I’ve Become Complacent ... Again

Charlottesville

September 4, 2025

For the past few days I have been trying to figure out how to use Google My Maps (which turns out to be different from Google Maps) to draw the route I wandered about -- and I guess still do.

Turns out that Google My Maps is not as intuitive as I thought it might be, and it has tested my willingness to learn something new. I've disappointed myself with my frustration. I have made countless false starts. (BTW, isn't "countless" a cheap way out of being specific? I have probably tried 20 different approaches and spent approximately eight hours reading and watching to learn how to use the app.). Turns out that the app doesn't appear to be designed for a couple of thousand data points. However, I think I have found a workaround which involves me effectively drawing my route using a mouse.

In spite of my frustration, I do recognize the humor that the route is in blue -- how did Google My Maps know that I drove blue highways?

So, Lucian, I thought you said you went to all 48 lower states?

The above map is just a start. At a high level, it represents the first two legs of my wanderabout -- plus the beginning of the third. However, I need to go into each leg and refine them with the daily details of my route; currently the route represents what Google My Maps thinks is the best route between major points that I input -- I didn't drive the best route -- ever. Hmm -- I did drive the BEST route, just not the optimum route from an efficiency perspective.

The title of this post could have been "I miss the wander." Creating this map has reminded me of the incredible experiences I had. I recalled the first night sleeping in my driver's seat because the campground I picked involved a one-mile hike -- and it was raining. I recalled setting up my tent by a lake in West Virginia and not putting the tarp over the tent; I woke up at 3 AM covered in dew. And those two 'trials" happened the first week!

I miss the aspens of western Colorado, the raw geography of Utah, the Colorado Plateau, the Oregon Coast, the PCH. I miss the nine-hole golf courses that dot the upper midwest. I miss the funny town names, confronting my fears, taking way too many photos, having way too many thoughts. I miss how I lost weight sleeping in Hi Ho Silver on cold, cold nights. I miss finding out there were more than 24 Paris' and the adventure of visiting each one, with the reminder that I was looking for answers to questions that bother me so.

And I marvel -- which is something I don't do very often when it comes to myself -- that I found places to sleep each night. There were only three times that I remember being shooed away from where I thought I could sleep. One was at a Love's Truck Stop in Portland, one was a campsite outside of Santa Fe, and one was here in Charlottesville. Now when I visit a truck stop I wonder how I slept with all the lights that tend to be in the parking lot. And more Walmarts seem to have "no overnight parking" signs in their parking lots.

I know I want to write my story. I want to create a photo book of all the funny photos I took. I want to write an email that I have been put off writing for a year. I need to plan my Alaska trip. I keep putting them off.

Because I have fallen into the daily routine rut. Gym, Pilates, golf, house, trying to watch what I eat, friends -- all very fine, but they are in my comfort zone.

I'm pretty sure I long for something more.