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More than fifty years after its publication, Jack Kerouac‘s iconic novel On the Road remains one of the most important books of the twentieth century. I still remember the first time I read it - I was 10, huddled under blankets with a flashlight in-hand, paging through the book with awe and wonder. I was awe-struck. I went to the library the next day to get everything else of his that I could get my little hands on. I devoured each of his words carefully and preciously. Each sentence opened my eyes to a way of thinking outside anything else I had ever heard or seen. His tales of adventure consumed my thoughts and I was overtaken with wanderlust.

It was Kerouac that inspired my first great escape - shortly after reading and re-reading each piece of his work over and over again, I packed up my rucksack, filled it with Kerouac, road maps, and Lunchables, and began a trek along our town’s frontage road. My master plan was to hitch a ride at the end of the frontage road and take it all the way to Los Angeles where I would begin my trek along Highway 1’s coast towards Big Sur. Fortunately, my master plan failed and my ten-year-old self was returned home safe and soundly when the first “ride” to pick me up was non-other than our neighbor and family friend. My grounding hindered all other travel plans and I decided to place my Highway 1 adventure on hold.

Fast forward to fifteen years later - in 2011 My partner, Sebastian Zeck and I decided to fulfill my ten-year-old dream as we set out on a journey to travel along the Highway 1 in order to document modern day hitchhiking in the United States.

Our first ride out of Minnesota was with a man named Joel, an advocacy photographer who was touring the states with a gallery of his photographic work from Laos. He was conveniently riding all the way to California and invited us along to make the first part of the trek together.

Our first stop was in a small town in Nebraska. After eating at the town’s diner we hit the hay and woke up bright and early the next day to make our way to Colorado. Once there we stayed in a charming guest house in town that overlooked the cemetery where Doc Holiday is buried. From Colorado we traveled through Utah to Nevada where we stayed one night in Las Vegas which was one night too long. The next morning we packed up and drove straight to California. After being dropped off in a border town on the edge of California, we rested for the day before taking a ride into Los Angeles. From there we ventured to Deep Creek Hot Springs and then began our journey along the Highway 1.

After hitching to the start of the highway 1 we caught a ride with a computer salesman named Jim whose car was filled with keyboards, we rode with him into Palm Springs where we camped out for a week in the sand dunes on the beach. We spent our thanksgiving cooking a feast in the sunshine over our little propane stove, jumping in the bone-chilling waves, and having a fire on the sand dunes as we watched the stars fill the sky.

From there we journeyed onwards to Big Sur where we hiked through the mountains towards Syke’s Hot Springs. camped along the river and spent our days soaking in the rock-walled hot springs surrounded by douglas firs and fog. After hiking back 12 miles through the dark and rain to the main road, we caught a ride with a young couple, Tess and Brodie. We spent the day with them jade hunting along the foggy shores and driving along the twisted roads of the Highway 1. Given the stormy weather they offered to host us at their home for a few days and we graciously accepted their offer. After several days of exploring Monterey we went on our way towards San Francisco. After we finally reached San Francisco, we went to Oakland where we adventured for several weeks before traveling on to Arizona with Jan, a retired teacher who spends her days traveling the United States in her trusty RV with her dog. We completed our journey in Arizona before venturing home.

This is a collection of the stories and images from our journey across the United States. To see more please visit www.tashavanzandt.com

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