On the road again.

17 July 2001—This day always arrives for me with some amount of wistfulness. It’s the day in 1990 that my friend Shirley and I climbed into Prometheus, my little red Volkswagen Rabbit (RIP), with the back seat taken out and replaced by duffel bags, camping equipment, and about 150 cassettes, and set off on a four-month, 21,000-mile journey around the United States and Canada. We think it was 21,000 miles, but since the odometer broke around 95,000, which was (if I remember correctly) about 18,000 miles into the trip, we’re not completely sure.

Even though it was 11 years ago, I can still mostly remember the basic route and how we spent our days. Our first night was in Sequoia National Forest, where we met nice people at the next campsite who gave us steaks they had barbecued, and when we woke the next morning the people had taken off but left us their little hibachi.

That first week, for some reason, at dinner each night we burst into peals of laughter, amazed that we had embarked on such a wild ride. We couldn’t stop giggling. Over the next few months we would visit more than 40 states, four provinces, and stay with several friends in far-flung places. We encountered every kind of weather, from calm to scorching, tropical storm to snow. We saw amazing sights and fabulous places. The car and camping equipment had their share of adventures as well. My favorite (mis)adventure, which Shirley hates when I tell it, involves $300, a cough medicine box, and a neon-lit behemoth, but that’s a story for another time. (Roughly late September, actually.)

And despite the constant proximity, Shirley and I turned out to be extremely well-matched traveling partners, by the end somewhat having gained the ability to read each other’s mind, and only needing occasional days off from each other, if you don’t count the week in New York for which we had already planned to go our separate ways.

Though at the end of it all I was ready to return home to my girlfriend, as well as to a bed and house I didn’t have to put together and take down every day, I still miss that journey. Each year, at different points over these next four months, I remember where we were at that point in the trip, and it always makes me happy. It’s kind of like being on the road all over again.