Making it back home and ending the trip in Park City, UT

On Friday, I left my friends after making some crafts at the YMCA of the Rockies and was on the road for the last time of this pilgrimage. I was a bit reluctant to leave because it was so good being with my friends that I made such good relationships with this past summer in Wyoming. I drive down through Boulder and cut over to Idaho Springs going west on I-70 through the mountains. I stopped for lunch at my favorite pizza place in Idaho Springs.

I continued on down the road through the mountains and it took me past Copper Mountain, where I learned to ski when I was 8 years old. My family and friends have been back many times to enjoy the mountain.

It was starting to get a bit dark so after Idaho Springs I was going to go as fast as I could go to get home before bedtime. The interstate was beautiful driving through the mountains. It was amazing how different this country is and how it has something for everyone.

I got home a little late on Friday night and my road trip was concluded through that. This pilgrimage has been a necessary thing for me to find out more about life. The people that I met on this trip had the biggest impact on me through it all. I was able to find out the kindness that most humans have. There are times when humans seem like terrible animals through the things that we do, which some of the times is true, but I think most of the time, humans mean well in this world. Lots of people are able to help you out, especially when you need it. And many people have so many stories to tell you where you will be able to learn from. "Talk to everyone" is something that I learned through this trip.

I was able to spend some good amount of times with people like Copper and my family in Virginia. Once it is over it never seems like enough, but that's a reason that you can't take things for granted. It is hard sometimes to please everyone, but you have to realize what you have at the time and realize that it can get a lot worse. Technically, I don't have anything in the world to complain about, but there are times that it comes out. On this trip I was lonely, tired, exhausted, hungry, upset, frustrated, annoyed, hurt, and disturbed. I had to realize at those times that in the end I was going to be happy, knowledgeable, better prepared, wiser, and more understanding than I was before this trip. After 51 nights on the road, I was more than ready to be home, but I would suggest doing a trip like this to anyone. Again, it goes along with my belief that when you are uncomfortable, you are growing. I would not suggest going on a 51 night pleasure trip if you are trying to accomplish these things, where you know where you will be staying every night, you know that your funds are always going to be okay, you are never hungry, or in need of anything. You will not be able to find anything out or grow if this is the case.

The totals of my trip are: hours on the road=151
                                         miles driven=7,118
                                         time=51 days
                                         cities=29
                                         states=19

This was the most incredible trip I could have gone on for myself and it was mostly due to all of the people that helped me out along the way. A big special thanks goes out to the Ingram's, the Sullivan's, the Ayre's, Ryan Murphy, Halina Wojtkowski, Caleb Triplett, Angela Triplett, Matt Wunder, Andy Friedlund, the Slane family, Lucas Onan's family for letting me stay at their place, Aaron Rosier, Amy Hassinger, Kinsey Phillips, Kelly Dunn, Ileana Hoffman, Baylee Mobley, all of my friends from this past summer that I got to see in Colorado, and everyone else that I was able to meet along the way who helped me out or was able to talk with me. The most important thing that I learned was that with a community, life is much better.

On Saturday night, my sister Heather was able to fly to Salt Lake City and spend a few days with us up here. We went to the restaurant that we ate at the night before I flew down to Dallas, TX to start my trip and it was a really special way to end this trip.

Thanks you everyone for reading this blog and taking part in my life with prayers and thoughts sent my way. That is what kept me safe all this time and enabled me to keep going.

I love yall.
Ryan

Rocky Mountain National Park, CO

This has been the most perfect way to end my trip before driving back home. On Wednesday morning, I left Kansas City and had a long drive ahead of me. And from what I've heard, there's not much excitement on the drive across Kansas either. I began my drive nice and early in the morning and it was a beautiful morning. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to explore much of Kansas City because I had such a long drive, but it sure was a beautiful morning there. I stopped for a good sausage Mcmuffin with egg at Mcdonalds and was so happy with my choice. I have been eating those from birth and I have always been pleased.

There definitely wasn't much on the drive across Kansas other than grass and corn and wheat, but I thought it was a bit pretty compared to my drives to Lubbock, TX for school. It was green on the drive with some hills so it wasn't too bad.

When I got to the state sign at Colorado, I met a man named Jim who was traveling on motorcycle from Ohio to California for a job and we ha a good talk for a few minutes. I think it is fun meeting all of these other travelers that I had no idea existed coming from the city.

I continued driving across Colorado which were still pretty flat until I started getting to the Denver area and started to see the front range of the Rockies. I made it up here to the YMCA of the Rockies where a lot of my good friends from this past summer work. This past summer working in Grand Teton National Park was my favorite summer ever and lots of that is because of the people I met there. We were able to hang out that night and tell stories and laugh and I kept a smile the entire night because of the people I was with.

On Thursday morning, I got some recommendations of hikes to go on. My friends would be working so I would be traveling solo, but I needed a little time to my own thoughts so it was great. My friends sent me on a hike to Twin Sisters Peak. It was great getting to go up there and the view, when the clouds would break was unbelievable. I brought my lunch up there and when I got to the summit I was able to eat with an older couple who made it up there. They had just turned 50 and were hiking 50 miles within the week so I thought that was a cool goal to have for them. It is amazing to see how dramatic the Rockies are compared to other parts of this country. It's such a diverse country filled with things for everyone.

When I got back down, I met up with my friends for dinner and they took me into the nearby town of Estes Park and we got to enjoy some good ice cream and taffy from that place.

We made it back to the park for a church service that the YMCA was putting on. It was the most perfect way to end my trip and the worship at the service was overpowering. Being at the service with my friends was such a special time for me and my trip and it was great because I felt that God was happy with the work that I've done on this trip.

We then went and had an awesome bonfire, with my friend Jason playing guitar. I remembered from this past summer how great his guitar playing was and how lovely his voice was so I was highly excited for this. It was so nice being out there with them. By the end of the night, Jason, Nathan, and I were the only ones left and we were able to have a very good talk and get a little closer and develop in God so it was very special for me.

Today I will be making it back home to Park City, UT and that will be the actual end to this journey. It has been a journey that words cannot describe. More to come on my thoughts and ideas and reflections of this pilgrimage when I finally do make it back home.

Make wise choices!

Ryan

Pittsburgh, PA-Toledo, OH-Kansas City, MO

I have been making my last leg of my trip these past few days and there has been some real moving around. On Sunday morning, I said goodbye to my family in Sterling, VA as I was setting forth for Pittsburgh, PA that night. I have always wanted to go around the Gettysburg battlefield and it wasn't too far out of the way at all so I stopped by. I went in the museum to freshen up on my facts about the battle. There were about 50,000 casualties on that battlefield and that astounded me. I drove around the battlefield for a little bit, but had to depart for Pittsburgh where I would be resting for the night.

I made my way into the night and I would be staying at a guy's house from couchsurfing.org.

This was a guy who I had no idea who he was, but he would open his home to me based on the website. I have only done this one other time and it was amazing the past time I did it because I got to meet a few really cool people. I met the guy named Aaron and he turned out to be another awesome guy. Aaron and I had a cool conversation about life and he told me some really cool stories about adventures that he has been on to Europe. So far couchsurfing.org is two for two by me!

That morning, I woke up as he was getting ready for work. He brewed some coffee and we sat on his porch and we had a good talk about life and he told me places to check out in the city. Because I needed a little time for reflection, I went to a little coffee house in Pittsburgh to relax for a bit and learn more about who God is by reading a bit of the Holy Bible.

I had a few hours to kill before heading to Toledo, OH for the night so I cruised around, based on Aaron's recommendations, to see some cool things to see in Pittsburgh. I first went to a cool elevator that took you up the side of side of a cliff at an angle. Some people also know these things as funiculars and I like that word a lot so I will use it.

I took it to the top which had a beautiful view of the city and I walked around a little bit. Before too long I took it back down because I needed to start thinking about making my way to Toledo.

Before parting ways, I had a little salad and beer at the Hofbrau Haus. It was a little bit touristy, but I thought it would be a little bit cool to stop in at. I didn't even know they franchised these places but you learn something new everyday.

I didn't have too far too drive to make it to Toledo that night. I was going to stay at Jared Grosse's apartment. He was the guy that I knew from this past summer that I was able to see earlier on this trip in Asheville, NC, but unfortunately he wasn't going to be here at this time. I didn't check out much of Toledo, as I was exhausted after a long days thoughts so I really just stayed in at his place this night.

This morning, I woke up early and made my way towards Kansas City to see my friend Baylee Mobley. She is the wife of my long time friend Stephen Mobley that I knew from high school and who went to Texas Tech with me. Baylee also went to school with us, which is where she met Stephen and I feel so blessed to have her as a good friend as well. Unfortunately, Stephen was out of town for work tonight, so I will need to make another trip out here to see him.

It was a long drive of about 11 1/2 hours but it was pretty relaxing and stress relieving as I made my way from state to state. I met Baylee at an awesome Kansas City BBQ place that Stephen knew I would like. It was so good and apparently was a place that my favorite Anthony Bourdain has been too. I had such a good time getting to see Baylee after about a year of being in different places.

Tomorrow I will have another nice long drive to Estes Park, CO to see some of my really good friends who are working in Rocky Mountain National Park that I got to know in Grand Teton National Park this past summer.

Have fun at work tomorrow guys!
Ryan

Philidelphia, PA

I have made it safely back to my families house in Washington D.C after a fun and wild week of exploring the northeast and seeing old friends and new family. On Thursday, Andy was driving back to Philly to go to his friends wedding and was going to take me with him. He was going to be the best man, so I was excited for him. During that drive down to Philly, Andy and I had some awesome talks and were able to pray together. It was so much fun getting to spend time with Andy, who has seen me in my literal worst and now being back again to have a good time with him.

The people that Andy was taking me to, to spend the night with was I guess some new family members of mine. Okay, I don't know anything about titles of family, but basically my female cousin married Kim's son Anthony, so maybe that makes her my Aunt-in-law. She has a 9 year old daughter named Ava Slane, who was in an accident on May 2012. She was playing out in the street when an out of control motorcyclist hit her. The biker continued on down the road without stopping. Ava had to be rushed to the trauma center at the nearest hospital to be stabilized and then airlifted to another hospital. She had massive head trauma through this and is continuing to improve. I remember hearing when this happened because it was just a few months after my accident. I had never met Ava, but many of my family knew her from my cousin's wedding. We had both been through similar situations and when I heard that the Slane's lived in Philly, I figured it would be pretty cool to see if I could meet the family and hopefully leave some positive energy and encouragement with them.They all say she was the sweetest girl in the world at the wedding, so I was excited to meet her. Kim, Ava, and Ava's nurse met me at a rendezvous point where Andy was able to drop me off at and Kim took me back to their home.

It was the greatest thing to be with this family and talk with them about what all they have been through and get another point of view from a Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI. Because Ava suffered more severe injuries mentally than I, she was in a wheel chair and was unable to speak clearly at this time. Kim said she is continuously improving, but because Ava had some atrophy of her brain because of the severity of the accident, the improvements were a little slower. Ava has a support Facebook page and continuous prayers sent towards the Slane's would help this family out tremendously. Ava and the Slane's inspired me so much with what all they have been through. I hope that I was able to make a little impact on the Slane's after receiving so much inspiration from them This is the link to Ava's Facebook page if you would like to check it out.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/368741566516411/

Later that night, Kim's son, Joe, and his girlfreind, Sam, came by to meet me and talk with me. I found it quickly apparent after meeting Kim, Joe, and Sam that Ava was going to be better than before based on how strong the family was. Kim was the most hard working person I have met and Joe and Sam were so focused on Ava's improvements, Joe changed his field of study so that he could become a paramedic.

On Friday morning, Joe took me into downtown Philly to show me around the area. We first stopped at a great breakfast place that many famous people such as President Obama have eaten at.

We then checked out the Independence Hall area. I am learning through this trip how many important places in America have had cause for our start.

We walked around downtown Philly for a bit to see some cool things such as the steps that Rocky ran up in the movie and the beautiful City Hall building.

I had to catch the train to make it back down to D.C and Joe was the photographer in a wedding later that day, so we had to hurry up and do everything that we could. By the end of the time I had in Philly, Joe took me to most of the important places that I was hoping to see. Before he dropped me off at the train station, he took me to his apartment in South Philly and gave me some of his home brewed beers. It was fun to meet someone who had a bigger interest in beer than me, so I was very pleased to have him give me a few bottles. We then stopped at one of the most famous Philly cheese steak places in the city so that I could cross that out on my list, and we sat in a bar and ate it and it was a great time.

I caught my train to get back to my family and my car in D.C and had a nice, relaxing ride down. My Uncle found out that one of my favorite local musicians named Ted Garber was playing in the area and he wanted to take me to show. It was in a little restaurant, but it was such a fun concert. Ted even gave a shout out to people going on cross country road trips so that was really cool to hear. Because my Uncle knows Ted fairly well, Ted came over to our table and talked with us for a bit. It was a great show and Ted was an awesome performer. This is my favorite Ted Garber song that makes me feel like I'm back in New Orleans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Fyg1fkteBg

It has been such a great leg of my trip up to the north east to see new places and meet new people. Today I will be a traveling up to Gettysburg and spending the night in Pittsburgh and new stories will arrive here in a few days.

Who are you able to encourage today?
Ryan

New York City, NY

On Wednesday, I took the Amtrak down to Penn Station in NYC. I was going to meet my friend Andy, who was staying out on Long Island for some work to help him train to teach some high school classes. God's timing worked perfectly on this one because I had no place to stay in New York and the cheapest hotel cost a little more than I had, so it was great that he had a place for me to stay in his hotel. I took the Long Island Rail Road out to his place and we had a good reunion over a meal. It has been a little too long since I have seen him. He was the last one of the four of us who were climbing the mountain 3 summers ago that I had yet to see. It has been pretty important to me to see Lucas, Caleb, and Andy again because we have a special connection that not too many friendships have.

On Thursday morning, Andy had to go into his training early, so he dropped me off at the train to ride into the city. My plan was to spend the day wondering around the city and I was going to come back at night to Long Island.

I got off at Penn Station and took the Subway down to lower Manhatten because I wanted to walk around where my Mom lived when she lived in the city for a few months back in the day. I had breakfast at our favorite bagel place and walked over to the September 11th memorial to see what that was like. Last time I was in the city, there were only a couple holes in the ground so in a few years, I saw that they had done some good work. The Freedom Tower was amazing as well.

I walked through Battery Park and was able to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island far off in the distance.

I walked up towards Wall St and saw the New York Stock Exchange and the area where President George Washington gave his inauguration speech as he was sworn in as the first president.

Close by was the restaurant the chef, tv show host, and author Anthony Bourdain was the executive chef at for many years so I had to walk by because I think he is a pretty crazy man.

I continued walking around and found an old church that was close by my Mom's apartment. Just to see how it would feel, I wanted to go in and sit in a pew and pray. I didnt feel that the spirit was grabbing hold of me but I wanted to see how it felt to pray in a beautiful church. I basically came to the conclusion that it doesnt matter what the building looks like that you are in or where it is, when God wants you, he will grab hold of you. It was still a wonderful experience to go inside.

I continued doing some more walking around and made it over to the Brooklyn Bridge and walked over it to the Brooklyn side.

I walked back over through Chinatown and checked that place out and it was really cool to see how different of a culture it was over there. I continued to the Greenwich Village area, which has been my favorite area of the city because it is a little calmer and not as much bustling going on over there. I stopped in Washington Park and sat down in front of a bluegrass band that was playing. I just sat down for a while, listeing to the music and caught my breath for a few minutes.

I continued on the the village and I had to find Bedford and Grove Streets because that is the place that the Friends from the tv show lived, so I went there and found it. It is too bad that Central Perk is not a real place because I could have used some coffee from there.

I ventured over to the Chelsea Market area after that, after hearing about how big of a food mecca that place is from all of my college classes. I walked in and was in awe from how big it was. If you needed any type of food or spice or anything to consume, you could find it right there.

Because I am a sucker for a good donut, I found a place that served small homeade donuts with all sorts of wild flavors. I stopped there for a quick pick me up of donuts and a Dr Pepper.

I walked out of the market and saw a cool walking trail that was an old elevated train track that they converted into a walking trail.

Since I was getting close by, I began making my way to the tourist things uch as Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I stood in the herds of people and all of them were tourists just like me. There was a bit too much nonesense going on over there for me tro stay too long.

From there, I went up to Central Park to walk around for a little bit. I got there and was immediatley amazed at the size of the place. I thought it was so cool how so much nature could be placed in so much humanity. I really enjoyed picking a park bench and sitting there for a while before heading on back to Long Island.

That pretty much concluded my journeys to New York City this time around. Once I have a little more time, I will tell you some of my deep thoughts that took place in the past couple places I have vivsited.

Until then, make a positive impact.

Ryan