Introduction

It was 19^th century politician Horace Greeley who uttered the phrase “Go West, young man, go West.”  Of course, the runner-up of the presidential election of 1872 probably didn’t envision young men heeding his call by mounting a wimpy 49 cc motor scooter and riding into the sunset, but that’s exactly what I’ll be doing for the month of September as I attempt to ride a Honda Metropolitan from Boston to San Francisco.

Here are my main reasons for doing this:

1. To get to the West Coast.

2. Adventure.

3. Something to write about.

Allow me to briefly elaborate on those bullet points.  First and foremost, like any other trip, this is about getting from Point A to Point B.  Point B happens to be the San Francisco Bay Area, where I believe that my environmental studies degree will be best suited to finding work. The Bay is made even more alluring since I have a number of friends from college living in the area who have offered me space on their respective couches while I look for a job.  I definitely plan on accepting their invitation to exploit their hospitality in the name of finding gainful employment.

The “adventure” bullet kind of speaks for itself.  Nonetheless, I wanted to take advantage of this time in my life when I have the fleeting opportunity to do something adventurous, unstructured, and somewhat crazy while still unbridled by obligations to a job, family, school, or anything else.  This relative degree of freedom will expire soon enough, so what better time to do something memorable?  Something that has always ranked prominently on my own “Bucket List” is a cross-country bike ride, but by the time I was serious about heading West, I feared it was too late in the summer to make that happen while eluding the icy grip of autumn.  Perhaps someday I’ll get around to the bike journey, but for now, I’m sure the scooter will inject a sufficient dose of adventure into my life.

Another primary reason for this trip is to provide fodder for writing this blog, which I hope I can use to catch the eye of prospective employers.  I consider writing to be my most marketable skill, and many places looking to hire writers want those with blogging experience, of which I have none.  Launching this blog seeks to remedy that situation, and hopefully I will be able to parlay this publication into a writing gig of some nature.  Furthermore, one of my biggest dream jobs would be as a writer in the mold of Bill Bryson, who goes out and has an adventure and then writes about it.  So that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.
 

Hopefully no one will pee on me during my trip.

Now for a quick introduction to the scooter itself- I bought a used 2008 model, with about 400 miles on it.  I wasn’t too picky about color, but I must confess that the classic blue and white combo was my favorite, and that was what I was lucky enough to find.  Like something out of Antiques Roadshow, the seat pops up to reveal a bit of storage space hidden underneath, and there’s a little extra cargo room in the form of a trunk that’s about one cubic foot in size.  With about four ponies under its hood (or rather, seat) the Metro tops out at 33-34 mph and can maybe graze 35 mph going downhill with a full head of steam.

Given their speed (or lack thereof), scooters are forbidden from being used on interstate highways.  Therefore I’ll have no choice but to avoid the country’s arterial highways and instead cobble together a westward route using backroads.  Even if it’s not being done by choice, I’m pretty excited about this prospect of boycotting interstates for a few reasons.

Firstly, the creation of the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System has been called “the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world,” as the U.S. diverted its Post-WW II wealth into the construction and maintenance of an expansive network of roads that strengthened our cultural embrace of the automobile (and subsequently fossil fuels).

One appealing dimension of interstate highways is the romantic notion of the getaway drive.  Granted, some stretches of interstates offer glimpses of breathtaking scenery, but overall, travelers are insulated from the true charm and character of the places they’re speeding through at 70 mph.  On the two-lane highways that I’ll be traveling, I’m hoping to get a more satisfying taste of small towns and cities that otherwise would have remained undiscovered, and gravitate away from the sprawl and restaurant chains attracted to interstates like barnacle to bow.

These factors helped influence my decision to literally take the road(s) less traveled.  It might sound like flowery prose, but I’m genuinely hopeful that this route will result in a more fulfilling connection to the towns stretching across America, while also providing a taste of what travel used to be like pre-interstate system (and what it may be like when we lack the resources to maintain that system in the future).

Besides the main criterion of sticking to backroads, deciding upon a route was pretty easy.  It was basically a game of connect-the-dots using the locations of more than a dozen friends scattered along a general path from Boston to The Bay.  My friends came through big time, and soon I had overnight stops lined up in the following places:

"I've got hosts in different area codes."

A-Boston, MA

B-Voorheesville, NY

C-Syracuse, NY

D-Buffalo, NY

E-Cleveland, OH

F-Ann Arbor, MI

G-Chicago, IL

H-Rock Island, IL

I-Ames, IA

J-Omaha, NE

K-Boulder, CO

L-Steamboat Springs, CO

M-Ely, NV

N-The Bay, CA

Clearly there are some gaps along the way.  If everything goes to plan (an admittedly huge and improbable “if”) then maybe I can make it all the way to Omaha solely by getting by on the good graces of my hosts and without having to rough it on my own.  The game will change after that however, as over 500 miles of lonely roads lay before my next stop in Boulder.  With acquaintances fewer and farther between in the western half of the country, I’ll have to tackle Utah on my own and cover practically all of Nevada and California independently as well.

Planning to fill these voids by camping, I stuffed a one-person tent under the Metro’s seat and filled every remaining nook with mechanical supplies (wrenches, sockets, screwdriver, antifreeze, oil, etc.) and a few changes of clothing.  I’ll be carrying a couple extra things (camera, laptop, etc.) in a backpack.  Time to put Horace Greeley’s words into action.