[Crowd Chanting] USA, USA, USA... America is many things to many people It's all races, creeds and religions Look at all those cameras back there Look at that, look at that... Hello folks, how you doing? You son of a guns I think that so many of us are really having a hard time coming to terms with what it means to be an American anymore No matter who wins the next president faces enormous challenges in trying to unify the country [Crowd singing] Donald Trump has got go!
Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho The US voters go to the polls today to elect a new president And now its up to the American people the 45th President of the United States of America President Donald Trump Watching the election results come in and seeing that there was way more support for this other person than I ever could have thought possible It just occurred to me that I really don't know my country at all I suppose, yeah I suppose when it comes to to running it is one of the first things that I kind of you know identified as something that I could maybe not do better or faster than everybody else but it definitely was a way for me to stand out I've been kind of a professional runner for about the past decade depending on how you define that term "professional" I guess I am in the sense that I make my living doing it I have traveled all over the place all over South America, Africa, New Zealand, Japan, Antarctica, I have been to nearly every country in Europe, the UK, Mexico, Canada I've been traveling off and on for I guess the past 15 years or so I've had this great opportunity to see the entire world both through my own means and through the community of running and races and I remember distinctly on November 8th being in Madison, Wisconsin watching the election results come in Just realizing that there's so much of the United States that I know nothing about and you know, I was looking at a map of the United States and realizing that I'd spent more time in Germany than I had in the entire south that I'd spent more time in the UK than I had in Kansas, you know Kansas is right next door to Colorado and I don't think I'd ever been to Kansas before so yeah I wanted to see the country [Radio] The President elect
to become President today [Radio] Donald Trump takes
the oath of office as the [Radio] 45th President of the United
States today I don't have a single person with the exception of my own dad that I know voting for Donald Trump and you know how can we have a discussion if we don't even know someone on the other side of the argument My dad's from Cleveland, Ohio, my mom's from New York, from Long Island they both met in Aspen, Colorado in the late 1960s I've always been very close to my mom you know I can look back on a lot of these little trips that my mom would take us on when I was growing up She would pack the car with with all five kids and drive out to the desert and we'd spend a few days out in Arches National Park and another time my mom piled all of the kids into a sixteen passenger van and drove us all out to California, you know my mom was doing that all by herself I'd say that had a huge impact on who I later became [TV] I said this guy's gonna win he's
gonna be a great president [TV] he's gonna be our Reagan he's
gonna... [TV] I can't believe I'm
saying I'm a politician [TV] but I guess that's what I am now You know in kindergarten I insisted on wearing a button-up shirt and a tie despite the warnings from my parents and my siblings that it might get me beat up and sure enough it did and I started dating my girlfriend, Liz about six or seven years ago and I haven't had a whole lot of direction in my adult life I've kind of been a wanderer Liz is kind of the opposite of that and I've definitely been attracted to that as a sense of stability I'm not a person that believes in the one true love and I was really putting that to the test and I told her that I needed to get things figured out and so it wasn't long after the election night that Liz and I decided to go separate ways I drove away from Wisconsin very confused knowing that I've got this big trip coming up ahead and convincing myself that I needed to be alone for it Oh my god! Look at this place Holy shit that dude's
got a tatoo on his eye and yeah, I arrived in Charleston, South Carolina and that's where my journey began A few weeks before I got there I put an ad up on Craigslist saying, you know, Good condition, selling it for a thousand bucks, I need to sell it at nine o'clock in the morning on March 1st whoever's there to buy it, has it I met Breanna who kicked the tires and took the car for a little test drive and then handed over a thousand bucks and for a little fee she agreed to drive me out to Folly Beach about ten miles away and drop me off Look at that, the Atlantic Ocean... We made it, the easy parts done Cool. All right, well thank
you guys. Thanks a lot Good luck on your trip. Thanks a lot This is fucking crazy So the plan, let's see how did I come up with this the record across the United States is something like 42 days It was set just a couple years ago by Pete Kostelnick and I had absolutely no intention or desire to go for that record It was something that wasn't interesting to me The goal of my journey was to experience places in the United States that I hadn't been before and I didn't know the people there and so my plan was to go across the country on foot and on River and I figured the distance would be about a marathon a day adding up to a total of about 3700 miles so sleeping out, I was gonna try as much as I could to find natural shelter and it was gonna be cold food while I was traveling the whole time with the exception of what I could buy Here we are in Charleston, South Carolina Folly Beach... About to start off on a 35 mile... thirty five I wish it was 35 miles... 3500 mile run across the United States Im not such a fan of ocean water but there we go So here we go! Doing it! With a backpack barely weighing 12 pounds, a change of underwear, toothbrush, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, just barely enough of a shelter to keep me dry and warm... I uh I turned my back on the Atlantic Ocean and started west towards Ocean Beach, California 3,500 miles away There's an incredible lack of fireworks right now I don't think anybody around me cares at all least of all Breanna who I just sold the car to - oh well I suppose I should start running eventually California isn't gonna come to me It's really just it's just a strange way to start a really big trip where no one really around you, including yourself knows or appreciates what you've just taken on It's not like sailing away into the Atlantic or into the Pacific it's a really soft and comfortable beginning Howdy! How you doing? Good luck to you buddy thank you very much I couldn't do it I tell you that much Way past my time to do that kind of thing Well it's fun, I figured I'd do it while I can I had a few friends asked if they can join me for a day or two days or three days and I just requested that they pack light and be prepared to sleep out in the rain or under the stars if we're lucky Thanks for coming out, I'm honored I'm honored man! So my friend Jeff joined me pretty early on in the trip yeah watching good old caveman TV I hadn't seen him in almost 10 years 8 years maybe and the longest he'd run in the past few years was one mile and he ended up doing about 70 miles with me over the course of two and a half days How's it going? Can I get y'alls names? uh Rickey... Nice to meet you Rickey I'm Jeff Jeff... Cool, thats Chopsticks What's your name? Um Skibo Skibo? Skibo and Chopsticks? Nice So yeah it was fun It was just a way to make the trip not so serious Having a friend come along for a day or two , kind of lightens up the experience a little bit We're looking at a gator We saw a bunch of gators! What! You did? Yeah They don't eat too much down here How far y'all travelling? I started in Folly Beach a few days ago Folly Beach? My cousin lives in Folly Beach Oh yeah? Y'all walk or y'all drive or y'all jog over here Yeah sure did So where you going next? San Francisco You're jogging to San Francisco? that's the idea Oh stop! You're crazy! God bless you So when do you expect to get there? I'm hoping by August 1st Oh hell, Jesus Thats neat though, who you running for? Uh just on my own Its something I've always wanted to do Wow thats neat nice chatting with you see you Jeff, best of luck Make quick! I will Bye Rickey We live in an age where it's becoming so easy to live in separate bubbles My friends all do the same things that I do they generally believe the same things that I believe, they vote the way I vote Same goes for my family For the first time this trip I'm actually alone which is kind of nice but I miss my buddies and I miss having someone carry my shit we have what appears to be our first hill of the trip Day 7 We're out in the woods I don't really know what I had anticipated as far as conversations would go along the way the route that I picked out was across I believe 11 states and either eight or nine of those states that voted favorably for Donald Trump I wanted to experience and see and feel you know What all of this is all about on my own level and remove NPR, remove Fox remove CNN from this equation and go talk to people one on one I've heard about you. What's your name? What's your name? I'm Scott Ward Scott... Rickey and then one without smiling One super serious Why!? Thats great This is my wife's cousin and we're good friends oh cool we'd be friends even if we weren't related yeah you're supposed to say that
- no it's true Cheese without the cheese! This country gave me everything It gave me everything I respect everybody Respect your work respect different people Respect the color The most important thing is to remain humble in your heart I love the people, I love the country I love the weather I love my work I love talking with you! It's amazing to talk with you because right now you are here And tomorrow I don't know where you are What you going to do with all these pictures I don't know, keep them together so I can remember my trip Oh right on You started in Charlston!?
Yes Sir And you are going to go the West Coast? - Yup God thats great.
- yeah about 10 days in... How about your gear and stuff? it's all here. - Thats all you got? Yeah. - Oh you're real light weight You got a hammock to sleep in?
-it's just a tarp and a ground cloth and a little bit of twine to pitch it down So I said... I get high out here!
- yeah there you go Well look where I'm at! I don't need nothing If you need something to get high when you're out in the beautiful country that god made that man hasn't destroyed You got to get away from the man-made ugliness yeah to get out there in what God made Its beautiful... I said what do you need? People just took an incredible amount of interest in what I was doing and they were just really psyched to see that someone was attempting to run across the country I'm not the first person to do this but in the eyes of a lot of these people that I met in those first few days in those first few weeks the only other person that they knew of doing something like this was this - fictitious character in a movie from the
- 90s you know "Forest Gump" Day 14 End of the second week We are going across uh I95 just kidding we're going across I85 Supposedly it might snow tomorrow night in the low mountains hopefully that's not where I am right now what the fuck, it's fucking snowing This is bullshit my phone is about to die which has the directions on there My rain gear was a poncho which was also my tent I had absolutely no first aid kit I knew that no matter what route I chose or what time of year I was gonna have to deal with weather It's now 7:30 in the morning I'm in South Carolina for one more day it just rained all night long and I found out that this tarp is not a hundred percent waterproof Anyway Im going to get 20 more minutes of sleep We are crossing the Chitooga River Leaving South Carolina behind me and Georgia just ahead of me there's Georgia, moon walking into Georgia You're putting yourself out there without protection, you're putting yourself out there in a vulnerable situation and I think that's appealing to everybody in anybody It's a way for us to start a conversation Ain't them all Hillbillies? I ain't met nothing but the best folks so far I've been on the trail two weeks Right on man What's y'all names? Shorty, David, Kelty sometimes I just look at the map and go and yeah I didn't realize I was gonna be on a dirt road next to a beautiful Creek today How you doing?
- I'm doing great I've never been to Georgia never been to South Carolina so I'm heading into Chattanooga I've never been there There's lot of violence in Chattanooga A lot of violence in Chattanooga? Huh I tried not to dwell too much on things that I would be afraid of The dude behind the counter talked forever about the Appalachian Trail and then sent me the wrong way He was wondering if I had a gun for the copperheads and rattlesnakes And mountain lions and bears and coyotes and wolves he said he has never seen a wolf out here but it's cuz there aren't any not over here anyway unfortunately and then some really awesome guys outside the gas station told me about how the folks 50 miles south of here are super sketchy the ones here are all right. You know this is the story that's being told over and over again to watch out for this person next door or this person that you probably don't know anything about one town is telling me you know this is a great town the next town over is full of weirdos so just watch out I get to that town and they're warning me about the next town I'm on the Appalachian Trail and it's just started snowing again but it sure is pretty I suppose one of the things that I was hoping for was to show that there's one person myself that's not afraid even though I am afraid Well this is the Appalachian Highway Hi! How's it going Howdy Hello There's more of you, come on by Howdy Come on through! whoa look at this view The final few meters of the Appalachian Trail I'll tell you what, I'm whipped Do you make all these? My son did that
- Yeah? He's good! well would I be able to get some water from your spigot here What drinking?
- yeah drinking water oh no we dont drink this water This water ain't too fit to drink Okay well well alright well thank you very much yeah I'm going to carry on From the very beginning of the trip I took into account the history of the United States and westward expansion and you look at any of the big journeys that were undertaken in the 1800s if you could take advantage of traveling on the river and you would do that My plan was to to travel from Chattanooga, Tennessee across northern Alabama and back into Tennessee which was about 300 miles the very first day getting on to the Tennessee River was a very steep learning curve it took me about an hour and a half to cover the very first mile it's just going fucking great I've literally gone a quarter-mile in one hour... this is brutal and have I mentioned I'm a little bit afraid of water? - I am I was going against an extreme headwind and thought almost immediately that I made a very big mistake I called up Liz. We were talking at that point fairly regularly and she just yeah she comforted me on the phone and told me to relax and I did and the wind calmed down and got back out on the river and continued on and managed to cover about ten miles that first day so I've got a slight downriver breeze and I'm gonna take advantage of it so I got my trekking pole and my tarp when you're out on the river you're you're pretty much alone there's boats going by you all the time but nobody goes and takes their boat out onto the Tennessee River to go hang out and talk to a guy on a stand-up paddleboard Jesus Christ this does not make me feel good about myself and the bugs are out they can keep up with me apparently on on the paddleboard I've decided I hate paddleboarding finally arrived at the the takeout and I'm gonna continue on foot to the Great Mississippi, Memphis We are... Over the Mississippi River this is exciting How's it going?
- all right Guess we're not in stopping mood today so we're coming up to McCrory, Arkansas cool little town I could spennd the rest of my days around here where the trees are green [Speaking in Spanish] we're camped next to a railroad track and getting the full brunt of it now I think it's a hundred car train on highway... this is 96... 72 it's an even number I know that What's your name?
-My name is Jim Steel Jim Steel, I'm Ricky Gates Rickey Gates can I make a donation to your cause? Oh there is no cause Can I make a donation?! I appreciate that so much I saved up my money for this trip I'm doing okay Somebody pulled me out of the rabbit hole lately
-Really? There's got to be a reason for it
and I figure its to support your cause I'd really appreciate if you take this money in the spirit that it's
given oh well I appreciate that just
means a lot to me Jim Steel?
- Jim Steel Jim Steel can I get a picture of you
before you leave? yeah I've been collecting pictures of people that I meet along the way it's been really wonderful so there we go I think that guy just gave me like 80
bucks You know I became the neuron the connector that I was wanting to be from the beginning of the trip you know that it feels good to give and for so many people I was the receptacle for that I love this I'm going west, can you tell the sun is in your eyes... always west Nothing's as powerful as something that you experience yourself Hey... you're pretty I see ourselves as 90% the same and 10% different and that 10% difference is what the media latches on to Its what a lot of politicians are latching on to right now oh thank you so much
-You're welcome Whats your name? Samantha., Rickey, nice to meet you nice to meet you Oh I'm good on a ride
yeah I'm running oh I appreciate it Travelling a long ways? yes sir, across the country Across the country? I'm Tristan, I'm Colton, Hunter, and Becky It's a beautiful Saturday morning Awesome. thank you so much Glad to help man Where you running from? from South Carolina Oh heck! I don't know what your wife did to you! Yeah thats funny I hope you find what you're looking for I appreciate it There's this level of generosity and people just look after each other It's not the wealthiest people that were giving me money oh man nice to meet you
- yeah what's your name? Danny
- Danny nice to meet you I saw a picture of you
i think crossing into the State Oh my buddy Lil is going to be thrilled when I show him this Nice to meet you
- thanks for stopping Keep at it man
You're insanely awesome Oh cheers I appreciate you saying so I picked up a couple friends here Stay!.. stay... Gosh All right ... Go!
Go home bye dogs I doubt that's the last we see of them Won't you guys go home? You can't come to California with me would you guys go home but they're gonna keep following me whether I tell him to go home or not as you can see the amazing thing is that on my run across the country I really didn't talk about politics all that much I talked about the things that are actually important to us and that was that was really telling to me well I've made it - this is the West we're in the West now, Oklahoma. Arkansas is that way, that's the south, this is the West this state, Oklahoma, borders Colorado,
my home state so it's almost like I'm almost home like 900 miles from home... big states here we go, say goodbye to Arkansas, there goes Arkansas behind us and now we're in Oklahoma I really believed that I saw the core of America that I experienced the core of America hi mom hey listen real quick well um I had a few people that I would call when I was not having a great day I'd often times call my mom she was very comforting and she appreciated the challenge that I was going through I'd call my brother a lot Liz quite a lot spoke to my dad more than I have in years This is full-on rain and lightning storm and sleeping in a puddle again I'm tired of sleeping in puddles I can't even begin to tell ya as I'm getting older... I just noticed that you know we're all imperfect and um I'm not immune to any of the mistakes that my own dad has made and I suppose that's uh yeah that's really hard. Empathy is at the core of understanding and just appreciating that you know we're all complicated people I think very few of us really have it figured out I almost feel like saying that to get to know my own country was really almost a superficial answer of what I was doing it was definitely way more about getting to know myself the physical challenge that I'm putting my body through is fairly substantial Just having exhausted legs, tired feet swollen feet and trying to find a place to sleep every night Yeah it's uh it can be a little exhausting well we've got to celebrate the little victories along the way some of them a little bigger I've come a long way from South Carolina to get to this sign May 18th, i turned 36 years old today If you've noticed I got a few extra gray hairs and my beard here Happy Birthday to me I thought of it as my briar patch you know you got the Bruh Rabbit and that fable of the rabbit begging to not be tossed into the briar patch which is actually his most comfortable area you know I was thinking about that getting close to the Rockies that's my briar patch As rugged as they are no matter what it throws at me and something that I'm super familiar with Can you see that camera?
Mountains, I am here I am so freaking excited A great venture across any terrain people look at the mountains as the big challenge and for me waiting to see those Rocky Mountains was the carrot really far out in front of me one forest... different forest And... Liz! Now you go through this humungous teaching experience only to come back right where you started realizing that you knew everything to begin with and that you didn't have to do all of that Liz wasn't the problem, Donald Trump isn't the problem and could I have done it differently I'm not totally sure I feel like I needed to go through that struggle this is a reason to celebrate I'm having fun Oh good I'm glad this is my home Aspen, Colorado
I grew up here It's got everything that the world could possibly offer My goals for this trip were to get to know my country a bit better to see places that I hadn't been before to push myself and by the time I'd gotten to Colorado I kind of felt like I'd checked all of those boxes well most of the way across looks like I was gonna go into Louisiana, I didn't touch Louisiana To see this dream unfolding before me and and then to look back on buying those maps and cutting them up and what can you say about that... It's really challenging to to get two-thirds the way into your trip feeling like you've accomplished everything and knowing that you still have 1,500, 1,200 miles yet to go through arguably the most difficult
terrain in a way you could say I was just burying my head in the sand I just I didn't want to think about it I've had a lot of support from the community where I grew up over the years and this kind of felt like the height of
that like I was really being appreciated for what I was doing
the local newspaper did a story on me
you know the New York Times could do a story on me and it wouldn't mean as much as the Aspen Times doing a story on me you feel like a hero and I just needed to absorb it
I just spent my time home enjoying the people around me and enjoying my time there A little Forest Gump is good
The whole deal, I can do without that All right, thats it. Thanks mom
- you're welcome Thanks so much
-you're welcome We'll see you when we see you Don't worry about me I'm not sure what else I was really hoping to find out there yeah it's hard to to get there and then and know that you have this weird goal of getting to the other side of the country and you have to leave all of that behind you I've thought often times throughout the course of my running career you know why am I doing this
why is it important what does it mean
what does this sport mean to me what does running mean to me and the funny thing is is that I used to consider it a sport and now I don't consider it a sport at all it's really just a medium you know it's gone from something that I've used as a way to meet people to a way to explore new countries to a way to give myself some self-worth and it's gone from that to something even deeper it's a way - for me to get to know myself at the
- deepest level it does happen in the blink of an eye when you're leaving the Rockies it was just all of a sudden my friends left and then I was in the desert
it wasn't just talk anymore
I kind of felt like all I had to do was just keep moving I mean I guess that's what faith is putting your yeah trusting yourself into uh into a belief system you know Edward Abbey broke down the human race into three simple categories there's mountain people there's desert people and there's river rats and I'm definitely a mountain person So how am I looking
I don't like too bad I'm just over a hundred days in Crossed into Utah yesterday Little bit exhausted, a little depressed I don't know depressed is the right word but I haven't been able to really digest food for the past few days I feel like I'm losing weight rapidly and I've got some really big scary desert coming up It's supposed to be a hundred and ten
degrees and gosh I just feel like I'm skin and bones right now I've got good old Jared following me with a pickup truck and water and food which I'm not really able to keep down I was hoping I'd have some more friends join me that didn't happen but everyone's got their lives I guess you wake up every single day and regardless of everything that's going on whether in my personal life or what's going on in our country I have the singular goal and that's what's driving me You know if you're not moving forward then you're not reaching your goal there's not many pursuits in life where it's that simple Morning Jared Morning It seems that I've got What do I have Jared?
Heartburn? Indigestion? Acid Reflux
we learned a little trick on the internet this morning looks like we're in the wild but we actually have really good phone service out here tablespoon, teaspoon of mustard it's brutal but it worked this morning and I want my coffee so I'm gonna do this Oh gosh acid reflux It's so rough You it all happened really quick I was in this comfortable little nest to all of a sudden being in this inferno where I'm genuinely concerned for my health and even worse if I'm gonna make it to a hospital if things turn bad really quick Sorry for filming you... but
-It's okay I'd lost all of the extra weight that I'd put on and to top it off I'm burning anywhere from four to six thousand calories a day and not taking in any calories so I'm only at that point burning fat and so I just started shedding weight really really quickly and I had a suspicion that I was kind of going into a bit of a cave which is pretty dangerous I mean you don't have to be a doctor to know that I don't know how stupid I'm being I still had 600 miles of desert still ahead of me and some of the hottest days still ahead of me and hundred mile stretches in between towns and possibly worst of all I adopted a mentality almost convinced myself that you know this pursuit that I was going for was worth dying for and in that it was a noble cause and I don't know it's it's funny that you can convince yourself of that I'm trying to figure out a carrying system
- For what? For going across the desert on foot Oh okay so for like your pack? Yeah exactly So is this prototype?
Yeah this is prototype so I'm experimenting a little bit with a golf caddy to carry more water and more supplies across the desert who'd have thought that you can be on the Appalachian Trail and have more access to supplies than on a major highway I started carrying 2 gallons of water in a little golf caddy Need some water?
Hey I appreciate it Im good on water Gosh have people been nice to you
- Absolutely, case in point What's not so great is that I've been peeing blood for the past 24 hours which has me a little bit worried I learned pretty quickly that I wasn't able to keep my same running schedule I tried sleeping during the day and waking up at 5:00 or 6:00 or 7:00
in the evening and running all the way through the night and so begins my night travel I guess and I'm out of water
or almost out of water daytime temperature is right around a hundred and five getting close to a hundred and ten degrees my weird stomach issues persist I'm having a hard time keeping food down I'll go for another few hours right now and then stay out of the sun for a while I just couldn't sleep through the day it wasn't possible when it's a hundred degrees you can't sleep you can't do anything and so what I started to do was wake up before sunrise around 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning right when the first birds started singing run until about 11:30 or noon and then find some shade either in a culvert or under a tree or if I was really lucky in a town or at a bar and hang out there until 5:00 in the afternoon and then try and put in another five or six hours run until about midnight Beautiful morning It's with much sadness I'm saying goodbye to this guy but moving on to a shadier and more trustworthy mode of transportation goodbye desert cab the deserter I'm deserting you Now I've got a hubcap it's about midnight and we found a pool to poach
It's really nice As much as I was eager to get out of the desert I don't know if I really wanted to stop either I just felt like I was being stripped down to the most bare and pure version of myself Here we are Two more states left to go but it's an amazing place the desert I don't think it's a mystery that in biblical terms that the desert is where Jesus goes to find himself and to be tempted by the devil you know it's where people are truly tested it was yeah it was all self reflection first time I've ever traveled with a baby stroller before
I gotta admit I kind of enjoyed it
you got someone to talk to all day long
one four niner we've got a baby stroller here going about four five miles an hour across the American desert you're gonna probably have to seek some shade and get out of the sun that's the same thing seeking shade and getting out of the sun it seems to me that most environments the human race has figured out how to bend to their will but not the desert the desert doesn't care there's this this purity of soul that you experience when you're out there for that long self-contained
self-sustained it just instilled such a huge amount of relief to have that purpose day after day you begin to leave the desert over a short period of time over a few days and you know that it's coming to an end packing up the old the Baby Jogger the horse with no name you're still very much in the desert up until the crest of the Sierra Nevadas If this doesn't say that we're out of the desert right now then I don't know what does yeah shit Mount Rose
holy crap and what is this oh my god it's Lake Tahoe just this moment we crossed into the Sierra Nevadas right there We are about five miles from the
California border I was hoping for a little bit more fanfare or celebration or something to welcome me into my final state on this trip there's no state line for the california/nevada border so I've decided to make my own here we are walking into California that's it it's the last state Hi there
- Come on through young man How are you
- you look vigoruous how much water have you got?
-Enough Which is what? -Enough
One litre? What's your name? My name is Rickey gates Rickey Gates I must remember that
I have to look it up on the internet I'm all set thanks take care. Bye thank you very much I appreciate it it was my last night alone on the trip and that was kind of when it really occurred to me the most that I finished the trip we're only about seven miles, six miles five miles from the Pacific Ocean Getting a little nostalgic I don't know really
what to make of all of this so I'm just gonna keep enjoying this
sunset it's just too pretty so yeah waking up in those hills and it's just those final few hours the final day of being by myself and knowing that I wasn't gonna experience that solitude again on the trip and who knows maybe never again in life I don't know it's hard to say See that there? That doesn't look like the ocean but that is the ocean after that I just anticipated the
busyness of people coming
- of my mom and brother coming of meeting up with Liz and the excitement of all of that and I knew that I wasn't gonna be able to quite take it in yeah I guess as far as people go you know this trip was so much about people and I just had no idea you know what kind of people I was gonna meet and because you know it's like thinking of a color that you've never seen before if you haven't seen it you can't imagine it Lauren and Tonya, Reba
- my name is Rickey real Cowboys have a motorcycle Pow Yeah exactly Can we say shit? - where are we?
you guys are beautiful and you'll find a lot more people
along the way Right on man My mother hates it I feel like after going across the country that I'm more similar than different whereas before I went on this trip I thought I was more different than similar yeah to claim to be an American What are you actually claiming it has nothing to do with the color of your skin or what religion you practice or what religion you don't practice I think most of all it yeah it's the freedom to do or not do or to say or not say all of those things to be whoever you want to be I think that we all have a million different versions of ourselves depending on which path we choose to take I think I could feel that then where you can see everything from the San Francisco Airport to downtown San Francisco, to the Golden Gate Bridge Welcome to San Francisco! you can see airplanes coming and going and ships coming and going and the BART train and freight trains you can see all of this happening and there's a million, two million people down below you and there's just this pulse of humanity and this is just one city of 50 cities on a planet with a thousand cities that size and that's when you kind of begin to realize that you really don't know anything at all and that it's just one little thing it's just one little experience I thought I learned who I was but I learned who I was in that context and that context isn't sustainable or if it is sustainable you know do I really want to continue down that path and right now the path that I'm on is just being a guy living in Oakland, California with a girlfriend and rent and insurance and we're figuring out where we're going next and you know this is one version of me right now and I'm trying to be that best version the sooner that we're able to realize that you know we can't be more than one person at one time the sooner that we are able to be content being the person that we are so if I've learned anything that's what I've learned is to appreciate who I am where I am, when I am and who I'm with I think that would have solved a lot of problems in the past for me and I hope it'll continue to solve problems in the future for me Although I'll have this journey of running across the states for the rest of my life it'll never be as rich as it was when I was doing it so what does that leave me with? I'm not totally sure other than I know that I did do it and that it was beautiful and sad and happy and challenging and easy and hot and cold and straight and narrow and curvy and yeah it was everything I have to appreciate what I did and leave it behind and appreciate what I'm doing at this current moment
Should mention Donald Trump in the tittle, since he is mentioned 2 million times in de doc.