I found a free campsite in Louisiana on I-20 near the Mississippi border.  I stopped in Shreveport for dinner and restocked my camping supplies.  On my way to the store, I saw a homeless man with a puppy standing on the corner.  I remembered I got some dog food samples at the picnic, so I parked my car and talked to him.  I gave him the dog food and told him about the picnic.  He told me I definitely need to get a dog.  Great advice!

The campsite was near a boat ramp.  I found the boat ramp, but couldn’t find any campsites nearby.  It looked like it was a residential area.  Afraid of accidentally ending up in someone’s backyard in the Deep South, I decided to abandon this campground.  I found another one about 30 minutes down the road in Mississippi.

This one was a bit further from the interstate but it seemed like my best bet.  I arrived around 11pm.  I found the bathroom, got ready for bed, and went to scope out a campsite.  After circling around, I found the perfect campsite to accommodate my hammock tent.  Using my headlamp, I pitched my tent in the dark.  I grabbed some blankets and laid in bed reading before falling sleep.

When I woke up, I saw light shine through the trees.  Two yellow leaves fell from branches above me.  This was my first glimpse of Mississippi in the daylight.  It was beautiful!  I loved being surprised by the scenery in the morning.

I stayed in my hammock for a while before getting up.  It was so peaceful laying there, watching the leaves fall above me.  I felt so refreshed.  This was one of the best camping sites I’ve ever been to.  And it was completely free.

I packed up and got back on the road.  Before I got to Jackson, I stopped at a local convenience store to get some snacks.  As I was getting into my car, I saw that a cashier had followed me and was calling out to me.  He must have been 17.  I looked at him and he ran towards me, “Hey!  I was just wondering if you have a boyfriend or a husband?”

I ignored him, quickly got in the car and left.  I was so frustrated and repulsed.  Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common in my life.  I wish men would stop being creepy.

From Jackson, I headed south and didn’t stop until I got to New Orleans.  When I arrived at my hostel, I parked on the street and headed inside.  Everyone was very nice and very friendly.  This is the type of hostel where you can sit in a room with a bunch of strangers and instantly become best friends with everyone.

I hung out for a bit and chatted with people from Paris, New Zealand, and Australia about their travels around the world.  After a few hours, I decided it was time for dinner.  I looked around and found a restaurant called “Tacos and Beer” that was only a block away!

I sat at the bar and ordered some tacos to go.  As I was waiting for my food, I found out it was karaoke night.  I was not interested – I was waiting for my food so that I could take it back to the hostel and eat.  Then the DJ called out to me.  He must have seen me sitting at the bar and thought I was drinking, because he told me it was my turn to sing.  I told him no thanks, I was just waiting for my to go order.

“That’s ok, you can sing while you are waiting on your food.”

Ok, he got me there.  I looked through his books and found a song I HAD to sing! Lonely Island – “I’m On A Boat.”

The restaurant was completely empty except for a party of 6 or 8 sitting in the back corner.  As I started singing, they all got up and hit the dance floor, singing and dancing along with me.  I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to turn an empty bar into a party in less than 3 minutes.

The next morning, I talked to the owner and asked for suggestions on where to go.  New Orleans was one of Aaron’s favorite places and it was my first time there.  The owner was very happy to give me suggestions on what to do.

I hopped on a streetcar towards the French Quarter.  I got off near downtown.  My sister-in-law said she spread some of Aaron’s ashes by the water, so I had to find that place.  I walked by Harrah’s and the outlet mall towards the water.  I got some frozen yogurt at Pinkberry.  I wasn’t fully recovered from the altitude sickness, so I tried to minimize walking.  There was so much more I wanted to do, but I was exhausted so I headed back.

When I got back to the hostel, they were having a huge barbecue on the patio.  I ate some food and hung out with my new friends and chatted some more about what places they were visiting next.

The next morning, I headed out for Florida.  I was tempted to drive around Biloxi to see what it was like, but couldn’t find anything of interest.  Also didn’t see anything I wanted to do in the 66 mile stretch of I-10 through Alabama.  I was tempted to stop by the beach in Florida’s panhandle, but hesitated because there might not be enough trees to hang a hammock.  I found a campground that looked perfect in Apalachicola National Forest, just outside of Tallahassee.  Unfortunately, it was hunting season, so camping was out of the question.  I ended up staying at a motel and heading straight to my hometown of Gainesville in the morning.  I finally arrived to see my friend and her six dogs.  And I made it to the end of my road trip before Thanksgiving!

After six weeks and over four thousand miles, I arrived at my destination.  I left Washington not knowing my final destination – only that I was stopping in Dallas for a picnic.  I learned a lot about myself and about travel over these six weeks.  Previously, I didn’t think I was cut out for a cross-country road trip!  But it was an amazing opportunity that I am so grateful to have experienced!

Previous road trip posts:

Part 1: Cross-Country Road Trip: Washington and Oregon

Part 2: Cross-Country Road Trip: California and the accidental stop in Las Vegas

Part 3: Cross-Country Road Trip: Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico

Part 4: Cross-Country Road Trip: Texas

Part 5: Cross-Country Road Trip: Mississippi, New Orleans, and arrival in Florida

A few weeks ago, I flew to Portland, OR, for the World Domination Summit.  Ooh, sounds intriguing!  What is the World Domination Summit?

It’s a conference for people who want to live their lives on their own terms instead of blindly accepting what is prescribed by society.  We are a global community of adventurers seeking to change the world for the better.  Some of us are entrepreneurs.  Some of us are location independent (which means they travel so often that they don’t need a “home base”).  But all of us reject the idea that society set limits on what we can and can’t do with our lives.

I was so grateful that I was able to attend this year’s conference.  I had been sick for two months, but feeling well enough to attend.  My first event to kickoff the conference was the whitewater rafting trip that I led.  I knew there was a possibility that I wouldn’t be able to go rafting, but I decided to wait until the morning of the trip to see if I felt well enough to raft.

I was ecstatic when I found out I would be able to go with some minor modification.  And it was such an amazing experience!  We started out as a group of strangers, including one from Singapore and one from Ukraine. We overcame our fears together.*  We paddled together.  We swam in freezing water together.  And after we conquered the rapids together, we celebrated with a meal in front of a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood.  We had a great group that bonded after a wild day on the river.

Whenever we saw each other at meetups, academies, and parties, we felt like we were with our tribe.  The group had such a great time on the trip, people were still hearing whitewater rafting stories near the end of the conference!

Later that night, I checked my schedule and found a sustainability meetup I couldn’t miss!  I was about to rearrange my schedule when I realized the event was full.  I decided to go anyway.  When I got there, I discovered that none of the people who RSVPed showed up! And it did not disappoint.

The group organizer, Rebecca Wilcox, had been living in Sweden for several years and attended grad school for sustainability.  She shared her experiences living in a country where people are more aware of the environment than in the United States.  Muffadal Saylawala quit his Wall Street job to get back in touch with nature.  He now owns an eco-hostel in Nicaragua, despite lack of recycling facilities there.  We shared our visions for building a sustainable future and gave each other great ideas on how to implement them.  I have always been interested in sustainability and was looking for ways to apply my engineering skills.  This meetup made me realize that it is possible to travel around the world to learn about sustainability and to help communities work towards their goals.  I am currently saving up to make this round-the-world trip happen.

That afternoon, I attended a meetup on how to improve your live-streaming video on your social media.  I had never used live streaming video and I hadn’t really planned on it.  But I ended up learning a lot and I’m so glad I went.  I learned that social media algorithms favor live video over everything else.  Most importantly, I got lots of great ideas on how to keep my audience engaged.  These ideas are sure to boost my social media to the next level!  Stay tuned!

After being misunderstood my whole life as that woman with crazy ideas, I have finally found my community.  Instead of telling me that I’m crazy for wanting to travel, and that I should forget about it and go back to my corporate job, they say “I want to do that too!”   But most of all, I was floored by how unconditionally supportive everyone is.  For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a supportive community of like-minded people.  We inspire each other to come up with creative ideas and do our best work towards dominating the world with kindness.  I can’t wait to see what our community creates by next year!

*Watch the WDS Rafting group overcoming our fears by jumping off of a bridge!