Wanted: Wanderer

I often catch myself weighing the pros and cons of dropping out of school and becoming a drifter. They travel around aimlessly, intimately experiencing foreign cultures and seeing the world one step at a time. Obviously I am completely romanticizing the life of a vagabond, but the idea of riding an elephant through Thailand one week and roaming the Italian countryside the next beats sitting in a cubicle day in and day out. Drifters enjoy a warped version of having complete and utter freedom: they can go anywhere, do anything, meet anyone, see everything. They aren't tied to any one person or place and can therefore pick up and move as they please.

I know I don't necessarily need to paddle down the Amazon River or work odd jobs in Beijing to live the gypsy life. I could be a domestic drifter, maybe pull a Forrest Gump and run from Alabama to Santa Monica. I'd spend the winters in the Southwest, the summers in Wyoming, try to make it down to the Gulf of Mexico or walk the length of the Appalachian Trail. What could be better than seeing the country state-by-state and making some friends in random places along the way? Some of my closest friends are from states I've never even been to before. If I can form friendships with people from Texas and Oregon, why not have friends in Kentucky and Montana too?

The people at Centives.net calculated Forrest Gump's fictional route in the map above.  He ran 15,248 miles in a span of 3 years, 2 months, 14 days and 16 hours, crossing the country 5 times.  Challenge accepted. 

I'll admit it, I would maybe last a week as a drifter... I've never even camped. The odds of me walking from the stage on Graduation Day until I hit Colorado are actually zero. But hey, a girl can dream.