Go West!

The travel bug bit me early and hard. 

What is odd, though, is that the passion and riskiness that usually comes with exploring new places seems to be diametrically opposed to my phlegmatic temperament. I don’t understand it, but time and again the “urge to travel” motivates me to do things that are “out-of-character”. The introvert becomes an extrovert.  The passive becomes aggressive.  The follower becomes a leader.  Hmm?

As a boy in the 1960s, I recalled hearing the expression “Go west young man!”  I had no idea who Horace Greeley was, or that he is often credited with coining this phrase.  It was only in 1992 that I actually became cognizant of him through the movie “Newsies” – for it was his statue and famous quote that the newsboys used as a prop in the opening scenes.

Horace Greeley was a newspaper editor who unsuccessfully ran for President in 1872.  But, as an author and writer in the late 1800s, he encouraged many of those starting out in life to “Go West”.  It was his feeling that opportunities lay “out west”.

“Go west, young man!” resonated with me.  It was like a siren song – a magnetic force.  It pulled and stirred a latent passion within me to go to see the western United States.   

Being a Midwestern boy, points west started at the Mississippi.

The Beach Boys and the Mama’s and Papa’s songs of sand, surf, and California beckoned me.  Even my naming had a western bent to it.  Huh?  I was named after Randolph Scott, who was a popular actor in “Westerns”.  Go figure!

As a kid, I loved going to camp for a week.   For seven summers, and a few winters, I went to a Christian camp in northern Michigan.  I had an affinity for camp.  Playing in the woods and camping out in the backyard were summer rituals that were deeply embedded within me.   When asked about my career choice, my target as a young adult was Christian camping. 

Following a second year at Bible school, I decided to be a camp counselor for the summer.  Part of my motivation was spiritual, but to be honest, the driving force was the mountains of Colorado.  This was in the era of John Denver, and his song “Rocky Mountain High”.  My friend, Debie, had an uncle in Denver who told her about a camp in the Rockies that was looking for counselors.  When I learned it was west of the Mississippi and it was in Colorado – I jumped at it – along with Debie and another classmate.

For a “chronically slow decision-maker”, this decision was somehow quick and easy.

For my first trip to Colorado, my parents were my ride to get there.  But, for the second summer, I “saddled up my own horse”.  It was gold in color, and was also known as a 1967 Pontiac Catalina.  In all, I spent two summers in Colorado living in a tepee and doing backpack camps along the Continental Divide.   And, for a third summer, I was a counselor at a camp closer to home. 

Without a doubt, I loved being a camp counselor.  I know that God directed and used me in that role.  I also know that my choices were probably based more on passion than prayer. 

The pull to go west was part of the draw to go to that camp in Colorado.  Travelling and heading westward also seem to be motivational triggers that God has allowed me to have all throughout my journey with him.   

Oh, I go will go south, east, and north at times.  But, the draw west seems to be in sync with the rotation of the earth.  It’s like I just jump up and become suspended in the air and the rotation of the earth spins under me – to take me west.  It’s so natural, it just happens.

The niggling to travel is deep.  It energizes me.  I can’t explain it.  And, nowadays, I simply embrace it as part of my God-given drive.  It’s a switch in my motor that gets flipped on.  And, when it does, “Watch Out”!

And somehow over the years, God has used that.

PS: If you missed it the first time around, check out “What Do You Want to Do When You Grow Up?”

Next time: Tripping Over Culture