To Live Fast and Die Young

Before reading, play this song: . Maybe don't watch the video. I mean...you could. But it's really just for the musical experience, ya know. And the video is a lil strange.

I should have written this months ago. At dinner last night, MGMT came on in the background and Liz, Rae, and I were all reminded of our wonderful 14 day road trip blitz around the US. Every time we rolled into a new city we blasted "Electric Feel" and fist-pumped for the entirety of the song.

We left the morning after graduation. I was unsure whether I should go the night before and even as our car crossed the border into South Dakota three days later I was still a little shaky about my decision. But now, of course, I wouldn't trade those 14 days for anything. Well, yeah...pretty much anything. I mean, we all sacrificed summer jobs in Athens for it. That's commitment.

I'll write it out by city real quick so you can get an understanding of the rate and scope of our adventure. Athens. Chicago. Sioux Falls. The Badlands. Yellowstone National Park. Mount Rushmore. Seattle. Portland. Napa Valley. San Francisco. Los Angeles. The Grand Canyon. The Vegas. Phoenix. Austin. Dallas. St. Louis. Atlanta. Athens.

Epic.

Traditionally, I rate the success of any and every given day by the amount that I learn from it. And the reason I haven't commented on our epic quest via my blog is because I never quite figured out what I learned. I thought it needed to be about God and it needed to be life-changing. Buttt... although I had some wonderful conversations with God on the trip - one in particular on the rim of the Grand Canyon that I hope to never forget - He didn't shatter anything or bend my heart in a different direction or anything like that. Instead, I watched and listened for 14 days. I watched the United States fly by through the window of Abby's car and I saw...beauty. I remember realizing how stinkin beautiful the States are and thinking that the sunsets of Italy finally had a rival in the wide open skies of Wyoming, the cliffs of the Grand Canyon, and the mountains of Northern California.

I have always thought my older brother was strange for his disinterest in traveling to other countries because I believed that the most beautiful places in this world are not within the borders of the US. I was wrong.

Rachael says that she realized on the road trip why the US is called America the Beautiful. So true, Rae, so true. Maybe that's all I learned, and I'm okay with that.

Oh...but we did learn never to cram a stuffed earth tot inside the gas chamber on the dashboard. That makes it difficult to remember...ya know...not to run out of gas. Especially when you're rocking out to MGMT.