Road Trip

Like most coming into 2020, I had grand plans: finish my two-year journey at Cornell University and begin an exciting job in the summer. I had spent my time in Ithaca building relationships, learning skills, and eventually graduating with my MBA and my master’s in systems engineering.  As you can guess, due to Covid, most of the plans got derailed or thrown off course.  Fortunately, Covid’s impact on me and my family has been minimal – my start date was pushed back to October 2020, and my father who we, at the time, suspected of having Covid, recovered a trip from the ER.  By graduation, I was burnt out and the uncertainty of what my future might look like silenced the enthusiasm.  With a volatile time ahead, in tandem with a pandemic and mass protests, I still thought it important to take time to reflect on the last two years and to take advantage of the spare time.

Fast-forward to June 15th, 2020, I left the state of New Jersey and began a road trip across the country in the middle of the Covid-19 Pandemic.  In total, my trip took me thirty-nine days, 15,000 miles, where I ventured through twenty-two national parks and twenty-eight states.  While surrounded by natural beauty and time to tend to my thoughts, I was constantly reminded of my professor, Dr. Ori Heffetz’s paraphrased closing remarks, “With over 7 billion people on this planet, you have been given an education and an opportunity that very few will ever have.  This does not make you better nor smarter than them, it just puts you in an economically better position that hopefully you choose to make good on.” 

            As a former engineer, I am constantly using metrics to compare options and performance, so by definition of the metric, miles per day, I was a more effective and “better” traveler than Lewis and Clark.  This is a laughable claim, and one I will never seriously make.  Yet at the end of the day, I saw more of America than they did, which provoked the question of “Why?”. 

Although I may be biased with this claim, a major component of the answer is innovation and engineering.  My trip was made possible by these brave men and women along with so many others who stepped into the unknown and charted a new piece of the territory in the name of progress.  Because of their inventions and their success, I was able to restock my food and water cache at Walmart, freshen my horses at a gas station, and plot my course with the help of Google Maps.  I often make the claim, to my friend’s chagrin, that I am a “bad ass engineer”, because, in truth, I believe that as a bad ass engineer, I am at the forefront of these discoveries.  Engineers and pioneers in our history have sent our species to the moon, built infrastructure that connected the world, and revolutionized how humans communicate, and I am honored to continue their legacy and lay the foundation for the next generation.  This trip allowed me to step back and appreciate the bigger picture and the interconnecting systems that make what we call home, amazing.

At one point in my journey, I traveled with a good friend and colleague of mine, Travers.  He is an intelligent, rational, and extremely compassionate person, who truly cares about everyone he encounters.  In our time together, we had plenty of deep, rich conversations regarding current events, our lives, and what we hope to accomplish in the next few years.  While we disagreed on many topics, there was always an amabile conclusion and a higher level of respect for each other, because at the end of the day, we recognized our vision for the country was the same.

            Some of the biggest steps for mankind have come from the United States of America, and while there has been a lot of controversy over the past few months, I have never felt more hopeful for the future America.  Are we the best country in every category? Not even close as plenty of indicators would suggest.  Even in this pandemic, the consensus of how to proceed is not exactly your quick drive-through experience.   That being said, I can’t help but notice as I traveled across this country how refreshing it was to listen to and interact with plenty of different Americans who each have the right to make their own claims and decisions.  Whether or not I agreed with their philosophy, it did not silence them.

Another impactful interaction that I had was with an older couple while hiking in Crater Lake National Park.  These people were filled with enthusiasm and positivity.  Here they are in their late 60’s going on a light seven-mile 2,000 ft elevation gain hike on a beautiful Sunday afternoon while keeping pace with a twenty-eight-year-old man.   Inevitably at one point, Covid came up, and while our opinions were different, there was a level of respect that we had for one another, because once again the vision and appreciation for the good in the country was in the same focus.  Although most of my interactions and conversations never radically changed my belief, there was a sense of respect and admiration for everyone’s perspective.  I understood their rationale and their logic, but more importantly I understood that they were only doing what they felt would bring a better tomorrow for this country.

The aggression and the divide between our nation’s views would appear to be plaguing the nation more than an actual pandemic, but, in my opinion, it is a beautiful opportunity for some tough conversations.  When I look at this country, there are over 300 million opinions and infinite life experiences that have shaped and continue to shape this country into a better, more prosperous, free union.  Though it is evident that we are not there yet, it is imperative to not let the convenience of a McDonald’s drive through discourage you from the seemingly slower progress and change of a nation. We are extremely blessed to be in this nation with such a passion for innovation, access to information, and opportunity to personally make an impact, and I believe that there, truly, has never been a better time to be alive than today.

This trip has taught me about the blessing of our innovations and other positive things going on around the country, despite the headlines.  With that context, I challenge, you the reader, to step out of your comfort zone and learn something from someone different maybe from another state or from the furthest point across the nation.  Whether they are a farmer or investment banker, of a different race, sexuality, or religion, they have a beating heart filled with their own story that may just open your eyes and heart.  As Kennedy once challenged America to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, we must recognize that we are all a part of the journey and life of America and it is our job to continue its legacy.