It's been almost two months since I began my road trippin' van-lifestyle. I've been all over California, traveled through Nevada to get to Utah, all the way to Colorado into the Rocky Mountains, and now just recently, went beyond that to upper Wyoming aka the infamous Yellowstone National Park. Much of this trip has consisted of me and Lucy the van visiting friends and family along the way. So I gotta say, aside from my drive through Zion on the way to see family in Utah for the 4th of July, I haven't really been alone at all! So going into this I knew it would be a new experience for me and all sorts of feelings about it were coming to the surface.
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On the day I passed through the park, I knew it would be a long-shot for me to find camping there. Seeing as it is still summer, and that in just a short time there will be a solar eclipse affecting more than the usual amount of traffic to touristy places alongside the band of visibility, I went ahead anyway past the Grand Tetons and into Yellowstone.
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A sign on the park ranger's window said "ALL CAMPING FULL." I had to inquire if this meant walk up camping as well.. of course it did. That's ok, I thought to myself...I'll just drive through and enjoy the day and let future Emily worry about where she's going to sleep. You see when it's just you traveling, you have to designate jobs for your current and future selves. Current me knew she had to just drive and relax, while future me was a bit anxious about the uncertainty of the night to come.
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All throughout the park it was grey skies and hail storms. I'm talking miniature snow balls // chunks of rock solid ice cascading from the sky. I was half concerned about my solar panels handling this weather, and how the recent crack Lucy got on her windshield from a truck and a flying rock on the highway, would hold up.
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We all made it through to see Old Faithful.
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As I waited for the geyser to blow, I started to make small conversation with the older gentleman next to me. I told him I was traveling in my van across the US and he told me about him and his wife's traveling this summer. Our small talk was over-heard by a younger dude standing near by. This dude, lets just call him Mitch, was ever so excited to meet someone else doing the #vanlife thing. Mitch and I started to chat and I became a little relieved as well to find someone around my age wandering the states in search of natural beauty and mystery.
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After Old Faithful had erupted, we walked back to our vans in the parking lot and decided to have a cold one together. Mitch got the grand tour of Lucy and was needless to say impressed by her design. Mitch was traveling in a mini van with seats removed, and wooden pallets for a bed in the back. He didn't seem like someone I would normally gravitate towards talking to, but given the circumstances, I was happy to share a beer and a moment in time with someone I could relate to in some small ways. But things got weird.. and fast.
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I mentioned that I had to leave soon before it started to get dark, so I could get out of Yellowstone and find a place to camp for the night, seeing as there was no availability in Yellowstone. Mitch said he had to do the same, but his under-concering nature of the matter of where to park and sleep was a bit over-concerning to me. I gave him a few of my maps of places I had already driven through since we were going opposite directions. He was coming from Oregon, and I was going to it.
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Anyways the weird part was when he suggested to follow me towards my next destination, which contradicted his entire plan and route we had just discussed. Mitch then went on to explain to me a "fun fact" that it's technically legal to kill someone in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, right on the western boarder of Yellowstone. "Isn't that crazy?! My friend told me about that!" A sharp shooting "LEAVE NOW" sensation washed over me and deep into my belly. You know the part that makes you queasy with no no no no noooo.
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He left for a minute to try to get wifi inside, so he could "find me on Facebook." As humans, and especially women I think, we have this need to be liked and this burden of being polite all the time. I knew in this case I should be somewhat careful, incase I did have to have the unfortunate situation of meeting this character again down the road.. coincidence or not.
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I closed Lucy up, got my keys and made my way to the driver's seat, all while Mitch was inside trying to locate me on social media. Before he had creeped me out, we had exchanged real names, but seeing as I have the most common American girl name, paired with the most common American last name, I knew this could take him quite a while. Sometimes when I get hit on and I don't want anything to do with the person, I give them my name and tell them to go ahead and look me up on Facebook, knowing they will probably never find me and if they do, my account is set to private and I can block them as soon as they request my "friendship."
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I was almost home free as he comes walking out of the building towards me and Lucy again. I just waved and said.. "ok gotta go, good luck!"
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He looked like he half expected that to be my reaction but also disappointed and lonely as hell. Thinking back on it as I drove down the road.. he really could have been harmless and just a young dude who said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Either way I wasn't looking for someone to spend the night next to or trying to adopt someone to take on the road with me.
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I can't tell you how many places I've been in and out of this country where awkward situations like this have occurred to me and my girlfriends I've traveled with. Rule #1 is, if your brain is saying "no this might be ok I dunno what do you think body?" and your body is saying "oh fuck no. BYE!!" .. listen to your body 100%. Even if it turned out to be wrong about your safety with said weirdo, better safe than sorry is always the way to go when your traveling.. especially alone as a female human.
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I made it out of Yellowstone that evening before dusk, and overpaid for a KOA on the boarder of Montana and Wyoming for that night. After that whole encounter, there was no way I was staying in a National Forest alone... or what I feared.. not alone at all.
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I guess my point and lesson to all of this is to continue to follow my intuition and let it guide me to ultimate peace comfort and safety. Worrying about hurting some stranger weirdo's feelings is not at the top of my priority list. It's not about being liked anymore. Regardless of if this Mitch dude had ill intentions or not, he still should never have said something so intimidating to a woman traveling solo. It's disrespectful and misogynistic in my opinion. Hopefully he is a harmless awkward little dude that just said something off base, and hopefully he reflects and learns from our encounter as I know I certainly have.
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To all the solo female travelers out there.. be smart. Be safe. And listen to that gut girl!!
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To all the solo male travelers.. don't be intimidating.. this lifestyle is hard enough for us as it is with all the scary movies and news reports out there adding to the list of doubts. Just be helpful when you can and otherwise let us do our own things.. we decided to travel solo for a reason.. lets keep it that way unless we say otherwise. k thanks.
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Peaceful SAFE travels out there people.
xo, Future Dawn