December 31, 2019

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” -T.S. Eliot

I am here. The end of my long road. My quest fulfilled. My feet gently tuned to gravity’s force, once again. Denouement. A year ago, I packed my pickup truck with gear and drove from St. Louis to Key West to begin an epic journey across America and through the National Park System. The adventure took me to all 50 states and four U.S. territories. From the Caribbean to the other side of the International Date Line. From north of the arctic circle to south of the equator. 100,000 miles of road, air, and waterways later, I have returned home. Back to the place and people I love. And… back to me.

It is difficult to summarize all I have seen and done and learned this year. A flood of adjectives and superlatives come to mind, but seem trivial at a moment like this. The journey was more than one thing – more than one reason or purpose. It became its own entity. Bigger than me, and open to all who followed along to engage and enjoy. When I arrived at my last park stop, Gateway Arch National Park, on New Year’s Eve, I was greeted by dozens of friends, followers, reporters, rangers, and people who I have never met before. I was overwhelmed by the support from my community. I was proud that so many others were invested in this adventure – that they found meaning in it, or purpose, or joy, or even just some daily distraction from the hum drum of normal life. Knowing that my journey this year has inspired and moved others, is my greatest reward for this undertaking. A journey of solitude was never solitary. There were so many others with me the whole time.

As I crossed that 419th park finish line, the final puzzle piece was set into place – revealing a portrait of the United States of America as complete as you will ever find. Our National Park System is the greatest gift we have given ourselves. It is a living library of who we are. The trials and turmoil. The great successes and achievements. The land primordial. The creatures here, both alive and fossilized. The flora and ecosystems so diverse and crucial. The geology, volcanology, and eternal entropy shaping this country still today. The people who were here long before us. The people who came as slaves. The people who came to become Americans. The wars and battles. Our fight for independence and creation of a new country. The pioneers in art and science and innovation and industry – and humanity. The tragic, both natural and manmade. The lessons we have learned the hard way. The beauty and wonder in infinite detail. The seashores and lakeshores. The rivers tamed and wild. The coral reefs and tropical islands. The mountains. The plains. The deserts. The tundra and glaciers. The forests. The wetlands. The fragility of it all, and so much more. Through these parks, you can touch the beating heart of America, as I have. Through these parks you can understand your place in it all.

Now, my fellow travelers through time and space, I must say goodbye. The journey is complete. I hope you have been inspired. I hope you have been educated. I hope you have been awed by the wonder of it all. I will see you again – down the road, over the horizon, and on the trail. Until then, I leave you with these words to give you that little push out the front door and into your next adventure…

“Benedicto: May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you -- beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”-Edward Abbey