Lessons From The Road
Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.- Charles Kuralt
An Epic Journey
Last week, I embarked on a journey. Those of you that are friends of mine on Facebook already know that I’ve moved 2200 miles from my hometown of Louisville, KY to San Diego, CA. My girlfriend and I hopped in my car last Saturday and took a 7-day, 3100 mile trip across the southern/southwestern United States en route to San Diego.
So really, how often do you get the chance to drive cross-country? In my 30 years, this was my first chance, so I wanted to make the most of it and see as much as possible. I could have hopped onto I-64 heading west out of Louisville, switched to a few other Interstates, eventually ending up on I-8 and cruising into San Diego in about 3 days at 75mph the whole way, watching the country whiz by.
Instead, I meticulously planned out the trip, aiming to avoid Interstate highways and stick to US and state highways where I’d drive through small towns, eat at local restaurants, and see things the expressway just can’t show you. In 3100 miles, we ended up on Interstates for about 50-75 miles, once due to a wrong turn and twice due to roads that were closed.
Sometimes you gotta say “What the f**k”, make your move. Joel, every now and then, saying “What the f**k,” brings freedom. Freedom brings opportunity, opportunity makes your future.- Miles, in Risky Business
Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
I think to really grow and develop, you need to regularly step out of your comfort zone. Deciding to move away from Louisville wasn’t easy. I have a great group of close friends there, several of whom I’ve known since grade school, along with plenty of family. I’m now in a city where I really only know one person, a friend of mine that decided to move out here also (and he’s not even here yet). I don’t know the best restaurants or how to get around the city like the back of my hand.
I have a new job that is going to require me to get up to speed quickly. There’s going to be a nice learning curve over the next few months professionally, socially, and culturally.But that’s also the beauty of it. There’s so much to learn that life is going to be very exciting! Sure, I could take a vacation and try out a city for a week, but in my mind, immersion in a new place is the best way to really see what it has to offer.
Life is not tried, it is merely survived, if you’re standing outside the fire.- Garth Brooks, Standing Outside The Fire
I think that quote from Garth Brooks’ song is perfect. You can sit back and watch life pass you by or you can make like you’re in a Dodge commercial and “grab life by the horns.” I think, in the end, you really only regret the risks you didn’t take.
If what you’re doing feels perfectly safe, there is probably a better course of action.- 88 Important Truths I’ve Learned About Life
Modern Nomadism
Some time back, I read an article by Mark Lundegren of HumanaNatura titled The Nomad Within Us, in which Mark proposes moving around regularly, or somewhat modern nomadism. In the past few years, I’ve really developed more of this mentality and feel that it’s a good way to experience the world and keep things fresh. To put it simply, I probably learned more about the country in 7 days than all the years of history and geography that I had in school.
The thing I really like about what Mark wrote is that you don’t have to take the drastic step of moving across the country. You can learn a lot about your own city that you probably don’t already know just by changing neighborhoods and meeting new neighbors in a new community. And since constant learning is important in health, it seems like a good idea to me.
Lessons From The Road
Here are a few things I learned (or at least had reinforced) this past week…
- This is a very rural country. I’d guess I saw ten trailers serving as someone’s home for each regular house and 100 trailers for each multi-million dollar house. I’m guessing those in the trailers are just as content as those in the houses.
- You have no idea just how beautiful a country it is until you’ve driven mountainous forest roads where you can’t go fast enough to get out of third gear for over an hour. For real excitement, take your Honda Civic on unpaved roads for 40 or 50 miles.
- People are generally very grateful for and hospitable to outsiders coming and eating where they eat and seeing their little towns.
- Your chain restaurants will never beat the food little roadside shacks serve. When you find yourself in a town with a population 1/100 of the city you come from, ask for recommendations and see just how good of a meal you’ll get.
- You probably have no idea what the terrain is like out there. I sure didn’t. Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona were all quite surprising.
- It’s hard to find someone that you can spend 7 days (~80 hours) in a car with and still enjoy their company. But it can be done.
Side note: You can see the pictures of my journey through the southern US on Facebook. Since my girlfriend posted them, I think you have to be a friend to view them. It was a great drive through central KY and TN, down the Natchez Trace Parkway (through TN, AL, and MS), across central LA, through the bayou, across central TX, through Gila National Forest in NM, through the AZ desert and mountains, up through Prescott, then through the real desert in southwestern AZ and southeastern CA, and finally through the hills outside of San Diego, with a final walk out to the tip of the Ocean Beach Pier.
A Nutrition Note
As I’m want to do, I picked up on something nutritional-related on my trek. Check out this picture:
This is a dairy farm in southwest CA. That’s not grass those cows are standing on. We saw (and smelled!) several confinement feeding operations. One of them was in southwest NM…it was calves being kept in dog houses with enough room outside of the dog house to walk out and turn around. Pretty sad. And if you’re buying your milk at the grocery, that’s the type of life the animal lives.
Do you think you get the same milk as this cow produces (found grazing with other cows in the middle of Gila National Forest)?
How do you keep things fresh in your life? How do you toe the line between community and mobility? Do you opt for security or excitement or some combination of the two?
About Scott
Scott Kustes loves to cook and loves to eat. He started Real Food University to help you get maximum enjoyment out of the meals that you eat. To find out more about how he has rebelled against the fast food culture and counting calories or carbs, join the Real Food Revolution.
34 Reader Comments
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Your last comments on the cows sunk home as I’m busy reading “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, and it doesn’t paint a pretty picture of agriculture.
I managed several very long car trips to see the country and I am totally blown away by its beauty.Feedlots are the worse. There are quite a lot of them in this country and they should be outlawed. The smell lingers for miles and the look of those poor animals is totally depressing. Here in CA we have quite a few of those. And then for years dairy industry was running ‘happy California cows’ commercials. Needless to say they did not show any feedlots.The idea of modern nomadism is quite appealing but it gets hard once we settle down, find what we think secure jobs and buy a house. Maybe that is why most of us like to travel.Interesting and thought provoking post.
So true about where your food comes from. Happy cows come from California CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations) right? My best friend’s sister met some farmers in Indiana who had quit because of the things that happen to animals these days. And if you are buying organic, unless you get grass fed beef, they are likely on feed lots being fed organic corn.I love meandering trips off the beaten path and would recommend the book Vagabonding by Rolf Potts which I first heard about in 4 Hour Work Week.I think that a lot of my personal growth has come from moving to places where I knew no one and been forced to find friends and make a home. Once I started asking, it was amazing to me how many people in their 20s and 30s are still hanging around with people they have known since high school or even earlier.
Excellent post, great quotes and links.THANKS
You hit the nail on the head. Great insight, great change of pace from your other posts.
“you need to regularly step out of your comfort zone.”Amen to that! That is living!”Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don’t you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can’t think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you’re supposed to read? Do you think every thing you’re supposed to think? Buy what you’re told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you’re alive. If you don’t claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned- Tyler Durden”
If your blown away with the interstate trip and getting out of your comfort zone try going internation and come to Australia! We have some beautiful countryside a diverse population and great activites to along the way.Go scuba diving on the great barrier reef, hike through kakadu national park, bike ride the great ocean raod, check out the ski fields and meditate on the top of Ayers Rock.
Not at all! On the other hand, we saw lots of cows on wide open pastures, so there are people out there raising cows the right way. No telling how many of those cows will go to a CAFO for finishing though.CheersScott
I love Potts’ book. I’d love to be able to travel like he does, but for now, I’ll settle for moving to San Diego for the foreseeable future.I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a close group of friends that you’ve known for a long time. I think that’s a key to stability and community, but the best part is that you don’t have to live in the same place or even talk weekly to remain friends.CheersScott
International living is on my agenda one day…gotta break Mom in slowly, lest she disown me. =DCheersScott
Love that movie…one of the best movies ever.
Great article Scott and very inspiring. Congrats on the move. I just turned 30 earlier this year and actually visited San Diego for the first time last summer. Ever since, my wife and I have been trying to figure out a way to get out there permanently. And, for what it’s worth, I consumed almost a half gallon of raw, unpasteurized, grass-fed milk today. Now, if only I can combine drinking raw milk while living in Southern California, then I’ll have it made.
Unfortunately, even those cows grazing in open pastures have inherent cruelty in their treatment … all dairy cows have their babies taken away from them after a week or so, so that they can produce milk … imagine having your baby ripped from you. Many cows have to be electrically prodded to get up because they are in such despair and are so upset from this separation. The babies, if they are female, become dairy cows, but if they are male, they have no use as dairy cows so they’re usually used for veal … which as you know is baby cows deliberately kept in a tiny cage so they can’t move, so their flesh can be tender when they’re slaughtered at a young age.If you drink dairy, you’re supporting this stuff.
Perhaps they’re being raised on pasture to be used for meat…y’know, grass-fed meat. And I don’t consume dairy regularly. Though I’d like to see some evidence that people raising dairy cows on pasture treat their animals like this. As far as conventional dairies, yep, I agree with you, but I’m not sure it’s true across the board. Unfortunately, I don’t know any dairy farmers personally to find out since, well, I don’t consume dairy with regularity.CheersScott
Hi Scott … I was responding to the article’s comparison of conventional dairies vs. dairy cows that are allowed to roam in pastures.The treatment of dairy cows in different types of farms is well documented — I could find some links for you if you like, but I’m sure like me you prefer to do your own research. I highly encourage everyone to read up on it!
Great vacation narrative, brother-in-law! We always wanted to see how another couple would handle the intricacies of travel. Yours takes more of the traditional “journey as personal becoming” approach, a more serious read that makes the person vicariously traveling with you re-evaluate their own values and place in this life. Ours, by contrast, are composed of more lighthearted hyperbole and entertainment on the human condition of sharing the planet with others who might be (and usually are) very annoying. Thanks for the contrast and the thoughts!Hope you enjoy your new city!
Way to end on a depressing note! Good advice and motivating quotes in the beginning but where’s the ending? And those last two questions do not count as a conclusion.
Hey Scott – great that you moved to SoCal. One of my goals is to spend some time living there. Another is to travel cross country style like you did.It’s fantastic that you are experiencing this.Y.
Actually Leo, I sought out a source far more qualified to respond than I, the manager of the buying club I belonged to in Louisville, who deals with real farmers on a daily basis. Here is his response, verbatim:”Absolutely not… I hate to say this, but this is the type of propaganda that really is both unhelpful and downright purposeful lies.In all the dairy farmers I work with in KY, which are many, and the ones in IN, who are also many, not a one using “electric prods” on their cows, except maybe in extreme circumstances, so I will check… I don’t even know if any own an electric prod.Per the other issues, it would take a while to write. For one, most don’t put their males into veal that we work with, but if they did, for us, we would not see that as a problem as long as they were probably cared for and treated well (like at Stone Cross Farms). Per the first, yes, some farmers have surrogate cows provide milk for the new babies (I will specifically ask about this to Derek), some leave them on their mommies since a mom cow produces more than a baby needs usually, etc. IT is certainly not “ripped away right after birth” for any of our farmers, as the colostrum is too invaluable for the calf to get for a farmer who hopes to have that calf produce milk for the next 8-10 years. Now some farmers after a week will wean the calfs onto older female “nurse cows.” Humans have done this as well throughout history – I may not see it as ideal, or I may, but certainly there is some room for disagreement on this issue and not purposeful, manipulative overstatement.And btw, I know this not only from asking the farmers, but from on farm visits and being around at calving. The below really is a bunch of non-sense at a certain level, but absolutely true at another level.Now, this all may be true of the mid size “organic” dairies, but I doubt it, depending on where the dairy started and the like. Acres and a number of other organizations, whose conferences I have attended pretty regularly, in all my conversations with dairy farmers, many are working through the 1st of the issues below, not a one ever mentioned the 2nd, and many keep the males to put in to ground beef… but again, for a veg, how is that any better than an earlier demise for veal?”CheersScott
The ending is whatever you make of it. It’s not my job to end everything for you. Consider the questions posed and decide what the proper ending is for yourself.CheersScott
There are people here getting raw milk. In fact, I think it can be found in some stores. It’s worth the move to check out the city.CheersScott
Hey Leo,You stimulated a nice discussion here. Here’s some more from John:”To follow up, I spoke with a number of farmers so far today on this issue. How the cows are treated after birth varies considerably. There are a number of reasons after 24-48 hours to separate calfs from mom – first, long term, it allows the calf to bond with the farmer, thus making them more docile, easier to care for, easier to catch problems, etc. Two, it helps prevent the spread of various diseases from cow to cow; calfs will nurse on whatever cow they can, and thus if one mom has mastitis, her calf can spread it to the whole herd very quickly.Most farmers hand bottle feed or otherwise carefully feed the calves real milk from their moms, but in a controlled environment. Thus, one may not agree with this, but could easily see the many benefits to the farmer (cows that are bonded to farmers are less likely to hurt a farmer or his family, for instance, are less skittish, and when they need medical attention are much more likely to allow the farmer to help) and why farms would take this approach. If someone dislikes it, I would want to see them propose a better working model and show it in action actually doing well. Obviously, almost everyone agrees we all are learning a great deal at the moment about real farming again, both in terms of rediscovery of past wisdom and new practices.”As you can see, it’s not all quite as inhumane as you’ve been led to believe. There are naturally areas that can be improved and real farmers (not big commercial farms) are working to do so and actually take consideration of their animals’ welfare, as they know what we all know….happy animals are healthy animals and healthy animals produce healthier food.CheersScott
Scott,The trip looked awesome. You had me salivating at my computer looking at some of the BBQ you were eating. The biscuits and gravy looked unbelievable as well.Dan
Dan, it was all delicious. I obviously don’t eat like that very often, but when I’m on vacation, I just have whatever I want. For this trip, it was eating regionally….southern food in MS, cajun in LA/east TX, steak and BBQ in TX, Mexican in NM and AZ. It only makes sense to me to experience what an area offers. Even a whole week of eating like that and I don’t think I gained an ounce.CheersScott
Yavor,I highly recommend it! I think this trip has pushed me to take more “road trips” instead of “destination trips”. I really enjoyed this. One of my next ones will be to drive the Pacific Coast Highway/US-101 up through CA, OR, and WA.CheersScott
Thanks Thomas….enjoying the new city so far. Hoping to find a place to live soon, maybe tonight!CheersScott
MOD, I love that quote! Hope you don’t mind if I steal it for facebook.
Considering I stole it from Fight Club….yeah steal away!
Great post. Especially loved the last two paragraphs.
Best of luck/wishes in SD!
Welcome to San Diego! I’ve lived here all my life and love it. If I remember correctly you have posted about eating at The Linkery on the CrossFit boards. Now you’ll get to enjoy it more often. Regarding the raw milk, yeah you can buy it in the store here. They sell it at Whole Foods, some Henry’s, and a few other smaller stores like Seaside Market in Cardiff. I’ve enjoyed reading your stuff. If you have any questions about this great city, don’t hesitate to ask.
I agree that stepping out of your comfort zone is the best way to develop and grow. It is the only way to really feel alive. I get bored easily and doing things that make me step out of my comfort zone keeps life interesting. Thanks for posting.
Scott,Welcome to San Diego. I’ve done big moves a couple of times, too, first from the Northeast to the Southeast (alone) right after college and not yet employed, then like you, I did a cross-country drive as a newlywed a decade later, which landed me in the San Diego area. I’m so glad I pulled up roots a few times – I now sort of harbor a desire to move to the Pacific Northwest/Vancouver, BC area at some point, too, as well as Melbourne, Australia.
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