*Virginia Highlands Airstream Park – Floyd, VA – 10/4/18

Maybe it was naïveté, maybe I didn’t really want to know.

Had anyone done a trip like the one we are planning? Surely they had…right? Visiting all 50 states isn’t a new concept. But all at once? Maybe a little more rare. In an Airstream? Maybe even less. All the National Parks on the same trip…including the Virgin Islands and American Samoa? Can only be a handful right?

I was wrong.

Come to find out, this Aussie couple did the exact same trip just a couple years back.

You can check them out here.

In the past, discouragement may have washed over me. Not now.

Is there more than one book about travel? Yes.

Is there more than one recipe for grilled cheese online? Duh.

Is there more than one “how-to” about brake jobs, or origami, or balloon animals? Of course.

Seriously, how creepy are balloon animals? Is it just me?

The reality is, while this couple’s trip was epic, and I applaud them for accomplishing said adventure, they are not us.

They didn’t do it the way we will. They didn’t follow the same route, or have the same experiences. They didn’t do it on their own…they were sponsored…beholden daily to the corporate monsters I wish to escape. No thanks. 

Importantly, they don’t have the same voice.

Maybe most importantly, they didn’t do it for the same reasons.

Those reasons alone could fill 20 of these posts.

Most things have been done before. By the time Shakespeare finished his work, he had written of nearly every story line conceivable. That hasn’t stopped 500 years of artists, writers, filmmakers and more from doing the exact same thing, only in their way.

Who cares if we repeat the same ideas? After all, we are all connected, aren’t we? We are bound to find overlap in our ideas and experiences, just as I wrote about here. 

The moral of this story? Share what you have to share. Share it with every ounce of your being.

Chances are you won’t be original, but inherent in your sharing will be authenticity.

Your art is yours. Authentically yours.

Isn’t that what we are all searching for?

See you on the journey.

Check out our other articles in this series: 

50 States – 18 Months – 1 Airstream Episode 3: The Few Who Do…

50 States – 18 Months – 1 Airstream Episode Two: Building the Map

50 States – 18 Months – 1 Airstream Episode One: The Trip