From Baltimore to Alaska
In the winter of 2016 I was living in Philadelphia, which had been my home for 6 years. I was approaching my second full year of working with a startup when I realized that there wasn’t much of a future for me there. I began toying with the idea of the great North West. I had always wanted to spend time in the Canadian Rockies, so I came up with the idea that I was going to drive myself out to Alaska. Time moved forward, I went through some personal things, and my hesitation got the best of me. Maybe there would be another opportunity for this somewhere down the line.
And then everything changed.
In 5th grade, I had a teacher named Mr. Benson, or more commonly known as Mr. B. If you’ve ever had a teacher who has changed your life, then you know exactly who I’m talking about. Mr. B was creative, inspiring, caring, and an absolute legend at my school. Mr. B’s respect for his students (11 year olds, at that) was something that I had never experienced before.
Over the past 15 years, I have always been curious about what he was doing. I knew that a few years after I had him as a teacher, he retired his teaching career of 25 years. I would look him up from time to time, searching his name, but never had any luck. In early March, I stumbled across his Facebook page. Curious, I clicked on his profile, hoping to see photos of what he looked like or what he was up to, but there was hardly any information.
There was, however, a picture of a book. I clicked on the photo, only to see his book titled, “A Distant Calling: One Young Man's Journey into Alaska” that he had written in 2014. In astonishment, I found his book on Amazon and read the description: “Follow Jesse Fitch as he leaves everything behind to follow his dream of going to Alaska”. Yes, the book is about a young man named Jesse who drives from Baltimore to Alaska.
If that wasn't a sign that I was supposed to do this, then I'm not sure what is.
I wrote to Mr. Benson and a couple weeks later I drove out to his house to talk to him about the book, his many journeys to Alaska, and to share some good memories.
I moved back to Baltimore at the beginning of May, 2017. I bought my first car, a 2010 Ford Transit Connect a couple weeks later. For the following 3 months I turned it into my first home.
On August 1, 2017, I hit the road for the two most freeing months of my life.
