Car or No Car?

Now, a lot of people have asked me whether or not I will bring my car on this expedition. Up until now, that answer has always been a strong “no”. However, now that I have some nomadic experience under my belt, I have started to consider the option of bringing my car.

I just moved out of Provo and into my parent’s house in W. Jordan. So, my two weeks of nomadic beta-testing have successfully finished, and now it’s crunch time. I’ve gotten a taste of what it’s like to have to hitchhike everywhere and always still some place else. Now I can use that experience to determine whether I should make any changes to the game plan.

As far as a car is concerned, there are certain reasons why a car would be helpful. I think the question really comes down to what my main purpose of the trip is. Well, one of the things that I am looking forward to on the trip is freedom. You know, I have all of my possessions in a backpack, so I can get up and go whenever I feel like it. However, my freedom is actually limited to my ability to get assistance from others.

One of the things I was thinking about is how when I stay with people, I feel obligated to spend time with my hosts. I mean, most of the time when people invite me to stay at their house, they probably are doing it for the experience of having me there, and use becoming acquainted. I’ll have many great stories to tell, and if they are up for taking me out on the town, then we could do that. However, some nights, I may just want to go exploring on my own. If I’m staying with somebody, I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming back at 1 in the morning. But, if I have my own car, I could always just crash in my car, so I could plan on staying out later certain nights.

I also see a car being very handy if I want to go on dates or what not. Obviously, people will understand my lack of transportation when I’ve explained my trip idea. But, trying to take girls out on dates without a car is just much more difficult.

The thing I like about not having a car is that I’m never tied down. I mean, if I want to fly from California to Florida, I then have to worry about where to put my car and how to get it back. So, having a car will limit my options as far as that is concerned.

Another thought is that I will still probably do a lot of the same things if I have a car. I’ll still try to hitchhike as much as possible because it’s cheaper, and it’s fun to meet people every day. I’ll still want to stay at people’s houses, because sleeping in a car every night just can’t be that comfortable. I’ll still want to go to work with different people and learn about occupations and locations.

I guess the question just comes down to what my purpose for this trip is. To me, the idea of hitchhiking around the country just sounds way cooler and is way fun to tell people. But, will it be easier for me to achieve my objectives with or without a car? One of my thoughts is that if I want to stay and live in a place for a month or two, I could easily do that with a car. Once I find what I want to do, I can just park and stay there. Whereas, if I don’t have  a car, I would have to arrange how to get my car eventually.

If my purpose is genuinely to find something else to do in my life, then it seems like taking a car would be a better option. It would give me a lot more flexibility to stop and live in a place if I feel like it’s a good fit. However, if my purpose is really to have an adventure, then going without my car is probably a better fit. Having a car definitely takes out some of the fear and anxiety which I was excited about, but it might be a more practical way to accomplish what I’m actually looking to get out of this trip.

More Doubts and Fears

I’ve started having some worries today about my trip. As I’ve been pondering and trying to figure out what my fears are about, I think I’ve come to a better understanding of why I’m nervous. I’m scared that I’m not going to accomplish what I’d like to accomplish with my trip. I’m scared that I’m going to get out on my trip, and start having second thoughts about what I’m doing. Like, with every job that I’ve had with graduation. I can see myself questioning my motives for doing what I’m doing, and not having sufficient motivation to carry through with it. I really don’t want that to happen. I mean, I’ve been having doubts with every decision I’ve made with graduation, and this is something that I’ve felt really good about and have been really excited to do.

I think one of the main reasons for this fear is the fact that I’m pretty sure there isn’t any job that will excite me. I want to be an entrepreneur, and I really don’t think I’ll feel satisfied until I’m successful in my own venture. So, is the purpose of this trip really to figure out what occupation I could enjoy? Hmmm, now that’s the question. Although I would like to be able to find an occupation that I could enjoy and learn from while I work on my own business, I know that any occupation I have will be seen as a short-term solution to help me accomplish my long-term goals. So, really, I don’t think the purpose of my trip is to find an occupation I would enjoy, although I do think that would be a nice byproduct.

I guess I just really want to be sure of what my purpose for this trip is, because I’d hate to build a blog around a certain idea, and then want to change it half-way through. So, I think my real objective and purpose of this trip is to gain a breadth of experience. I want to understand how things are in the real world. How do people do certain jobs and feel fulfilled doing them? What kind of places are out there that I haven’t experienced? What kind of people can I meet and learn from? What do the big and small companies of this country look like, and how do they operate? What kinds of problems exist in the lives of people all over the country that could be fixed by businesses?

I really think that no matter what I do on my trip, I’ll feel like I’ve accomplished my goal if I learn and grow from my experiences. So, really, I can do the same things I’ve been thinking about. I can try to go to work with different people. I can try to tour different businesses across the country. I can stay with a different person every night. Because, in the end, I just want to have a lot of experience and find out what my next step in life really is. I guess I shouldn’t end my trip until I have a specific plan for the future. I can see myself stopping in a city, seeing a good opportunity for a business, and staying there in order to bring it to fruition.

Now, that’s definitely a hard purpose to portray to other people. It’s been hard enough to tell people what I’m doing as it is. Just saying that I’m hitch hiking across the country really doesn’t do the trip justice. Whatever, I’m not doing this for other people anyway.

On another note, I’ve been trying to establish a schedule that I can maintain while I’m on the road. So, I’ve started doing exercises that I should be able to do, no matter where I stay. I’m doing calisthenics every night and running every morning. It feels great when I’m consistently exercising. How come I ever let myself not exercise regularly? I love running. Every time I go running, I feel so good and I wonder why I’m not 100% on doing it every day. I guess that’s just life. Constantly trying to do what you know you should do.

Well, that’s all the thoughts I got for today. There’s a funny video clip from the new twilight movie that I’ve been showing to lots of people that I’d like to share: