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As one journey ends another adventure begins. As I sit here and write this particular post I am in a coffee shop in Gulfport, Mississippi. Never in a million years did I think I would ever find myself saying that. Before I get into how I found myself on the coast of Mississippi, we need to backtrack a tad bit. After spending a little under a month back in Ohio with my parents post West Virginia a potential job opportunity arose in Utah starting mid October. Jumping at the chance of being able to work outside and making a difference in individual’s lives I knew this was something I needed to do. I then decided rather than driving straight to Utah the weekend before I needed to be there, I would take a three week road trip to see bits of this country I otherwise would overlook. So I packed up Ethel, my trusty Subaru, mapped out a semi plan and hit the road without looking back.

I opted to start this trip down south which allowed me to visit my little brother, a sophomore at the University of Southern Mississippi. For the weekend I got to pretend I was in college again, which I CANNOT do anymore. I got to see my baby brother in his college element which was incredibly odd for me as I still view him as the child I said goodbye to when I left on my own college journey. The following Sunday we headed to a hidden gem of Mississippi- Red Bluff. They refer to it as the “Grand Canyon of Mississippi.” As we drove up to a “road closed” we were pretty apprehensive of what we were going to see. All of a sudden the road dropped off and everywhere we looked was this gorgeous red canyon! There were only a few of us there exploring and Alex and I made the most of it. We found our way into the middle of the canyon and it felt as though we were on another planet. Eventually we had to climb up, which had us slip, sliding, and gliding all over. There were a few moments where I assumed I wouldn’t make it to the top, but alas we crushed it.

Once we said our goodbyes back in Hattiesburg, I headed down south to DeSoto National Forest to camp. It was a decent little campsite with the nicest host. I set up my home for the night and planned out the next portion of my trip, which will be taking me to New Orleans, northern Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. As the sun began to set I curled up in my tent with a good book and my journal trying to grasp how lucky I am to be on a trip like this! As I woke up soaked to the bone because of a torrential downpour and my idiocy of not putting down a tarp, I was ready to take on the day. I found a local coffee shop in Gulfport called Coast Roast to get some writing done, and get ready to take on the day. If you’re ever for some reason in that area check them out they are the nicest. As this is only day 4 of my road trip I am already so thankful for the opportunity to explore this country. I cannot wait to see what the rest of my time has in store before I make it to Utah. Here’s to many more adventures ahead.