Chapter 4

The camper became my home during the next weeks. The first miles of the drive was quiet with me in deep thought, and I didn’t register a thing in my mind. There were a lot of things I had missed because I had to work hard to provide for my family. Now that I was free, I was determined to check all the squares on my wish list. I had never been more than a hundred miles away from my hometown since I got married. My last years had been devoted to working and being a husband and a father. Not anymore.

My original plan was to drive from Ohio to Wyoming and find a steady job there. But once I got there, I decided to keep traveling west. I drove on back roads discovering the small towns of America.

Wherever I found an opportunity to weld something for cash, I stayed a few days. I never stuck around in one place for more than a few weeks unless I found a nice view or a nice community.

Over the next months, I worked my way through America, driving at the speed of life.

I didn’t try to pretend all was well. The grief and the anger were still there. Some days I was moody and cried myself to sleep. The future I had envisioned had been shattered. The people I had loved and devoted myself to had deeply hurt me and then deserted me. Even when the loss was devastating, even though my path had taken a twist, I still believed that I could have a good future. You know what they say, “the best revenge is a life well-lived.”