The Adventure Begins

Current temperature in Fairbanks: 29 F

"Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild." ~Alexander Supertramp May, 1992.

Well, I am in the right state now at least! I will be sitting here in the Anchorage airport for the next 7 hours (which is longer than it would take me to drive to my final destination I might add) where already I feel like I am in a completely different world. Almost every city listed on the departures board is a place I have never heard of, and I feel like I would butcher most of the names if I tried to pronounce them. Walking around the terminal there is definitely no shortage of mad bomber hats and camouflage available for purchase, and you can’t go wrong with some 80’s rock, I will certainly be getting plenty of REO Speedwagon and Whitesnake over the next 7 hours no doubt.

The flight into Anchorage was not nearly as turbulent as I was expecting (Mom, I think even you would have been okay, even without being doped up so as to avoid a heart attack and white knuckles on the arm rest). Although I must say, I swear this is the darkest place I have ever seen. Flying in even with a city of lights below, the darkness seemed to swallow up any light emanating from it. There was no light grey from the reflection of lights on the clouds, not even any stars, and I couldn’t have pointed out the horizon to you if you had paid me. I had been telling myself living in the darkness wouldn’t be that bad, but seeing how thick it is here, it is already making me wonder how people don’t go insane. Well, I guess some of them probably do.

I have been eager to reach my destination ever since I have been sitting in Logan airport waiting for my first flight. That already feels like days ago. There was a brief moment of sadness when it really hit me that I will be gone for much longer than I have ever been away from New England. Sitting on the runway, waiting for takeoff I looked out the window at the Boston skyline. There amongst the buildings I saw the prominent structure of the Zakim Bridge heading out of Boston. I don’t know why of all things, this is the thing that did it; maybe it was because it was right before my journey truly began, or maybe because I knew that bridge would have taken me in the direction of home.

I also learned today (yesterday?) that the reason traveling makes you so tired is due to the lower oxygen levels present in the pressurized cabin than we are normally accustomed to breathing. Who knew? This tidbit of information was courtesy of the United Airlines video about the new planes they have added to their fleet. I actually got to fly in one to Anchorage and I must say it was quite the improvement! I think I might have had to punch someone if I had to sit through a third flight in a seat that would have made a closet crammed full of dirty wet mops feel cozy. Well, I think it is about time to eat again, I’m not even sure what meal I should be eating at this point… Only a few more hours to go until I reach my final destination!