On The Road in a Torn America
Lessons learnt from three weeks on the road in Coronavirus America
Sitting here in Denver, Colorado — my third time in the city since departing Connecticut three weeks ago — it is finally time to take a look back at this rollercoaster of a journey. At the end of May I purchased a 2001 Ram camper van and began making preparations for an ambiguous cross-country trek. Perhaps I had read too much Jack Kerouac during quarantine, and now that I am writing this article near Alameda Ave., ‘6 miles out of Denver’, I believe the parallels to On The Road are too perfect to ignore. I never made it all the way to San Francisco, but I’d like to think many of my antics are at least partially inspired by the Beats.
After spending more than a month ill with COVID-19 while attending online class, it was finally time to get out of the house. I sought a utopia, one in which coronavirus existed only in subtle periphery. Since leaving I have spent equal time with friends as I have alone, and I have prioritized meditation whenever possible. In a sense, I am on a sabbatical, if you ignore the part where I am still working remotely. Regardless, this experience has enabled a deeper exploration into my psyche than I have ever previously afforded, and I believe I have learned lessons powerful enough to warrant their sharing.
