Ryan's Journal

“Sometimes all that we can know is there’s no such thing as no regrets…

I’m not running, I’m not hiding, I’m not reaching

I’m just resting in the arms of the great wide open

Gonna pull my soul in and I’m almost home”

— “Almost Home”, Mary Chapin Carpenter

After three months, nearly 13,000 miles, nine states, four Canadian provinces/territories, and an ungodly amount of canned soup I returned home today. While the trip is over, strangely enough it felt like more of a beginning than an ending as I was turning off of 101 towards the house. The future is bright and very full of possibilities.

Spent the majority of the day driving through western Utah and Nevada, and while the country was often pretty it was the type of place that I was glad to just be passing through. Stopped in Reno to get dinner, and for only the second time in the past month I’m stuffed. I had seven quarters with me and decided to try my luck — the first one was a dud, the second quarter won me fifty cents, and the third hit for fifty dollars. Five semesters of college calculus was more than enough to tell me to quit while I was ahead, but perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a way to support myself without rejoining the corporate world 😛

I was forced to make an early exit from Yellowstone today when a giant snowstorm moved in and threatened to close every mountain pass from Montana to Idaho. With that departure it means that the trip is now in its final stage, with just a bit of driving to do before I cross into California and then make it back to San Francisco. The past three months have been much more than just a road trip — I woke up each morning eagerly anticipating whatever that day might reveal to me, and almost every day something happened that I’m sure I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It is going to be a challenge trying to continue living life in this manner after I return home.

Stopped briefly in Missoula while driving down to Yellowstone. A pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a loaf of fresh bread made that stop extremely worthwhile.

The weather gods are making amends for the bad weather I had earlier by giving me sunny days with bright blue skies. The only downside of the cloudless days is that they lead to colder nights, with temperatures dipping down to the low-teens or single digits.

Spent the morning hiking in Glacier National Park from Logan Pass to Hidden Lake. The scenery was great, but the solitude was even better — I sat down by the lake and couldn’t hear anything but the occasional boulder falling, and I didn’t see another person until I was halfway back. The mountain goats are keeping to the high slopes, but the deer and elk are showing up in droves each day at dawn, often no more than twenty feet away.

The northern lights are actually visible down here, but the difference between the tiny smear of light on the horizon and the bending, twisting lights that filled the entire sky in Alaska are extreme. Still, seeing them again feels a bit like reminiscing with an old friend.

Passed through Calgary this morning and got rather lost — having more than one road to follow is something I’ll have to get used to again. After Calgary the land turned to prairie, with golden hills rolling to the horizons, blue sky above that defined “big sky”, and the snow-capped Rockies just to the west. It’s been a dream of mine for many years to one day buy a ranch and settle down on it, and in those dreams the country has always looked exactly like what I was seeing today.

Made a brief stop in Waterton National Park and had several bison cross the road around my car — it’s normally not smart to get too close to one of these beasts, but I was in a protected area that had been fenced off so I figured these guys were used to cars, and as a result had an eye-to-eye view with three bulls (I was in the car — I’m stupid but not crazy).

While it’s sad to be leaving the wilds behind, there have been a couple of benefits to returning to civilization. In Browning, Montana I stopped at Subway for dinner, and ate a sandwich that consisted of stringy chicken, stale bread, and old lettuce, and still tasted ten times better than canned soup. Another benefit of returning south is that I’ve had at least one radio station for most of the day. Radio highlights included an introduction on CBC (“Let me bring out a man who plays the bagpipes professionally, which means he’s far from rich and his neighbors want him dead”) and a Budweiser salute to Starbucks (“Sure you charge five dollars for a cup of coffee, but what takes real guts is putting out that tip jar”).

Alberta decided to do an impersonation of the Yukon Territory last night, and as a result I woke up with a layer of ice on both the outside and inside of the car. After thawing out I headed to the trails around Lake Louise and spent the next six hours roaming — I finally ended up at the Plain of the Six Glaciers, which is a spot high up in the mountains that overlooks the lake and (surprise!) six glaciers.

After leaving Lake Louise I decided to take a secondary road towards Calgary, and right at the park border encountered twenty bighorn sheep on the road — they come down to lick it for minerals or salts or something. None of these animals had any fear whatsoever, and I watched a few of them from my car at less than two feet distance. Watching sheep from a park road stretches the bounds of what could be considered a “wildlife encounter”, but it was nevertheless amazing to get to see these animals so close up. Their eyes are a deep amber color, and if the eyes really are windows to the soul then these animals have extraordinarily peaceful souls.