Tampa - Athens

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"Like a bat out of hell
Ill be gone when the morning comes
When the night is over
Like a bat out of hell Ill be gone gone gone
Like a bat out of hell Ill be gone when the morning comes
When the day is done
And the sun goes down
And the moonlights shining through
Then like a sinner before the gates of heaven
Ill come crawling on back to you"


The first song on the playlist I made for my drive to Athens was rattling the speakers of my 1996 Ford Ranger before I even left my neighborhood the afternoon of my departure and still conjures up the same feelings I had that day every time I listen to it. My family and girlfriend were given such short notice that they were shocked to realize I was actually doing what I told them a few weeks earlier and was now leaving to explore the country with a backpack, hiking boots, some survival gear, and $500. My truck was loaded, Meatloaf was pumping me up, and Athens was eight hours away.

Adrenaline carried me all the way to Milledgeville, GA, where an unfortunate right turn carried me about 2 hours through back-woods Georgia in the wrong direction. I would soon (but not yet) learn to set aside my pride and realize the importance of having a map. When I did arrive in Athens I stayed with some high school friends at the University of Georgia for 3 days.

On my last day at U.G.A. my best friend Jason and I grabbed his longboard and headed out to bomb some of Athens’ finest hills before I headed left town. After a few hours of driving from spot to spot and clocking each other at speeds up to 40mph, I hurt my ankle. Actually, I got knocked off my board when a truck whipped around a corner in the other lane and immediately gave me speed-wobbles that I could not recover from. As I slid across the road I scraped both of my ankles—one down to muscle, the other almost to bone. Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t see any signs of bad luck or omens… first the wrong turn and now two days later I just seriously impaired my ability to walk while I was about to go on a backpacking trip. However, my first thought was, “SHIT! I need to hike the Grand Canyon in a few days!” Because of my health insurance package, I was able to go home and soak my feet in a bucket of hydrogen peroxide and soapy water for a few hours. After that and some gauze I was on with my trip.

I left Athens on April 27 to meet my friend Nate in Marietta, a northwestern suburb of Atlanta. I had told Nate about my idea for this trip a few months before and soon our talk of fantasy turned into reality. We had a few major destinations on our list--Grand Canyon, San Diego, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City. What we did in between those two destinations was completely open to out interpretation.

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