Travels With Mike (Mike Chmielewski)

This led to my decision to travel across the US. My dad had done something similar after he graduated college and I had always thought it was a great idea. So I worked a meaningless job for a few months, bought a truck, got a $50 cap for it and said hey let's go. I did the north in the fall of 2001 and am currently traveling the south. I figure I'd start retelling the tale from the beginning, I'll try to cut out all the really boring stuff, from my memory and journal entries. By the time I'm done traveling it should be caught up to what I'm actually doing. My writing style will probably vary depending on how a feel as well so who knows what it will end up as. And I may inject some current stuff as well. Anyway I'll start from the beginning.

July 29, 2001

I had spent about a week in the Pocono’s staying with friends and geocaching. My first true night on the road I rolled into Coolidge State Park in Vermont at 11:00 pm, I mused for a bit on how helpless we are in the dark (the narrow dirt road up to the park had been somewhat iffy considering my lack of sleep). It was then that I realized night travel was a bad idea and that daylight was definitely my friend.

August 1, 2001

Spent my first night at a truck stop, after getting absolutely no sleep I swore I’d never do that again! Drunk kids showing up at 3:00 am to eat, diesel engines running all night, stereos blasting, definitely not a fun experience.

August 2, 2001

This was the first day that I truly realized why I was traveling the country. Acadia National Park completely blew me away. I was amazed at the beauty it contained. The view from the top of Bee Hive trail was unbelievably inspiring, this was the first time I had a feeling that happened several times on my journey. I feeling of awestruck euphoria, a feeling that I can only describe as a having a "moment". At the time I wrote that that moment (later it became any of those rare moments), that feeling was well worth the entire cost of my trip. (unfortunately I had left my journal behind on this day hike and I still can’t find the words to capture what I truly felt).

On a less philosophical note I highly recommend the beehive trail. Any trail that has rungs mounted on the side of the mountain is definitely worth while. Though I never did see the rungs, I somehow managed to get off the trail and before I realized it I was scaling the side of the mountain. About halfway up I realized I couldn’t possibly be on the trail any longer (especially since I hadn’t scene the rungs) but I also realized it would be near impossible to climb back down so I kept on going. My first free climbing experience (or really climbing experience of any kind) so I of course had to stop and take a picture on the way up. It was actually fairly easy, though looking down did concern me a couple times. I got to the top and then plodded through the brush to the trail (I know I know, but didn’t have much choice) and arrived just in time to scare the crap out of a mother and her son, they apparently thought I was a bear J

Acadia still stands as my favorite national park, but then again I’m a big fan of water. The park amazed me, the view from the mountains was breathtaking, waves smashing into pink granite cliffs, fiords, green islands dotting the coast, lush forests between the mountains and ocean, just a truly amazing place. I’m heading back there this fall. My only complaint is that there is no backcountry camping because the park is so small and fragile. Spent my last evening there completely by myself on the pink granite cliffs, looking out over the ocean about 10 feet above where the waves were crashing into the rocks, with the wind howling, the waves crashing, and the smell of sea salt in the air. Truly an amazing experience, the last entry in my journal for Acadia was "This place is one of the single most beautiful things I have ever scene."
 

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