I used to work at a Juvenile Detention Shelter. At this shelter, I worked with a lot of great and interesting people. None more interesting than Mr. Chris Henninger. From the moment he told me he loved "The Shining" and punk music, I knew we'd be brothers for life. In January of 2002, he told me about a cross country trip he had taken. He said you haven't lived until you've driven across the country and he told me he did it by himself. I said "Pump yo brakes kid. By yourself?" He's done it twice. So from that point forward, I decided to save all the cash I could and make this trip happen. I was tired of my job, tired of Virginia and ready to test a certain woman's love for me. In September 2002, I quit my job, packed up a bunch of stuff (underwear, fruit cups, throwing stars) hopped in my Cherokee (R.I.P.) with a U.S. road map in hand.
Now this could be the part where i describe each and every last detail about the trip but that's not the kind of blog I have rolling here but i'll give you a glimpse. The trip started in Virginia, slowed down in Jacksonville Florida (Hello Billy), sped up three weeks later and took me to California but not without giving me glimpses of Texas and Arizona by way of Arkansas and Oklahoma. Probably forgetting something there. California was my goal and I reached it a month and a half after my start. Each state that I drove through, I bought a sticker to put on my car which by trip's end looked like gypsy van. Hell I even had a beard. The ride back, as all ride backs are, was long and unevenftul. Only one speeding ticket which occurred in Wyoming. Let's just it took him a while to catch up to this wily rascal! And turns out, my legs or cleavage didn't dissuade him. Coming back to Virginia was a sobering experience but I thought of Chris and what he said. If I wasn't living before i did it, I surely am now. Some would say I became a man but come on now. This is me we're talking about here.
In truth, lots of wonderful and exciting things happened to me because of that trip. I finally learned that Virginia wasn't the only spot on the map and that there were literally hundreds of "Manassas" type towns out there. I felt sad as i typed that. lol. One stop i made on that trip eventually landed me a dream job. Thanks to Chrys and Rich Tuttle, I met a wild man named Grubbs who got me gigs as a production assistant on major commercial projects in North Carolina. Coke, Texaco, Husquvarna, Southwest Airlines, Nascar etc. OH and remember that girl's love i was trying to test? (Paragraph 1. Second to last sentence) Well she finally realized I was gone and called me while I was in NC. She expressed her feelings and I raced on back to VA. Three short weeks later I found out she wasn't exactly the love of my life nor faithful. Sort of like finding out there's a razor blade in your Halloween candy. You think....who does this to candy corn and has a heart? Despite its ups, downs, lefts and rights, I wouldn't change a thing and will do the same again with my beautiful wife (insert any joke here). Well I take that back. I would change one thing: my underwear.
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