“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about
life: it goes on.”
Robert Frost.
Good
I definitely had no problems finding parking in front of my
couchsurfing hosts’ house! Norman, Oklahoma is a very small town (about 100,000
people) in the middle of Tornado Alley. The University of Oklahoma is not far
away. One thing that astounded me about my Oklahoma experience was that I
stayed with two wonderful hosts who were married at the age of 22. This to me
seemed way too young, but they really seemed happy together. I had lots of
thoughts during that party of my trip about what it means to be in love and
when you should decide to get married. What works for one couple may not work
for other couples. Also, after a long conversation with one of my hosts,
Robbie, I was inspired to read the book, Man’s Search for Meaning by
Viktor Frankl. My dad gave it to me when I was in highschool, but I think I was
too young to be pondering all of life’s questions like I am now thinking about.
Bad
There is no documentary for this section of the journey. I
realized just how far I can push my brain, body, and interest in talking to
tons of random strangers about my project. I reached a real low actually for
these few days. I was almost doubting whether I would be able to complete my
goal of driving all the way to California. My allergies were so bad, it was
sweltering hot, I felt sick to my stomach from weird food, and I was antisocial
and not wanting to talk to anyone. Needless to say, I spent much of my time
sleeping and trying to get over this travel fatigue. I took a yoga class one
day and that helped tremendously J
Crazy
I didn’t realize until after I left, that Norman, Oklahoma
is one of the most dangerous cities in the United States for tornados! It was
beautiful weather and we even went to a graduation party picnic one evening. I
started to wonder why anyone would decide to live in a place where their house
could possibly be destroyed by a natural disaster.
Lame
Despite my lack of interest in my project during this leg of
the journey, I still forced myself to explore the city. It was awful. I was so
hot and felt like I was getting a sunburn, so I escaped into the first place
that had air conditioning where I could sit for a while. This place was a
theater with a free performance. Sounds great, until you sit down and realize
that everyone in the audience is less than the age of 5 and that the
performance is something creepy involving dancing pigs, lots of glitter, awful
acting, and broken props. And yes, I did stay to watch this “spectacle.” I was
that desperate for rest and air conditioning…But I did end up stumbling across
a cool grocery, food place called Native Roots.
Quote
Even if you’re not feeling so great, it’s amazing how the
mind and the body regenerate and keep you going. Life is long and this low of
my trip really made me realize that you better like what you do in life, or it
just becomes a big hassle. I like my documentary project, but I was so off
because I really do not like always being a nomad. I also chose this quote,
because Robert Frost is one of my favorite poets. He wrote a poem called “The
Road Not Taken” which my parents often referenced when I was growing up and
moving into my college years. I took lots of paths not like all the other kids.
Good thing I did, because now I am crazy enough to drive across the country by
myself!
Explore Norman, Oklahoma now
Native Roots Market
University of Oklahoma
Tornados in Norman
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