Journey to the West
In November 2012, Travis and I packed up our belongings and finally headed westward, to the City of Dreams. The move to California had been a long time coming. I lived in Milwaukee, WI for a fruitful and serendipitous seven years (and before that New York), all the while thinking I’d make it back home to Los Angeles soon enough.
It’s never an easy thing to start anew, but with my best friend by my side, the process became an adventure and the drive, a road trip of epic proportions. We opted for the northern route, farther as it was, hoping we’d take in as much natural beauty we could. With my 31st birthday a deadline to make it to our new home, we had 6 days of leisurely driving to take in the most picturesque Americana landscapes this country has to offer. With accompanying tunes from our favorites, Springsteen, Neil Young and Townes, we made our way (barely given the impending winter) to the otherworldly Badlands in South Dakota, fighting brutal winds, snow drifts and abandoned roads, then to Mount Rushmore, which thanks to the time of year, was sparsely populated and finally, to the Black Hills to see the awe-inspiring Crazy Horse Memorial. On we drove for hundreds of miles across barren roads and cattle fields in Wyoming to get to the majestic Grand Tetons, which then took us through Idaho, Utah, Nevada and eventually, California. Have a look.
