Almost two years ago I was cuddled up on my faux-leather, uni-standardised sofa when a rather large penny dropped. Halfway into my three year degree, I still had no idea of what I wanted to do with my life following my graduation; and what better way to avoid making that decision than giving me an excuse not to have to make it. My mind was combusting with excitement, random cataclysmic events bursting with ideas in my now fixated head. America. The United States of. The USA. Walmart-land. This was my decision.
And so it was there, in a more than likely lacklustre amount of clothing, that the next two years of my existence were determined. The following few nights consisted of me sitting for hours on my laptop, tabs aplenty, scouring the internet for information, ideas, and plans. I looked at everything from flight prices and RV rental, to the opening times of the Devil's Rope Barbed Wire Museum. No matter how small, serious or mundane these things were, they all contributed to an important motivating factor: excitement. It has been this state of excitement that has meant, two years on, I am now sitting at my laptop with a US VISA and plance tickets, quibbling over the best way to get from JFK Airport to Manhattan.
I'm not gonna tug you along through a sob story of all the hard work and effort I put in to make this trip possible (although I think having to use email again is worth a mention. I mean seriously, email?), but I will say one thing, it was bloody boring. A three and a half month road trip through the States in an RV with two other guys, two guitars, and an egg shaker, however, will not be.
It’s hard to say exactly what this trip, or this blog, will consist of, because I have no idea. The freedom to drive where we want, when we want, is the whole core of it. Below is a vague outline of a possible route, but who knows what it’ll look like afterwards. The only thing I can be sure of is that beer, blues and Britishisms will be occurring themes. What me and my two counterparts, Ben and Gareth, aim to achieve from this journey is the creation of a whole new mental filing cabinet of embarrassing, amusing and awkward anecdotes to whip out at the pub in the years to come. I’m not getting goosebumps over the possibility of seeing the Empire State Building, or the Seattle Space Needle. I’m looking forward to that time Ben had to shit in a sandwich bag; that evening we spent playing cards with Randy and Wilma from the RV next door; and that time we told a bunch of girls in a bar we were extras in Harry Potter and were friends with Rupert Grint on Facebook (all of which I intend on making happen).
Not having actually travelled anywhere yet I wasn’t too sure what I wanted this first blog post to achieve. At the moment I can see it mainly serving to fill some space, and giving me something to feel guilty about when I come home in several months time, and this is all that’s here. But we'll see.
'Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler'
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