In March, 1995, my employer announced its intention to sell the division I supported as a computer programmer. As it turned out, the purchaser had its own computer support staff, based out of Minneapolis, and they weren't interested in any of us. I'd started working at Bank of America in at age 18 in 1979, earning $3.35 an hour. For the first time in my adult life, I was facing unemployment. I earned a comfortable living, but had obsolete skills. What would I do?
The answer presented itself in due time. As a longtime employee, I was entitled to a sizable severance package, due partly to the fact that I was asked to stay until the sale was final and all systems converted as per the buyer's direction. I received a lump sum payment on my last day at work and agreed to take my regular salary for the next 11 months. The second part of the distribution would be cut short if I returned to work at the Bank.
I bought two rottweilers (hey--I'm crazy, not stupid), an old 1984 motorhome, and a laptop computer. I got lots of AAA guidebooks, maps and campbooks, a U.S. almanac, and two books: Roadside America and The Cockroach Hall of Fame and Other Museums. I got a pager, a phone card and a cellular phone (which turned out to be useless most of the time and which, moreover, cost me $450 in roaming charges during the first month). Oh, yes--and I got a crew cut--my 'screw corporate America' haircut.
I budgeted it out and figured I could afford to spend 6 months on the road, then return and spend 6 months getting retrained. I wasn't sure I'd stay in the computer industry; in fact, I thought about becoming a trucker. I decided to drift whereever my interests took me, rather than developing an itinerary, but hoped to visit Alaska and resolved NOT to turn it into one of those '30 states in 20 days' kind of trips. And I vowed to secondary roads whenever possible.
My ex-husband, Sonny (in case you want to spam or flame him) graciously agreed to accept my mail, pay bills out of my checking account, and send important stuff to me periodically c/o general delivery. Shortly before my departure, someone in the complex where I worked offered to sublet my townhouse, so I had someone keeping an eye on the place a few days a week in return for absurdly low rent.
The two dogs and I were on the road for almost exactly seven months, and I've got to say that that was the best seven months I ever spent. Between the experience of being unemployed and the experience of planning and executing a trip of that magnitude, I feel like a different person than the one I was when I left.
Everything I've done since then pales in comparison, and I just bide my time, hoping that I'll be able to retire young enough that I'll still have the energy to travel like that.
Below are the few Canadian provinces I've visited and all the states. I hope you find the links interesting. I know I did, and I think the dogs did, too.
| Alberta | British Columbia | Yukon |