Wanderlust (by Matthew)

I got hooked on the idea of travel and adventure as a child looking at exotic pictures of National Geographic magazine while waiting with my father at the barber shop. I've taken some trips, tripped up and down and all around, but now I'm about to embark upon a trip unlike any that I've had before: An unscheduled cross-country roadtrip on US Route 6. There is only the road and what will happen on the road and what might happen after the road.

Six years ago I was in a dark place in a dark state of mind. To escape I joined the Army. A lot has happened since then: I spent three years in Hawaii, I got married, I was stationed in Italy for three years, I traveled extensively, I finished my masters degree, and a lot more. All the while I experienced an increasing craving for the freedom that I traded in by joining the Army. Essentially, the Army is not the type of environment for a progressive, free thinking, socialist such as myself. So I've packed my bags, cut my losses, and prepared to take my chances in "the real world." My wife and I have no place to live, no money, no job lined up, and no prospects but we have I have my freedom back and that is a tremendously positive thing.

On March 24, 2010, my terminal leave began and we flew back to North America (to my hometown of Uxbridge, Massachusetts) after having lived in Italy for three years. I had been back to the continent only once during the time that I was in Italy and only a few times in the three years prior to that while stationed in Hawaii. Every time I come back I experience "culture shock," especially in a supermarket. I feel like that song Lost In the Supermarket by The Clash. Coral's been having a more difficult time than I have. She didn't grow up on the continent and didn't visit it once during our three years in Europe. For the most part, our culture shock can be reduced to this list:
1. There is so much STUFF. The supermarkets are huge, filled with an insane amount of variety in brands/flavors/sizes. It seems excessive, wasteful.
2. There is great customer service. Perhaps even too much. Salespeople can be aggressive. In Europe, you have to ask for help and pray you get it. Coral literally heard someone say that a perfume would change someone's life and attractiveness. Come on!
3. Obesity really is an epidemic.
4. While the Northern Italians tended to be more cold, aloof, reserved and uniformly kept in appearance, the U.S. is full of talkative, loud, opinionated people with a variety of casual personal style senses.

It's difficult to leave the cradle and it's even more difficult to return to it. My sense of self & belonging as it relates to my hometown is full of contradictions and torment. I don't like it here, but I am of here. I am leaving here, but can I ever truly escape here? Even more so, do I really want to? Can I reject something that was and is an integral part of me?
My comings and goings always have to be epic and melodramatic. Just after officially signing my life away to the Army six years ago, I decided to spend my last couple months of civilian life taking road trips and couch surfing in Californi, influenced by William Least Heat-Moon's Blue Highways. Heat-Moon experienced a divorce and lost his job as a teacher so he decided to take an extended round trip tour of the US. He outfitted an old van into a mini-camper and set out onto the "Blue Highways" of the United States, a term he coined to refer to small, forgotten, out of the way roads connecting rural America (which were drawn in blue on the old style Rand McNally road atlas). In the book he mentioned that Route 6 goes all the way from the tip of Massachusetts straight across the country to California. I've been quite familiar with Route 6 as it is the main artery of Cape Cod where I spent many summers of my formative years. I had never been aware of how extensive the route actually was and upon learning about it, I thought that it would be quite interesting to travel the entire route.
February 2003, I finally packed up my trusty Hyundai Elantra and set out into the figurative unknown on Route 6. It took me about 8 days and 7 nights to make it to California and I essentially did nothing but drive from the time I woke until the time I pulled over to sleep (and I slept in the car every night). It was an intriguing journey and provided a great opportunity to clear my mind and cleanse my soul. In many ways I think that the trip changed and maybe even saved my life.
Now, six years later I'm getting ready to make the trip again. The first time I was heading to (self imposed) indentured servitude, serving in the army stationed in Hawaii. This time I'm heading away from my indentured servitude to freedom as a civilian worker, Hawaii resident. I have already accepted the islands as the homeland that I've always yearned for. The journey to get there this time around will be entirely different, particularly because I'll be accompanied by my wife who won't even consider driving 7 days straight without a shower. I'm looking forward to the trip and I hope that it will be a positive bonding experience that will bring us closer together as a couple. We shall see. The only certainty is the road and my mouth waters just thinking about it.

-MB