A Look Back at a Cross-Country Adventure Through Distorted Film Photos & Old Journal Entries
Within a one month time span during the summer when I was 25, I got laid off from my first “real” job out of college, decided it was time to end the eight-year relationship I had been in since I was a teenager, and proceeded to reply an enthusiastic “Yep!” when a long-lost friend posted to Facebook, “Anyone have a few weeks to drive cross-country with me?”
Without a hint of hesitation, I bought a one-way plane ticket out to Portland, OR to join my friend Jess on her 3,500-mile journey across the US back to our shared hometown on Cape Cod, MA.
We took the northern route across the states, starting out in the lush forests of Oregon, passing through the dry hills and plateaus of Eastern Washington, and then on through the Idaho Panhandle into “Big Sky Country.” We stopped in at a Labor Day rodeo in Helmville, Montana, took in the beauty and splendor of Yellowstone National Park, and camped under the stars in the Badlands. And after braving the eerie, late-night roads of rural Wisconsin and rolling down the sand dunes at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, we made a quick stop at Niagara Falls before eventually crossing the Sagamore Bridge back home to the Cape.
It was road trip perfection—and honestly? Two of the best weeks of my life.
While that summer was undoubtedly tumultuous for me in many ways, that trip with Jess gave me what I needed most: time and space to reflect, process, and just be. In the time we spent on the road, I felt a sense of freedom like I never had before, a newfound certainty about who I was and what I wanted out of life, and a deep knowing that I was exactly where I was supposed to be. It was then that I discovered a road trip can bring both adventure and peace in tandem.
Because I have always been an avid documentor of absolutely everything, I brought a journal and my Mamiya 645 medium-format film camera along for the ride (our trip pre-dated the era of iPhones and Instagram accounts). I took pictures at every stop, detailing the day’s adventures in my journal by campfire in the evenings.
I was anxious to get my film developed when I returned back home after the trip but...I was also broke. My new single and unemployed reality set in once the high of our adventure wore off, and my cross-country film sat unprocessed for a long time while I prioritized picking up the pieces of my upended life.
When I did finally get the photos back though...I was in love with what I saw.
Two summers of sitting in the sweltering summer heat of my third floor bedroom had distorted sections of the film in the most perfect ways possible. Large splotches of vibrant color dotted the small-town scenery in a John Baldessari-eque way. Light leaks creeped into compositions creating an entirely new narrative, and overall, everything just had this dream-like look that I couldn’t have photoshopped if I tried. It was magic and they’re still some of my favorite film photos I’ve ever taken.
Over the past year and a half of very little and limited travel, I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting on past trips—this being one of my favorites to revisit. I’m not sure either Jess or I were expecting it at the time, but that cross-country journey we took turned out to be an experience that brought us together at a time when we needed it most...and one that changed us both.
I’m so grateful to my 25-year-old self for saying yes to adventure all those years ago—and to my Mamiya for capturing it all in such a beautiful and unexpected way.
Below are some of my favorite film photographs from the trip paired with excerpts from my journal:
September 6, 2009: The Idaho Panhandle
“Today we drove through Washington and headed over the Snake River into Idaho. We stopped for lunch along the river and found a little white sand beach to camp out at for a little while so we could eat and do some journaling. Then we drove through Clearwater National Forest until we crossed the border into Montana. Montana! I’m so excited to be here!”
September 7, 2009: Helmville, Montana
“Jess got to talking to an old man in a plaid shirt and overalls at the gas station today and he suggested that we check out the Labor Day Rodeo over in Helmville. We drove an hour and a half through beautiful, big sky country until we reached the main event—where we were clearly, very clearly, from out of town...but it was amazing. There were old men in cowboy hats, an announcer that sounded like he was from a movie, $2 Budweisers, and giant belt buckles everywhere.”
September 8, 2009: Yellowstone National Park
“When you’ve heard so much about a place for your whole life, it’s pretty incomprehensible to finally be there in person. That’s what it was like visiting Yellowstone today. We saw Old Faithful erupt, stopped to watch bison cross the road, and just generally took in the beauty and splendor of the park.”
September 9, 2009: Buffalo Bill State Park, Wyoming
“We set up our tent at Buffalo Bill State Park in front of the most amazing backdrop of open fields and red, rocky mountains. Jess and I keep looking at each other and saying, ‘Are you serious?’ I think I’m going to sleep really well tonight.”
September 10, 2009: The Badlands & Mt. Rushmore
“We were driving through beautiful prairie land as the sun was setting and all of the sudden the landscape changed dramatically to lunar-looking, dark grey rock formations—The Badlands!”
September 11, 2009: Interior, South Dakota
“We’re camping out in a family friend’s backyard in Interior, South Dakota, population 67. It’s warm enough that we’re finally able to sleep with the top off of the tent so we can see the moon and stars over the Badlands. Before we take off tomorrow I’m going to walk around town and take some photos with the Mamiya. This town is amazing.”
September 13, 2009: Northern Wisconsin & Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
“We drove through northern Wisconsin and entered Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which I’ve been dying to see forever. We stopped at a really nice picnic area on Lake Michigan, ate some soup and bread, went swimming, and took a leisurely break since we had such a long day of driving ahead of us to make it down to Sleeping Bear Dunes by nightfall.”
September 14, 2009: Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
“We were driving through a cute town when we came across the ‘World’s Largest Cherry Pie,’ and since we had found ourselves in cherry country, we figured we should probably stop to get some cherry pie. We picked up some local wine as well and picnicked at Sleeping Bear Dunes...where we ended up having to secretly camp on the dunes that night because every campsite in the area was full. The next morning we had breakfast at a cute cafe in Traverse City and started talking about going back to ‘reality’ for the first time. We both knew our trip would soon be coming to an end and were full of mixed emotions about being back home.”
Happy Road-Tripiversary Jess, thanks for taking me along for the ride. ❤️
