There is nothing more soothing and healing then a long drive.
I grew up in the middle of the country, where the Mighty Mississippi and Interstate 80 meet. I grew up with the forever current of highway travel like a mountain stream outside my bedroom window. If you hadn’t grown accustomed to this constant stream, you would hear the sounds of 18-wheelers and passers-by. The soul of travel was in my blood.
My father grew up traveling back and forth from the Midwest and West Coast while his nomad parents grew through (or dodged) life. My dad figured that his folks had lived in 40 different places by the time his parents celebrated their 40th anniversary. Traveling and motion is in my blood.
My parents took my sister and I on a summer vacation almost every year to either central Colorado or a coast. It was such a wonderful time of family bonding. My life chapters are marked by which trip I had taken that year.
Travel, to me, is a source of reflection, and a time to set goals for the upcoming journey ahead – what I call a visionary reflection. I lived in Denver for a handful of years, and traveled back to the Midwest almost every three months. While taking that long 12-hour drive, mostly solo, I had the freeing opportunity to be me.
I like the idea of musically scoring my travels as if I were the subject of a film on my own life. I have posed as a 12-hour disc-jockey, shuffling CDs while on the road, feeding one after another. Some are my favorite tracks that I couldn’t travel without; some are new. I get to experience them, attaching emotional associations to each song while taking in the landscape around me. I have been known to jump station to station for the whole trip, or only listen to the AM band for a whole trek. When I am most comfortable with myself, I’m able to not distract myself with music at all. Then I have time to reflect, listen, just be.
When I picked up the book “The Playground Trail”, by Lee and Jane Whiteley, at the Rocky Mountain National Park gift shop while on my honeymoon, I was fascinated with the idea of taking this mega-road trip. I loved the use of archival photos from the inaugural tour, and that this book was designed as a travel guide, to aid me in taking the trip myself. I contacted Lee and Jane, months later, met them over a pancake breakfast and got their blessing to produce a film on this topic, using their material as a resource.
What must it have been like to travel this “route” in 1920? What were cars like then? What was Western travel like then? There weren’t gas stations around. Cars didn’t even have CD players! They really must have suffered while taking this trip, right?
I was enamored with the idea of taking this trip, following the proverbial tread marks of these “auto-pioneers”; learning along the way about the story, the people, the land, my crew and (selfishly) myself.
My first feature-length film, LET IT SHINE, was a story about a place filled with opportunities for self-discovery. A place that let people mess up, and be honest with themselves and others. I believe that a road trip provides people with some of the same opportunities. On the road, you are always moving, always evolving, not tied down to one idea, one perspective, or one choice.
My hope is that by watching this film you continue to find joy in learning from your history, that you are encouraged to take the long way around, and that you learn to give yourself a safe place for self-discovery.
Brandon Wade
St. Louis, Missouri
