By Aidan Eller

After being on the Alaskan highway for over 50 hours, you realize how big our country really is and how much of your personal space you can really give up. But once you get out of the car and onto a boat in Kenai Fjords National Park and see humpback whales feeding about 100 yards away as if you are in a documentary, it all feels worth it.

This trip began over two years ago when my best friend Jake and I shook hands at my house deciding we would go to Oregon that summer. We made a loose plan and added his brother Dean to the trip, then took my Prius all the way across the country and back in two weeks.

We stopped at many national parks from the Grand Canyon to the redwoods all the way to Yellowstone; saw so many beautiful things, and once we got that taste, it was hard to let it go.

It did not take long after getting back that we knew we had to go on another trip. When we realized we had been to over 30 states and wanted to. That is when we started planning a trip to Alaska. We knew the drive would be much longer and we honestly needed more people. We did not know who would be crazy enough to pile into one car with us and drive over 16,000 miles.

Before long we found two more, Will Clayton and Vo Lam. Will offered his car to drive and Vo to record the whole trip. And just like that we had a whole crew itching to see the whole country.

Will had a Tacoma and all five of us squeezed into that car for 23 days over this length of the trip. Every inch of that car was used, no doubt about it. Vo is one of the best videographers in Greensboro and one of my best friends since elementary school. He wanted to have a way for us to remember the trip for the rest of our lives. And just like that we were off with a solid plan and five excited people, we set off having no idea what this trip would entail.

We took off early in the morning and started our trip with high spirits, excited for all that we would see. We knew this first stint would be challenging as it would be over 30 hours before we got to our first campsite. But filled with the excitement it felt like the time was flying by and then we hit our first roadblock. At about six in the morning, in Colorado, one of our tires exploded. We are not sure what caused this, but the theory at hand is that when I was driving, I went over some railroad tracks way too fast and that may have caused some damage, but we will ignore that for now.

After fixing the tire, I realized that this trip was going to be amazing. I was expecting Will to be pissed, it was his truck, he was new to the trip and immediately we already blew his tire. But he was not. No one was upset or frustrated. Everyone was just like “Okay, let’s fix it and get back on the road.” Moments like those are when you see people’s true nature and that was amazing to see the five of us just immediately adapt and solve the problem.

As we went on, we really learned how to bounce off each other and just add jokes and spend so much time laughing. This trip was some of the most I have ever laughed in my life, and this also led to deeper ties. I had known Vo for most my life and had gotten closer with Will in college but this trip helped me to learn about how they thought through things and their views and ultimately led me to understand them more and why they made the choices they did in different situations. I think that the more we could do this with everyday people the less hate and arguing we would have. We were also able to switch from the most ridiculous conversation you have ever heard to some really deep and meaningful conversations that helped us all grow individually.

Driving through Canyonlands National Park we hashed out dreams and life goals and the meaning of it all and then all the way back to what kind of underwear is the best for you. Going on a journey like this and taking yourself out of your comfort zone is something I believe everyone should do. When you get to see all of these incredible places and travel so far and be in your own time, you start to taste real freedom, and that feeling is incredible.

Your 20s is a period of exploration and independence so getting to really test your independence and ability to be aware of what you know and not having people take care of you is really cool. It also helps you to realize you are never stuck in one place and the world is vast.

When we finally arrived in Alaska, it felt like we had made it to the end of the world. It is a surreal feeling. Seeing those giant mountains and glaciers really makes you feel small and removed from the normal stress of life.

Going across this country, you see how different everywhere is, there really is a place for everyone. From all the other climates to groups of people you learn how similar we all are but also how different it is.

Going from the red rocks of Utah and Zion National Park to the forests of Yosemite and then the snowy mountains of Alaska and city sites of Toronto and Chicago, we saw how different our country is. It is a beautiful thing to see and brought us a lot of happiness.

Getting back home everything felt like it was paused. It is hard to imagine our hometown going on without us, but it did and it was so strange to go from driving 1,000 miles on one road seeing almost no one and having nowhere to stop on the side to battleground traffic.

All in all, I think that everyone should take a trip like this. It is transformative and eye-opening and to me and my friends it showed us what real freedom looks like.