Escapees September-October 2022

Virginia’s New River Gorge, I met a van life couple that was sport climbing through Appalachia. We sat around the fi re and toasted a life spent on wheels. “To new views,” we toasted, clinking cans together and celebrating the simple joys of the unplanted life. We talked about people we knew, how some had found it dif fi cult to relate to our life on the move. The stigma, created by outdated social contracts, familial expectations and a cultural fi xation with planting roots, had caused rifts in some relationships. Not everyone gets it. We parted ways in the morning, heading to different areas of the country, but each comforted by the idea that someone else was swimming against the same tide. But it got me thinking. So much time is wasted worrying about how to plant roots in the future, when we could be focused on

what our lives are producing now. While it’s easy to rail against roots, if they aren’t the goal, what is? THE ANSWER IS FRUIT. As travelers, we face the unique challenge to grow, like moss, even without roots. Moss doesn’t need to be planted. It gathers nutrients from the air around it, helped along by the surrounding community. It spreads on wind and moving water, though others might not recognize that it bears fruit all its own. Moss should be an inspiration to every traveler. Growth is ultimately the goal, the desired end result of travel. Bearing fruit is why I do it. It is why I left home to write in coffee shops and libraries along the way. Growth is why I chase views that keep changing. For me, the road has been the arbiter of budding perspective. It is here that unformed ideas trickle down into concrete

“Growth is ultimately the goal, the desired end result of travel.”

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September/October 2022 ESCAPEES Magazine