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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Chicago to San Fran
#13988394 - 02/19/11 02:15 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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I finally know what I must do, or at least where and how, once I graduate from all of school, once and for all. All the events in my life leading up until this moment are telling me that this is my path of least resistance, given my life circumstances. The need for adventure, self-reliance, itchy feet -always feeling the need to move and explore, a deep love for the outdoors and the big and little cities and towns, and the inhabitants thereabouts, ...
I've come to a stage in my life where I must shed myself of my old home, which was kind enough to raise me into who I am, but I have out grown it like a catipillar its shell, a snake its skin, or a bird its nest. I'm done with the cold rain and snow and tiny scattered wood lots -not even big enough to be called a forest, anymore. From the flatlands of corn feilds and suburban houses to the mountains and red woods. From ripples on the lake to ocean waves. The path leads West, towards the setting Sun ... and I seriously can't wai to hit the road. Id go right now if I was fully prep'd and done with my current responsibilites.
Also, the thread title may be misleading a little. Foot is my primary transportation, as always, but I also plan on hitching when I can (something Ive never done before), in order to insure I make it there alive and on time. I would hate to have to walk all the way through the desolate desert or the unforgiving winter.
I'm also posting this because A) I want to lay my radical plans on a group of radical strangers before I tell my parents and friends Im abandoning my education and home to travling the unknown., and also because B) is there any advice anyone thinks might be of use to someone in a position like mine?
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
Edited by mrnoname (02/24/11 10:40 AM)
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#13988430 - 02/19/11 02:22 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sorry if it seems obvious that I leaving out a lot of details, because I am, but all I have to type this on is a kindle - not an ideal choice for any sort of serious writing involving paragraphs, grammar and punctuation (and spelling!).
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
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godisanastronaut
eurofag \o/


Registered: 11/30/10
Posts: 273
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#13988508 - 02/19/11 02:45 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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traveling the unknown - san francisco i'd bring water and good shoes, for starters.
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All things are true. God's an Astronaut. Oz is Over the Rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters live.
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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I was thinking gin and hoofing it barefoot.
No good?
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
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godisanastronaut
eurofag \o/


Registered: 11/30/10
Posts: 273
Last seen: 11 years, 3 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#13988678 - 02/19/11 03:57 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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i'd bet there are tons of sharp edges in the area between chicago and sf, so beware
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All things are true. God's an Astronaut. Oz is Over the Rainbow, and Midian is where the monsters live.
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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that's what the gin is for.
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
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Grok
Has Been a Bad Boy


Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 1,262
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14005366 - 02/22/11 01:46 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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I'm sure it would be a memorable experience. Can't say it would be my cup of tea. I'd say fly to New Zealand and hitchhike and travel around there for as long as you can stand (or until they deport you ). People in the US disparage the sort of adventures you have in mind, you'll get harassed on a daily basis. I've hitched around here in the states a little bit, and I have mixed feelings about it. It's either really fun or it sucks, there's not much middle ground. I can't imagine just walking across the breadbasket either. It would become very tedious. At least in NZ this type of thing is pretty standard, and you'll inevitably meet a lot of other interesting people doing the same thing. Plus, there's a thousand and one places where you can get away from civilization out there that are just spectacular.
I recall one book you should absolutely read, it's right up your ally: "The Last American Man".
-------------------- Entropy is increasing. To send me a PM, go to my journal
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bryguy27007
Cosmonaut



Registered: 01/26/08
Posts: 10,525
Loc:
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14007229 - 02/22/11 12:37 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
mrnoname said: I was thinking gin and hoofing it barefoot.
No good?
 Foolproof.
That sounds like a great adventure. Good luck!
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Rebirtha
I really like bread




Registered: 09/22/03
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: bryguy27007]
#14009338 - 02/22/11 07:17 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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That will take you about 3 months I would assume. You aren't going to walk on the highway are you?
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: Rebirtha]
#14015909 - 02/23/11 07:36 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Yeah im not so sure about this trip anymore. i mean the idea of hicking through the midwest across endless miles of corn just doesnt sound very apealing to me. imean i thought it would be cool to just walk out my front door and go somewhere never to turn back, at least for some time to come when i wanna see the folks again. but i have the misfortune of living right in the middle of this damn corn. the main point of this trip is for change.
so im thinking of getting a rental or some car and make a road trip out of this first. that way i can hit major stops like big cites and various backcountry. maybe a two or three week road trip. then when i get to cali ill ditch the car maybe as far down as the mexico border, or where ever a rental agency is and work my way up to the red woods and end at san fran. that should be a good summer's time.
then i gotta figure out how to find work, which might not be so easy when you're living out of a backpack.
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14016024 - 02/23/11 07:55 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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plus, i dont wanna get harrassed by the polce, have them search my bag to find 5 grams of DMT and mushrooms and weed, if i havent already gone through those last two by then. (and if i had gone through 5 garms DMT in a summers time, i should lock myself in the looney bin if im not thrown in)
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
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Grok
Has Been a Bad Boy


Registered: 12/03/03
Posts: 1,262
Loc: Greener Pastures
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14017664 - 02/24/11 12:46 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Be extremely cautious traveling with drugs. I would not hitchhike under any circumstances with drugs either. It jeopardizes the legal situation of someone who is doing you a huge favor, should some unsavory remote possibility come to bear with the law. Not cool.
-------------------- Entropy is increasing. To send me a PM, go to my journal
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: Grok]
#14019178 - 02/24/11 10:26 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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my hitchhicking plan was only to get me to cali faster ... and alive (im not full of myself--i know i would perish in the emptiness of the plains, or if not there then certainly the desert, without some human assistance). but if i drive there myself then i plan to hoof it once i get to cali and ditch my ride, so the pychedelics are putting no one else but myself in jepordy of the law. plus, anyone picking me up has to asume, at the very least, that im carrying some herb-- long(ish) shaggy hair, pink floyd shirt and a massive grin on my face with a little skip in my step. "that kid looks happy ... maybe a little TOO happy"
my plan is obviously still infantile in its planning, but i never carred much for planning anyhow; only preparing for the unknown. still, if anyone by some small chance wants to met up some where down the line, hit me up. i want to do this this summer, if its not too late in the year by the time i graduate.
plus, in my experiance, the longer we (I?) put things of for, the less likely they are to transpire. i NEED to get away from here. i have very itchy feet to the point where i find myself just wandering around town for hours trying to get mself lost in some new unfamilular territory, of which i have yet only rearly meet. no, the path must lead west where things are grander in almost every sense of the word.
-------------------- Now Then Soon to be Fantasy
Edited by mrnoname (02/24/11 10:34 AM)
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Buckthorn
Stranger

Registered: 07/25/08
Posts: 4,561
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14019422 - 02/24/11 11:23 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
i NEED to get away from here. i have very itchy feet to the point where i find myself just wandering around town for hours trying to get mself lost in some new unfamilular territory, of which i have yet only rearly meet. no, the path must lead west where things are grander in almost every sense of the word.
Damn I feel you completely... Monotony reigns!!!!!
I find myself intentionally wandering off the hiking trail... only to end up back on it.
Inspiring post OP, I hope you follow through with this and take epic pics 2 share
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mrnoname


Registered: 06/26/09
Posts: 157
Loc: South Loop Chicago
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: Buckthorn]
#14019559 - 02/24/11 11:52 AM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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Quote:
Enpo said:
Quote:
i NEED to get away from here. i have very itchy feet to the point where i find myself just wandering around town for hours trying to get mself lost in some new unfamilular territory, of which i have yet only rearly meet. no, the path must lead west where things are grander in almost every sense of the word.
Damn I feel you completely... Monotony reigns!!!!!
I find myself intentionally wandering off the hiking trail... only to end up back on it.
Inspiring post OP, I hope you follow through with this and take epic pics 2 share
I feel you, man.
I ran across this Robert Frost poem recently and I think it's worth the share --
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth.
Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same.
And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.
-- The Road NOT Taken.
And I appreciate the encouraging words. When I told mama of my plans, she wept in tears. Letting go of her little child is something she'll will have to bear.
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bryguy27007
Cosmonaut



Registered: 01/26/08
Posts: 10,525
Loc:
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Re: Chicago to San Fran - on foot [Re: mrnoname]
#14019688 - 02/24/11 12:24 PM (12 years, 11 months ago) |
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What a great poem. I want to go on an adventure.
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