March 2003 Issue - Essay # 8
The
Road Before Me
By Justin Demitri
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I’m
restless and bored, with an itch I just can’t reach between my
shoulder blades. Jobs are scarce, and a career seems out of reach. I’ve been stuck in my small town, on its small island for
nearly two years since my last trip. That unreachable itch is very
familiar: it’s telling me, it’s time to leave. Not forever, but it is
time for another trip to keep my sanity and my appreciation for all that
I have here. But where
to go, and how to get there without much money. I’m
no stranger to traveling; two backpacking trips through Europe, six
months living in the Pacific Northwest and numerous camping excursions
through New England have been enough to give me the traveling bug for
life. It now seems that I’m planning trips as soon as I return from
one, and I’ve been planning this one for quite a while. Another
jaunt through Europe would be great, or Australia, or exploring South
America for a couple of months, but this is not the best time for seeing
other countries. With the specter of an unpopular war looming, it seems
domestic travel is the best choice, unless you like being an apologist
for every policy ever enacted by the United States government.
Experiencing September 11, 2001, overseas was stressful enough. No, it’s high time that I go and see the great expanse that is the United
States. It’s
kind of embarrassing to me that I’ve seen more of Europe than of my own
country; but then again, Europe is a travel-friendly continent with
everything connected by rail. Here
in the US we do it differently and much like the pioneering spirit that
sent Prairie Schooners ever west, it is time that I discover my own
"manifest destiny" and go west, while I am still a young man.
Like everything else that screams "American," it’s a
do-it-yourself adventure. The great cross-country road trip is a right
of passage for Americans, and I feel that I have finally come of age. As
I plan for the trip my heart skips a beat thinking about driving down
the open road, down the scenic old highways and the massive freeways of
our nation like so many have done before.
Thoughts come to mind of giant water towers painted like beer
cans or ketchup bottles, kitchy roadside attractions, mini golf and
drive-ins. Camping out under a desert sky in one of the national parks
and seeing the great cities like Chicago, New Orleans, Las Vegas and San
Francisco. This is a type of
travel I have yet to experience fully, to truly be free to see anything
anytime. Even backpackers in Europe are at the mercy of the train and
bus schedules. But not on the great American road trip, where a good map
and plenty of gas money can get you to places you’ve never heard of. Looking
out your window it’s easy to play down this type of trip: "How
different can it be? It’s all the same country." Anyone who watches
network sitcoms or the like is excused for this belief, but it is so
very untrue. My brief time
in Oregon proved just how diverse we are. I mean, we don’t even use
the same words for certain things. How
many words do we have for sandwiches? Do you eat a hoagie or a sub? Do
you wash that down with pop, tonic or soda? Do you drop the last
"r" in a word or do you drawl out your syllables?
Just because we speak the same language and use the same money
does not mean we are a bland, white-washed culture.
We are fantastically diverse. Besides language and money are
there many similarities between Puritan-based New England and the
Spanish and Indian lands of the Southwest? I don’t know--and that is one
reason I have planned this trip. Yes,
we are one nation, but not of the melting pot variety; we are definitely
more a salad bowl, or a multi-layered dessert, with each layer producing a
unique taste from the layer before it.
When it comes to this, I’m a cultural glutton; I want to taste
it all. And when I’m done, I’ll go for seconds. It just boggles my mind how much there is to see in our country, and it doesn’t matter how many travel shows or National Geographic documentaries you have seen. I’ve been told uncountable times that pictures or videos of the Grand Canyon do not do it justice. And, in the end, that’s what it's all about--the Great American Road Trip is about you. It’s about finding yourself somewhere in the middle of America--in a place that may not have one photo-worthy attraction, but it’s where you found the perfect piece of pie, great barbecue, or--even better--a nice old couple whose farewell includes the line, "You’re welcome back anytime." It’s about finding people different than you, but the same. It’s about seeing places you’ve never seen, yet they seem like you’ve never left. It’s what the great ballads sing about and what the great authors tried to capture in their novels. Whether it was Tom Joad or a couple of "dharma bums," they left searching for a dream and ended finding themselves. I’m not Steinbeck, nor am I Kerouac. I’m not Hunter Thompson or Mark Twain. I’m Justin Demetri, and it’s my turn to experience my country as it was meant to be experienced: coast to coast. The time approaches when I will set out on the road to find out what this place is we call America.
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| Author's Biography Justin Demetri is a 26 year old resident of Gloucester, Massachusetts. His roots are firmly planted in the local fishing industry and his Italian-American heritage. He has a degree in Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts and is deeply interested the worldwide plight of fishermen and the preservation of traditions and cultural identity. He has traveled through Europe twice as well as the Pacific
Northwest and has many plans for other excursions.
Justin is also the Editor for Computer Review, a print and online
directory of the world’s top Information Technology companies. Email Justin at justindemetri@hotmail.com |
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