Randolph Hudson III, on the road to Nirvana

What makes Randolph roam the roads? Adventure. Nothing more.
Twenty years old, from Lynchburg, Virginia, Randolph and I crossed paths in Groveland, California. He was sitting at the library there after I got dropped off in the parking lot by my friends Rolf Knutson and Tessa Coker. He was reading a book about, or by John Muir. He has been walking across and around the United States in search of beauty, much like Everett Ruess, Christopher McCandless and many others before him.
A well spoken young man, he seems to be truly content with his journey, which began in March in Virginia and has led him across the country by foot, car and train. He has hopped trains, hitched rides and walked a long way to get here, and he is not done yet. His next move is that he is going to try to secure a job at Yosemite, working at trail management or something to be able to roam the park at will. His eyes drift off into a happy place just at the mention of Yosemite and it seems like it might be his Nirvana. He dreams of building a cabin somewhere and living off the land, something he has done for a while now, since leaving Lynchburg.
He has parents. He has two sisters. They all support, perhaps grudgingly, what he is doing and his folks even got him a phone so he can be in touch. He shuns technology, for the most part, but does check the internet when he hits a library on occasion. He vows to never have a Facebook account, but was interested in the address for this blog, so he could check out my journey.
We spoke quite a bit about travelling, and Everett Ruess, who disappeared from the Davis Gulch area of southern Utah at the same age that Randolph is now, 20. We also briefly talked about the doomed Christopher McCandless, who was only a few years older than Randaolph when he ventured into the Alaska wilderness and starved to death in an abandoned bus, all because he was unprepared. I dont think that Randolph from Lynchburg, Virginia, is in any danger of that. He seems to have his act together and his wits about him. I wish him well. Its nice to be living the dream and the life you choose.
When he left Virginia in March with a hundred bucks to his name, Im sure he had no idea how far he’d get. He has come far. Very far. Good for him. I hope he makes it to Yosemite, a short day’s walk away. I hope he gets the gig he is looking for and I hope he gets to spend a glorious year in his Nirvana. If I was a younger man, Id probably do the same thing, especially after spending an extra special day in that extra special place today. What the hell took me so long???
Times are very hard right now. With so many out of work, out of luck and out of touch, it takes a special brand of courage to leave family and comfort and hit the road in search of something less concrete. Randolph is a very brave young man, and I admire him for it.