Dallas, Texas — Holed up at charming Starbucks across from the SMU campus during a rainstorm, which to me, is a lovely way to start the 18th day of a 21-day Road Trip across these United States.

I turned a simple business trip to Nashville into a 3-week Adventure, and my previously cluttered mind is much the better for driving cross-country instead of enduring air travel.

I texted a friend from the road during a stop in New Mexico while driving the beautiful Camino Real, which as the above-photo states, is the Journey of the Dead Man.  She has a very hectic job at a major Hollywood Studio, and her response to my text, which included the Camino Real photo, was “I thought I was the Dead Man.”

Her wonderful high-powered job in Hollywood, which thousands of people would want, was killing her.  She was creatively Dead.

My eyes were opened at once, and I felt a wave of gratitude for this Adventure.  I wasn’t a Dead Man, but I was close.  Sometimes, you just need to change your environment, to escape your urban life and seek the world’s wide open spaces.

Free. Your. Mind.

Up Next:  My very own Origin Story.