This Cd was inspired by my youngest daughter, Rachelle's 5 week road trip across the United States. She began in Montana, and with the help and company of her college friends, traveled across the country to our home in Illinois. It's quite an impressive read, if you have the time...She also took the cover photo for this Cd at Rocky Mountain National Park. Below is a verbatim transcript of my interview with her several months after her trip. The trip took place in July-August of 2017. The interview took place, at my home, in Illinois in January 2018.

M: Ok. Good morning Rachelle.

R: Good morning.

M: So today is January 9th, 2018 and I need a write up for the Cd that was inspired by you….So that’s what this is…Your 5 or 6 week trip…How long was it?

R: It ended up being a little less than that. It was like 4 and a half weeks.

M: And this took place when?

R: In the summer when my Americorps service ended. It started end of July-early August and then I came home at the end of August.

M: So your starting point was Helena, Montana. Is that correct?

R: Yes, that’s where I was living at the time.

M: And your work with Americorps was involving what?

R: My work with Americorps was with an organization called No Kid Hungry…and they focus on food access, nutrition education and community awareness. My service term involved taking on lots of different projects under those 3 umbrellas. From starting school breakfast programs to writing grants to…I did a program called “Harvest of the Month” which showcased local food in schools. I did a lot of cooking classes with kids – a wide variety of things which kept it interesting.

M: It all sounds good. And I know that when you were done with that term, you were going to go on a road trip…and you were inviting your college friends to go with you – which they did, right? You always had someone to go with you. So you headed out in July and who did you have with you then?

R: Well, the first place that we went was up to Glacier National Park because we did a backpacking trip there, and Michaela – my friend from college had flown to meet me and she came on the backpacking trip. And she and I drove separately…and my other friends, Ian and Ryan and Sean and Val and Kelsey and Kelsey’s friend Melinda – the whole group of us went on a backpacking trip in Glacier. It was a couple days and we backpacked across the border into Canada. It was called the “Stony Indian Creek Pass Trail” and we had parked cars on either end so once we got across we had to shuttle back and forth to drop everyone off and once that was done, Michaela and I left from there to Seattle and the rest of our friends went back to Helena.

M: So, how was Glacier? You mentioned to me that is was the most beautiful place you had ever seen in your life…You want to talk about that at all?

R: Yeah…It was amazing…The trip was unbelievable. The best part of the road trip, I would say, was that backpacking trip…It was absolutely stunning…Everybody that attended was in really good spirits, and nothing unforeseen happened…we didn’t get lost or anything...and the scenery in Glacier is just spectacular…It’s unlike anything you’ve ever seen…it was a trail we had read about that was really beautiful…And actually, some guy that I had met in a hot spring once…an older guy had recommended it to me…and so that’s kind of how we had chosen the trail.

M: Really?

R: Yeah and it was funny because when we went to plan the trip, that was actually the only trail that had spots left because all the other campgrounds were full. So, it kind of was pre-determined that we had to go there..

M: I see…That’s interesting. Ok. So you spent how many days in Glacier?

R: Two nights, three days, I think.

M: Two nights, three days….And then, you and Michaela went to Seattle?

R: Yeah, we went to Seattle and we met Tina there.

M: Oh, you met your other friend Tina there… So, in Seattle, you just saw the sights and stuff like that?

R: Yeah…we stayed with my friend Jill from college, which was fun….And then, we just did some sight seeing around…It was fine…it was kind of a culture shock for me, after not having been in a big city for a year, and after having come out of the woods…I didn’t like it…it was too flashy…and like, it’s a city of all white people – which makes no sense – what big city has all white people? No city. But Seattle managed to. It’s just all ritzy and bouzhie (meaning bourgeois)…and not very cultural…it’s kind of like a wannabe hipster culture…it’s not like, real culture….Yeah, I didn’t like it.

M: Wow, that’s eye opening…I never knew that part of the story…

R: That’s my take on it.

M: And then where?

R: After Seattle, we went to the Olympic National Forest..

M: That’s in Washington State?

R: Yeah..

M: Is that where you had your experience?

R: My bear encounter?

M: Yeah.

R: Yes, it is.

M: So, tell us a little about that..

R: You want me to tell you the whole bear story? I’m already losing my voice.

M: You can give us the abridged version.

R: There is no abridged version.

M: So first of all, you get to Olympic and are you just hiking there?

R: Yeah…well we set up camp that night. Camping for the first part of our trip didn’t go very well, because there were too many things packed into our days and so by the time we went to look for camp sights it was very dark and it was difficult to find places that were free camping in the dark and Tina wasn’t super comfortable with that. So we ended up camping illegally at camp grounds a couple times. Like going in after dark and not paying and sleeping there anyways – which is what we did that first night. We just found a campground in the forest and camped there and then the next morning we woke up and we went to the ranger’s station to ask for a hike and the guy had recommended the Colonel Bob Trail, because we had asked for something that was going to be long, a full day and strenuous and that would have good views. And so, he said to check out the Colonel Bob Trail. So, we did. And the trail was 14 miles – 7 up, 7 down and as we were hiking up the trail – when we got to the 2nd mile, we saw a black bear..

M: How far away was this black bear?

R: It was just right off the trail in the bushes.

M: Close?

R: Yeah, it was close. But it was afraid of us and it just scampered into the woods, quickly when it saw us. So it was no big deal and we just kept hiking along. We got to the summit and it was amazing…it was really beautiful views…mountains…360 degrees in all directions…then we ate our lunch up there and just kind of relaxed…sat in the sun for awhile…and then eventually we started hiking back down and as we were coming down we were approaching the spot where we had seen the bear the first time…we were making a bunch of noise because we were trying to ward off any bears or other wildlife that might be there again. Generally, if you scare the animal – like you sneak up on it unintentionally, then you’re more likely to get hurt, but even if they don’t move and and they’re there and they know you’re coming they won’t be as aggressive because they know to expect you. So, we were making a lot of noise and we thought we had made it through that little section of the trail and suddenly Michaela stopped. She was in front. And she said there was a black bear there…

M: The second one now…

R: Yeah….So she said, “There’s a bear”. So we all stopped and started to make some noise to try and spook it and then we backed up a little ways and I was just being very nonchalant about it. I sat down to drink some water and put my camera away and I had thought that the bear was gone. Michaela said, “What are you doing? Why aren’t you making noise?” I said, “It’s fine, she left”. And Michaela said, “No, she didn’t…she’s just up here in the woods.” And I said, “Oh, ok”. So we started to back up more, to give it some more space and out of our peripheral vision we heard and saw a low, growling sound and there was a little furry black body kitty-corner off the trail right behind us. And we thought, “Ok…I guess we can’t back up…we’ve got to go forward.”

M: So you were trapped right there.

R: Yeah, there were 2 there. So we went forward and along the right hand side of us on the trail there was like this dirt ridge that had a bunch of brush – like dead leaves – trees and bushes up there. And there was a log that had fallen and it was perched up on the ridge and a small section of it was hanging out over the trail, and as we were walking on the trail and going around that corner we saw a full grown male black bear perched up on that log over the trail…and it was staring right down at us. And it was angry. And it’s really uncharacteristic of a black bear to be territorial – they’re pretty shy and skittish – and they usually just run off when they see you. We were all pretty afraid because we knew that that was pretty uncommon behavior for a black bear. He was trying to tell us that that was his home and that we needed to get out because we shouldn’t be there. And we got the picture! But we didn’t know where to go and so we were making a ton of noise. Tina had 2 hydro flask water bottles that she was banging together…we were just screaming and singing and trying to devise a plan. Tina asked maybe we should go down the other edge off the trail into the woods that way…but I said “No”, we should stay on the trail where we could see because there were too many bears around. And I said, “I think we need to back up, though – the bears feel threatened because we’re not leaving.” Because you’re supposed to generally go back the way you came in when you see a bear. But we couldn’t because we tried to back up but there was a bear back there.

M: You were surrounded by bears.

R: Right. But we had no way to leave the bears an escape route. We had our bear spray – which is something you can use to ward off bears…it’s kind of like pepper spray for humans. We had to take the safety valves off to get ready. But we knew we didn’t want to use the bear spray because we didn’t have enough for all these bears. There’s only 7 seconds worth of spray in each can. If you use it, you better use it right. We knew that we only had enough for like, 2 bears and we didn’t want to provoke them and we knew if we used it on 1, we would provoke the others. We were only going to actually use it if we knew the bear was going to attack us physically. So, while all this was going on and we were trying to figure out what to do, we saw 2 more bears up ahead on the right hand side…but they were both just kind of bumbling through the woods. They weren’t coming after us or anything…you could tell they were just trying to get out of there. They felt scared and they didn’t know where to go, because we were still standing there. And meanwhile, the bear that was up above us had backed off and had gone up onto that ridge. So we knew it wasn’t going to attack us…bears aren’t like wolves, where they’ll try to stalk you or sneak up on you. Or take advantage of the prey in that way. Bears wouldn’t do that. They would just attack you – it would have just jumped down and eaten us right then and there. So, the fact that it didn’t and it was retreating was a good sign. So, we saw that and so once it got to the point that all the bears had retreated and there were at least no other bears in sight, we decided to just make a go of it so we started walking very hurriedly on the trail and we finally made it through that section of trail where there were all those bears. Then we hiked very quickly down the last 2 miles to the parking lot. And we just collapsed in the parking lot and cried that we were alive.

M: Wow. That’s a good story to tell your grandkids.

R: It is. Yeah, it is. It’s the most insane thing that’s ever happened. We went to try to report it at the ranger station, but no one was there, so, we left a note with our contact information. We never heard back. And the cleaning lady that was there suggested that we tell the people at the lodge because they recommend hikes too. So we did. And the woman at the front desk was an idiot. She was like, “Oh, it’s actually very normal to see bears around here and there’s not much we can do about it.” And I was like, “ No, lady. You’re wrong. Not even Bear Grylls has come upon a family of 5 black bears. People who climb Mount Everest don’t have that happen to them. It’s very abnormal. And the bears had built their den on the trail and that’s why they were being so aggressive.” I told her they needed to close the trail. That would be illegal if it were a National Park, but it’s only a National Forest and they’re not really regulated that way. She was, like, “Well, we’ll make sure we don’t recommend it for a couple days”. I was, like, “Good luck!” Any tourist that did that wouldn’t know what to do and they probably would have provoked them and died. So, she was dumb. And then we went back to our car and made dinner in the parking lot on my camp stove.

M: Ok. That’s Olympic National Forest. Then where were you off to?

R: We were going to go to Mount Rainier, but we didn’t. We skipped it and instead we went to the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon as per Michaela’s recommendation. So we did that. And we went to Portland, Oregon after that. And then we stopped in Salem for like, an hour to see our old friend Imani who lives there, and get a drink with him. And then we went to Eugene, Oregon to meet up with our old teammate Jenn. That was fun. We got pretty drunk and it was awesome. It was so much fun. She took us to a dance club and to this delicious food truck and I drunkenly lost my wallet and I spent the whole next day looking for it. I filed a police report and everything. I was like, seconds away from buying a new cell phone and ordering all new cards when I realized that my responsible drunk self had put it in the pocket of my backpack. ‘

M: I can’t put that in the write-up!

R: It was so much fun, though…it was worth it. Especially because I ended up finding the wallet.

M: That was Portland?

R: That happened in Eugene while visiting Jenn.

M: Ok. Then where?

R: Then we crossed down into California. We went to the Redwoods.

M: Oh yeah…I love the Redwoods.

R: I like the Sequoias better but, the Redwoods are cool. We went to the Redwoods and then we stopped somewhere for pizza that night and it was spectacular pizza. It was like a tiny little tavern and everyone shares tables. It was so small…but it was delicious, it was so good. And then we went down to Sonoma.

M: Oh…wine country…

R: Yeah. Maybe that’s where we had the pizza. I don’t remember. We went to Sonoma and we couch surfed in Sonoma and then the next morning we left to San Francisco and Tina flew out of San Francisco cause she had a family member pass away.

M: Did you go for any wine tastings?

R: You know, we didn’t. Which is kind of crazy, right? But it was sort of weird part of the trip because Tina had just found out that her relative had died and she wasn’t really in the mood to do much and so we expedited a lot of that part of the trip. We skipped a lot that we had planned to do in Northern California because Tina had to get to her flight and we just needed to drive straight to San Francisco. I remember we got wine at a restaurant in Sonoma….we got California wine and it was good. But we never did a tasting. And she had a real late flight that night, so we spent a full day in San Francisco with our friend Jordan, who ran track at Ithaca. And he was awesome. He took the day off work to be our tour guide. He showed us everywhere and he took us everywhere in the city. That night we went to a Spanish tapas bar and got really good food and some paella. And then we took Tina to the airport. Michaela and I stayed over at Jordan’s place that night and then the next morning we spent a little bit more time there in San Francisco and then we left for Yosemite.

M: Oh yeah. Yosemite. Yosemite National Park.

R: Yeah. It was great. It was super crowded, which was annoying. I didn’t like that. I thought we had picked the wrong hike. And if I went back there, I definitely would do a backpacking trip – I wouldn’t go on any of the main trails, because there were too many people. But, it was still beautiful views and everything and it was fun to be there. Then we went to the Sequoias after that. I remember being kind of disgruntled about going there because they were a lot further than what we thought they were and I thought they were too out of the way but Michaela still wanted to go so we went. And I remember being all grouchy but hopefully I got over it. They were beautiful…like I said, I liked the Sequoias better than the Redwoods. And then after that we went to Cambria which was amazing. It was like a vacation from a vacation. We really needed it. Up until that point, the trip had been kind of stressful from having really packed days and not getting into our camp until super late at night and setting up in the dark and having to get up early – there was just a lot of kind of like, weird tension in that way and Cambria was just like a quiet, quaint town – the beach…and it was warm that day and sunny and there was a farmer’s market going on. The lady we stayed with – her name was Patricia – she lived alone in this mansion and she gave us her whole basement to ourselves. That was cool. Yeah, it was very restorative and what we needed, I think. We stayed there – the next day we stayed a little bit longer then, too. And then we went south to Morro Bay, where we got to see some elephant seals. That was pretty cool. They were nesting – I forget the term. Something like where they shed their skin….before they mate..

M: Yeah…I know that term…

R: Yeah, so we got to see the elephant seals which was very neat...In Morro Bay, we kind of walked around the town. There was a really cool bird sanctuary there… There were some birds – now I can’t remember what they’re called, but…this is like the one place in all of North America that these birds nest in the winter- which is kind of funny that it’s like this tiny town in California that no one knows. Yeah, so we went to this bird sanctuary, and we went to an environmental museum when we were there. Then we made dinner. We cooked pesto pasta and ate a whole pint of ice cream. We got lucky that night because this guy sold us this camp site – it was like an emergency site that he wasn’t supposed to sell but we convinced him to sell it to us. And he kind of was like, flirting with us – he was pretty creepy. We didn’t care cause we just wanted this camp site. And it was like an emergency one you’re not supposed to give away, but he did. And the next day when we were leaving , a new person was on duty and they were like, “Oh…it looks like you guys got lucky last night.” We were like, “Haha”. That’s when it pays to be pretty girls. Or it pays to have weak men in your life. …So…after Morro Bay, I think we went straight to Santa Barbara…that was nice cause we just laid on the beach for a couple hours and…we got some delicious food that night, and again, we illegally camped at a campground that was right on the beach, it was amazing. We got a bottle of wine and we just drank wine on the beach on our last night together. It was very cool. I’ll always remember that….And the next morning we woke up early, packed up our stuff to make sure no one saw us…and we…drove to Las Vegas…because that’s where Michaela was flying out of…So we drove to Las Vegas and…Las Vegas was kind of scary…we arrived around dinner time and we didn’t really know what to do…I didn’t really feel comfortable leaving my stuff in my car, because I just had my whole life in my car. Vegas is like, pretty dodgey. And pretty expensive and I didn’t want to pay for a parking garage and all that kind of stuff. And I also didn’t want to park it on some random street where it was going to get broken into. So Michaela and I ended up just sitting in the Whole Foods for like, 4 hours, talking while we ate our dinner. We didn’t actually do Vegas at all. We got in the car and drove around a little bit after it got dark, which was neat cause we still got to see everything. We got to see the strip and all that. It’s very cool. I definitely would like to do a Vegas weekend. It just has to be right, you know? I would just fly in and not take my own car. We would just take Uber everywhere and you’d get a hotel on the strip and you wouldn’t leave the main area, you know? So that’s in the works. But just not now. Anyways, then I stared overnight with Kelsey’s friend – a friend of a friend who took me in…it was so sweet…I didn’t know her at all, but it was very nice to have a safe place to stay in Las Vegas. And not have to get a hotel. So, that was awesome. So, I stayed with her and next morning I went to pick up Anna who was flying in from Rome.

M: She’s a friend from school, too. Right?

R: Yeah, Anna’s from college. I picked her up at the airport…and um…then we were on our way to the Grand Canyon! We didn’t really stay in Vegas at all, we just drove straight to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon…The second half of the trip was much better, because…like, all the places that I went I had been before, and so, I think that I wasn’t trying to pack as much in – there was less that I needed to see and do in these places…whereas I had never been to Washington, Oregon or California…and so, I was trying to plan all these things…Oh, I forgot to say, that in Oregon we went to Crater Lake…So I was trying to plan all these things…it was just way too much…Too much going on…wasn’t enough down time, wasn’t enough time to just relax and enjoy it. Whereas, the timing was perfect for the second half. We felt like, we got to do a lot but still we’d get into our camp before dark. We camped in the most incredible places because we actually had time to find camp sites – which was so good…So, we hiked the North Rim – not the whole thing, obviously. We just did a hike there. It was beautiful. It was way better than the South Rim. Just cause there’s a lot less people and it’s not so hot. So we did that and then we went to Albuquerque and stayed with our friend Kristen and she gave us some really delicious Southwestern style breakfast burritos. After staying with her for a couple days we went up to Colorado. We went to Mesa Verde National Park…which was amazing…it was so cool. One of the best ones, for me because we got to learn all about the cliff dwellings…The Cliff Dwellers. It’s just amazing how they lived. We did that and then we drove up through Durango and Telluride.

M: Beautiful places…

R: Yeah – with incredible camping…Oh my God. The places that we camped were just unparalleled. I felt like I was stealing something. I felt like I was cheating in life somehow. Cause I was…I was just getting away with it…Didn’t have a job and I was traveling around the country and I was sleeping in my tent and eating dinner on my camp stove. It was amazing. So we spent a little bit of time in Telluride. We legally purchased some pot cookies. We ate them. That was fun. I still have some. ..Yeah, Telluride was nice. And then we went to Aspen. No….Then we hiked Mount Albert which was spectacular. It was amazing. Parts of it were like, soul crushing cause it was so hard. The end was so hard, you know, there were so many false summits where you thought you were there and then you had, like, another hour to go. Anna and I, I think, made it a little harder than it needed to be, because we sped up it! We went pretty quickly. We passed a ton of people. There was only 1 guy that beat us up there – even though we started way after everybody. We got up there really fast. And I also was nervous because I didn’t have the right gear. I was wearing a cotton hoodie which is stupid – All the people that you see out there were wearing like, fancy Climacool coats and stuff – things that will keep you dry. I was completely drenched in sweat from head to toe. I had a T shirt, a long sleeve shirt, a sweatshirt, a coat…I had all this stuff on and every single layer was soaked through. Soaking wet clothes clung to my body and the wind was like, 40 miles per hour and it was 20 degrees or colder up there. I said “If I stopped moving, I’m going to get frostbite or something”. So we just kept going and going. Once we got up there we took a photo and didn’t stay up there very long. It was like anything I’d ever seen. I never climbed a mountain that high. It’s the second highest peak in the U.S. and the 1st highest in Colorado.

M: Wow.

R: Mount Elbert. It’s only Class One…It’s an easier one because it doesn’t require any technical climbing. It’s really just hiking. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not strenuous. So that was hard. But it was very cool. And then, we just went back down, had some food and we went to Aspen. And we hated Aspen. We thought we were going to get arrested because we were like, two girls living out of our car, making soup on a pan in the parking lot. And Aspen is high falutin . Aspen has ridiculous amounts of money. And it’s so…it’s so upscale and boozhie and…awful…And…

M: I liked Aspen when I was there.

R: Oh, I hated it. We got so many dirty looks from everybody…from everybody…everywhere…Cause we were dirty and unkempt and smelly and everyone just kind of turned their nose up at us…Besides the guys we stayed with…We couch surfed with 2 Bulgarian men…and that’s another story not appropriate for this recording…But, we had a blast with them and it was well worth staying with them – we got some good stories out of it…stories you’d have to ask Anna – she tells those better…That was the one good thing about Aspen was staying with them…Everything else sucked. Besides the food we had for dinner that he had recommended…it was very good…an excellent place. And we did that and then we said, “Bye Aspen” and we weren’t sad to say bye…we hated it. And then Anna and I went to Boulder and stayed with our friend Brenden which was amazing. It was so wonderful to see Brenden. He is a great guy and we had a lot of good conversation. We had a little pot-luck…Anna and I brought stuff to make sandwiches and his roommate had made carbonara pasta, which is pretty delicious. So we hung out with him and roommates for a couple hours then eventually we went to bed and we went to Rocky Mountain National Park the next day.

M: That’s where the cover of the Cd is from, right?

R: Yes. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park and did a hike there…just an easy one. It was beautiful. That’s another place I would go back. I don’t think we got to really get the full benefit of the park. I would do a backpacking trip there too. Then we went to Estes Park after that and got some ice cream and I think dinner, maybe, too. And then we went back to Boulder and stayed with our other friend Hannah. Then the next day I drove Anna to Denver. She was doing a work-away there until alumni weekend…she was going to be staying there a couple weeks. So I just left her in Denver…that night I also stayed in Denver. I stayed with my old teammate Rachel, who lives there. Her and her boyfriend were so nice…they took me out for drinks and stuff…they paid for everything which was very sweet. And then the next day, I drove to Missouri - From Denver - and stayed with Nicole for a weekend.

M: She’s studying in medical school?

R: Yeah. She’s in med school. So I stayed with her and we did a lot of stuff around Missouri. Around Columbia. Mostly involving food. And then I drove to Nashville for the eclipse. And I saw the eclipse.

M: Was that a solar eclipse?

R: Yeah. With some friends – Emma and Jess. Then the next day we spent the day in Nashville. And then I left my friends and I came home.

M: Wow.

R: Where I surprised my parents.

M: Ahhhh. Yeah…Well that was a wonderful story…it’s for posterity and thank you for telling it.

R: Thank you.

M: Bye.

R: Bye