As previously mentioned, my travels began in May 2017 - but the desire to travel goes back much further.
My Dad was in the air force and served in such far off places as South Carolina, Japan and Texas, my Mom was a civil servant; a secretary for the officers. My parents moved back to their childhood stomping grounds just before I was born.
At that time my parents spoke with a southern drawl and a sprinkling of Japanese words and phrases. Perhaps this was my first indication of just how big (or small) the world is.
As a child we went on a few vacations and field trips; road trips to Arizona, Texas, Connecticut, New Jersey and Florida are highlights of my early memories.
After the Florida trip in 2003, I was 10 years old at the time, we stayed closer to home.
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| Dad & I visited Los Angeles in November 2011. |
It wasn't until 2011 that I finally got the chance to go on another big trip - this time to southern California. That trip was a monumental occasion for a number of reasons; visiting Los Angeles for the first time, taking the Legends of Hollywood Tour, chilling on Ventura Beach, looking out over L.A. at night from the Griffith Observatory, and, my first time flying on airplanes!
Following that trip, I stayed close to home for another 6 years. Some of my family traveled to places like Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky, but I stayed and took care of the "backyard farm" my brother started.
I got used to being here, long hours in the cold winter and the season growing colder and colder by the year.
The night when wind chill was at -25 Fahrenheit and I was out in it was definitely a motivator for me to seek something beyond Ohio...
Some issues at home made me want to find my own place, and Grandma and Grandpa Medley were kind enough to let me stay in their house last winter while I got my life sorted out.
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| Cold, cold Ohio. December 2016. |
I eventually realized I couldn't/wouldn't move into Cadiz, because the town isn't worth the rent that the locals are charging (apparently price-gouging because of the increased gas & oil traffic in the area.)
I realized that I'd like to work in the postal system as a mail carrier, but as there are no openings available locally, combined with the cost of an apartment here, perhaps I'd look elsewhere.
I've also considered work in films and perhaps children's television, so SoCal has a certain charm... I began looking for a place where I could work as a postal carrier and be near Hollywood studios. I set my sights toward Arizona. It has a bunch of post offices that are hiring, it is much warmer than Ohio, generally, and it's not too far from Los Angeles. I decided to do some research, and even bought some books about and maps of Arizona.
I was trying to establish a timeline of when I'd get my driver's license, find a place to live, I'd get a job out there, quit Wendy's and get out of Dodge. My situation changed again and I moved back in with my parents (and youngest brother.)
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| At work in April 2017. |
Fast forward about a month and a half, I'm working hard at Wendy's, having went from around 9 hours a week to nearly 40 hours and I'm approaching the 1 year anniversary of working there. Even had a cute little pin for my hat, celebrating one year.
One morning, the district manager comes in for an inspection and I discover that my training was somewhat incomplete, and that I'd not been following proper procedures. By "discover" I mean that the district manager scolded me harshly, in a way that I felt was inappropriate and unprofessional and through the rage I felt in that moment, I did figure out what I was doing wrong, though it was not immediately self-evident.
After surviving the impulse to throw my spatula, and my job, across the kitchen - I decided that I needed some sort of a change... I'd talked about traveling, I'd talked about moving, but I really needed to be doing something different. This environment was discouraging, and I needed a break.
So, May 4th 2017, through the fury I felt and the rain falling outside, a beautiful idea formed in my head. I was going to take all the money I made in May and put it towards a trip. A week-long trip to Arizona.
That night, I booked a hotel in Phoenix, just a few miles from where we'd last stayed, back in late 2000.
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| One of my first photos upon landing in Phoenix. May 2017. |
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