A Moment for Day 1

First of all, I have made it to my first campsite! Vendauwoo Glen Campground is beautiful even though everything is pretty foggy. I am trying to write this entry and get it posted before it gets dark, so please excuse the run-on sentences and any spelling errors. Additionally, please enjoy this picture of me with the car set up and Tikvah having absolutely none of my shenanigans and sitting on our box of food.

I drove a lot today, actually the most I will drive this whole trip hopefully! Five plus hours on the road gave me a lot of time to think about of things, but I kept coming back to all of the things that have made it possible for me to be here right now. One question, you lovely readers may be asking yourself, is who is paying for all this. The answer: a settlement I got from a car crash I was in as a high school freshman.

For those of you unaware of my history with driving, it may come as a surprise that I was unable to learn how to drive until I was 18. The car crash mentioned above was a triple rollover on black ice in the dead of night out of cell range, so I was a wee - bit traumatized to say the least. It is honestly such a shock that I am out here, in Wyoming, having drove all by myself of highways with speed limits of 75 MPH. I worked really hard to get to this day and am proud to say that not only can I drive, but I am driving around the country for my own enjoyment!

The next thing I though about was the inciting moment that made me decide to go on this road trip and all of the little pieces of my story that made it seem like a good idea. My mother always talked about all the road trips that she went on with her best friend after college. They journeyed out west from the east coast and stopped wherever and whenever they wanted. When she describes these trips, I find myself rewriting the definition of freedom, of bliss, of purpose. So, when my roommate and friend, Fran, jokingly said I should come visit her in Wisconsin this summer, I jumped at the opportunity and the trip was planned by the next week.

What I have failed to mention thus far is that I am named after my mother’s best friend. Liz Closter and my mother look like sisters in photos. She has the same straight dark brown hair and crows feet by her eyes at 25 from smiling so much. My mom always says she was the more adventurous one, the one to take the leap just for the hell of it. She is actually the reason that I grew up in Steamboat Springs, because one of their infamous road trips ended at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass with a flat tire and Liz convinced my mom that they should just turn back around and spend the rest of the winter in Steamboat. They both started working at a preschool and teaching ski school on the weekends. They got bigger and better jobs and made friends with other ski bums who had decided to stay. Liz’s story ends with a drunk driver at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass on a dark winter night. The way my mom tells it, the whole town, or at least the people that mattered, knew within the hour. My “uncle” Chuck, at the time a volunteer firefighter, held her while she took her last breaths and then raced down the pass to spread the word. As people found out, of course they were heartbroken, but by the time of her memorial in Steamboat, people had found this energy. My mother says that it was like people found their passion, a motivator, a driving force. Uncle Chuck is now the chief of the fire department, uncle Tommy runs a non-profit for mentally disabled individuals, and my mother decided that teaching was her calling and she has been at it for 25+ years. I was born within the year of her death.

Why am I telling you this…honestly, I am not entirely sure at this time. I feel like there is some untold power in being the namesake of this women. Obviously, I am not trying to become her or anything, but right now I would like to find my driving force. It seems like she had this effect on the people around her, so it is about time that I open myself up to the history of my name and to all the opportunities and possibilities that come my way…

Talk to you tomorrow!