“The Wayward Traveler Chronicles” will be a series of journal entries recording my trip across the country from Maine to California. I put this name up there as a tentative placeholder until I could come up with a cooler name, but there isn’t a more apt title to describe my journey. When everything in my life told me I couldn’t, I simply refused to listen. And so, I begin my chronicle of the excursion across the United States.
Wow, the United States. I’ve been to only a handful of them, and I find my number unsettling, like a low number of sexual partners in your early 20s, for the number doesn’t really mean anything, but man, sometimes you wish it was higher. “If I could only live more!”
Here are the States I’ve visited thus far: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York. [SIX]
Watch as that number grows. (Now you’re thinking dirty thoughts, aren’t you? For SHAME.)
I’ve spent the past month chock full of five very particular things:
- Going to places I can’t visit anywhere else in the country
- Writing
- Directing Town I Call Home
- Packing/ Expelling Personal belongings
- Saying goodbye to all of my friends and family
1. Once I got done at the hospital, I assembled a list of places I wanted to visit at least one more time. It wasn’t hard really, there was about a dozen places I visited frequently, and I wanted one more go with each. Incidentally though, almost all of the ones I ticked off my list happened to be places to eat and drink.
Needless to say I gained some weight. On my list of eateries/breweries were: Orono Brewing Company (three times, thankfully), Umami, Frank’s Bakery, Verve (every week for over three months before leaving, a-thank you), Kobe’s, Legacy Sandwich, A Little Taste of Sunshine Cuban Sandwiches in Brewer, and the usuals: Paddy Murphy’s and Ipanema’s.
Then of course, I visited Spotlight Cinemas (my favorite theater ever) one last time. Unfortunately, the film, Keeping Up With the Joneses didn’t live up to the potential of the actors’ talents.
The one I didn’t hit was Geaghan’s…
2. My writing sadly suffered the most during this month of purging. I’d take Monday and Tuesday and write for about ten hours total. First, I’d hit Verve on Monday afternoons before trivia and write either My Cancer Story or some #52PickUps. Then on Tuesday, I’d go to the Waterville Tim Horton’s before I’d record We Need Movies at Brandon’s apartment. For the rest of the week, I’d be busy with the rest of this list; for weekends:
3. For every weekend from September 10th on, I was fortunate enough to direct our short film, a psychological thriller called Town I Call Home, set in a creepy small town in Maine, Hekitt Falls.
The film was one of my favorite things of the past year of indecision, and I was eternally grateful I was able to direct this film. Look for it around March/ April in a film festival near you!
4. Packing was a bitch. I had loads more stuff than I thought possible, and since I was planning on bringing only what fit in the Kia, I pared down quite a bit. For some reason, I thought my car was the size of a medium-sized U-Haul truck, and soon realized most of this junk was “no beuno.” It was immensely cathartic to rid myself of physical possessions. I began to feel like Oprah. “You get a dresser! And YOU get my desk and office chair! YOU get my bed! YOU get my TV Stand!
I left most of my “apartment stuff” to my roommates, and made several trips to Goodwill and to my brother.
5. Man, that was the hardest goodbye of which I’ve ever been a part. My brother and I have been extremely close since I was in the hospital, and we’ve been in each others’ lives since he was born. I’ll miss the little guy, but I know he will do great on his own, and will achieve amazing things in life.
I visited the family up north: My Mom, My Dad, my Cousin, Jason, my Goddaughter, Brinley, My Memére, and several aunts and uncles. Then I was lucky to be able to see Josh and Roxanne, and Mitch and Mandy before leaving too. It was short but sweet visits all around because I had to go up during the weekdays, as I was still shooting Town I Call Home on Saturdays and Sundays.
Then I was fortunate enough to visit with lots of friends in this area, before I booked it outta Bangor. Dan, Jon, Kyle, Abby, Evan, Tyler, Eric, JC, JT, Mark, Jason, Audrey, Ric, Roberta, Bill, Dan, Annie, Brian, Ginger, Stew, Travis, Bree, the film crew friends I had been lucky enough to meet, and of course, Jeremy, John, August, and Brandon.
But you’re all here to hear about my travels, right?
I fit all of the stuff that could fit in my car, switched the cable in my roommate’s name, got Geaghan’s, then headed out of Bangor.
My first stop was visiting my friends in Portland. I recently had an ethereal dream full of random images of people I’d miss while out west. My sister, brother-in-law, niece, and two nephews, and then an image of my friends Justin and Tony appeared.
The very next day I called Tony in an attempt to hang out with them once more before venturing out. Luckily, they were off, and my first day of travels began with these two insanely entertaining gents, and the wonderful Sarah, in the Phoenix City.
The plan was dinner at this marvelous place in Freeport, the Tuscan Brick Oven Bistro.
Then we met up with some more friends, Mike and Ellis, at Arcadia in Portland.
Then, after Tony and the gang booked it, we walked to Otto’s for one more slice before calling the night.
Then I got back to Tony’s place, crashed, and woke up to a freaking awesome breakfast cooked by Tony!
*NO PICTURE AVAILABLE; TOO GOOD, FORGOT TO TAKE PICTURE*
And that was the Official Day One! This post has been long enough, so onward to Day Two!
-Jamie (@GuyOnAWire)
–STATS–
Money Spent for Gas: $24.30 ($24.30 Total)
Miles Traveled Today: 132.4 miles (132.4 Miles total)
Data Used: 470 MB (470 MB total this month)
Stay tuned as I continue my tale of travel across the United States (after my “Farewell Tour”)!
—PROGRESS—
GuyOnAWire 
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