The Weird Times site opened its doors in September 2009. It was a year when much came to pass.  For myself personally, professionally, but more importantly for many, many people like me along the way. I have to admit, I didn’t know what to expect. God only knows I never thought I would come to the conclusions I came to later. But now that I think of it, I realize what Steinbeck must have meant when he said, “You don’t take a journey, a journey takes you.”

Since I can remember I had done a lot of thinking about going cross-country. I romanticized the idea of piling into whatever vehicle was available at the time with whomever and devil may care about the rest. On the Road with my Neal Cassidy counterpart, on my way to producing the next great American novel.

Total Freedom

I thought about it so much that I may have fooled myself into thinking I’d already done it. Naturally, and in life, many things come along to disrupt the systematic grande plan. But here’s where being stubborn eventually worked for me.

When that fateful day came that September, I felt pretty silly about reserving the passenger seat for my dog, Duke. But I would soon learn how wise that choice was. He is my driving force and solace on the way.

Val Strange is journeying Dis-United States and keeping score