big is this world? Colorado would prove to be a literal reboot of the imagination. In Denver we were met by a wonderful group of people, all friends of mine from a previous life in Florida (apparently I am the last one to figure out that CO is the place to be). They have all made amazing lives and have beautiful families, and Mike got to hear their stories over a BBQ. My friend Chris had us stay over, offering a great assortment of movies for Mike (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs would come into play later).
The next morning the early birds (that includes Mike, does not include me) rolled out to Wash park and he got to experience a group
CrossFit workout. After Mike got back, things got really interesting when Chris started showing his airplanes.
Chris got out of the Air Force when we were in Florida and is a national expert in all aspects of small UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). His
Falcon UAV provides a fantastic capability to government officials in CO, and getting to see how his company is doing was exciting for both Mike and me.
Chris invited us to go fly one of his planes, and we gladly accepted. I couldn't get any pictures of Mike operating, as I was myself employed with my finger hovering over the "abort if the airplane does something wild" button. But to experience the thrill of a remotely piloted airplane, and one with an autopilot and real-world capabilities on it to boot, was a rush for Mike!
Always a frisbee break when able!
Thanks Chris, Mike, Kim, Dylan, Erin, Aaron, Liza, Ethan, Kristina, for being a motivational influence to Mike, and I can't be grateful enough to all of you for making time to see us during our nomadic plow through the mountains...
...which took us next to Colorado Springs.
The Air Force Academy... not necessarily on the way to Detroit... and not something I could let him miss. Although I don't feel military academies are necessarily the quintessential source for producing future military leadership, this place represents service, goal setting, and opportunity on many spectra. All the kid needs to hear is that you can come to college at a place like this for free if you work hard in school, and that gets the neurons firing, especially for someone who won't be able to pay for higher education.
Not to marginalize the aspects of what the core values of the military can offer folks looking to build a foundation in their lives. When an 18 year old holding a trained falcon told Mike he knew he wanted to make something of himself when
he was 12, that was all he needed to hear. In fact, back home he has been fortunate to be accepted into the Civil Air Patrol at Edwards AFB, and we know he is going to make strides with that great group of youth.
All deep revelations aside, what does a 12 year old really think is cool? Planes and parachutes...
In the spirit of spending extra time in Colorado without thought of deadlines, I called up my old mentor Tracy, a legend in the Air Force test community and great friend, and Mike and I paid him and his son Sean a visit. Mike had a hoot learning, as we all have, from Tracy's enveloping stories and pragmatic wisdom. Sean and Mike talked about school, video games, cars, engineering... my brother Darren came by from his flight school in Pueblo and we had a great dinner. And at 10 that night we left for Nebraska, hoping to catch some smooth night driving along with 18 wheelers, another tenet of the classic American road trip. Thanks Darren, Tracy, Sean!
Slogging through 400 miles of midwest interstate construction, Mike got some practice writing postcards and using the mail. We visited my high school friend Mike and his wife Erin, and Mike and Mike talked sports and video games. Then on to visit John and Anita, who offered Mike a basement complete with a half-dog-half-bear to keep him company for the night. Thanks guys!
We caught some beach, and on to another basement in Kalamazoo, where Chuck and Rebecca put us up for the night. This time half-dog-half-circus midget for company. Thanks guys!
Chuck is working on the solution to elephantiasis. He's an old college roommate, foreign area specialist, former military intelligence officer, to name a few. Now he plays with micro bugs and is almost finished with a bio doctorate. We offered to assist him with his research. Mike learned the intricacies of scanning electron microscopy, examined various worms and parasites, and worked on his evil laughter.
Once the transformation was complete, Mike worked on his meatball rainstorm experiments... the whale statue is obviously a requirement
What happened instead is Mike accidentally opened a wormhole in space, and we were suddenly standing in our high rise hotel in Detroit (we did get a chance to say bye to Chuck and eat some blue moon ice cream before this happened)
And there was art history...
Wooden motorcycles are more than art... they make great paperweights if you are a five story giant.
Fore!
Mikey got medieval
After a one hour facial recovery after that war cry, he met some of the greats
He created a vanitas piece...
And my other brother Dave drove in to join the fray
Dave took Mike out on the town, and I saddled up for the wedding of another old roommate. Always great to catch up with old friends, and Ben is another former Air Force type, now practicing law and married to a great gal. Thanks Dave, Ben, Hayley, Ben's family, Ernest, Sarah!
The last gasp of discomfort came on the other long drive of the trip. This time through the Appalachians and on towards Olde Towne. Yeah, there were even leprechauns waiting for us on the other side.
We were greeted by the revered Revere himself and took a nice walk.
Paul recommend Bartley's for dinner, and all was good in the world
More doggie time
And what's a trip to Boston without some T. My mom was able to fly in for a few days to enjoy some east coast time as well!
And to culminate things... we had to see the game. Brilliant
Mike had a lot of new experiences on this trip. I had one... first time I've seen the world through a 12 year old's eyes in a long time. It was an adventure, and a good one. Here is Mike's list... it's a little longer than mine. Enjoy:
Road trip
Leaving Cali
Las Vegas!
Longest time away from Mom
Horse mating
Postcards
National park
Park camping
Canyon hiking
Cliff hiking
Shuttle rides
Gyros!
Meeting Dan's brothers
Flying an remotely piloted plane
Echo, echo, echo
Crossfit club workout (Wash Park)
College visit
Skydivers
Falcon!
Longest time in car
License plate game - he rocked me 30-6
War hero - Tracy Scanlan
Highway construction
City skyline - skyscrapers
Tollways
Great Lakes
Basements!
Walk home from a restaurant
Blue moon ice cream
Sand dunes
Dart boards
Biology lab
Lab coat
Microscope
Dark room
Biology college final (he got some right)
Corgi
Fireflies
High rise hotel room
Express elevators
Valet parking
Sarcophagus
JET LAG
Art museum
Sat on Rebel motorcycle
Sat in a Camaro
Sat in a Silverado
Double rainbow
Subway!
Metro bus
Taxi
Indie movie theater
First major league game - Fenway!!!
Canadian Nat'l Anthem (Blue Jays)
Airplane ride
