Manifest Part 1 (Execution)
Chapter 1: The Decision Making
My story starts off as a road trip idea between me and Jeff. Either I was going to fly out to Philly or Jeff was going to come to Arizona, and we were going to crank out crazy mileage in whatever which way. Separately, Jeff and Sam wanted to meet up sometime during the summer, so we merged our chats. Our first draft at making a summer meet up consisted of a road trip that ended in San Francisco on the Fourth of July. This way we could catch some of our friends who were working in the Bay Area during the summer. However, this plan wouldn't stick very well and for a couple of weeks, the plans kept on getting altered between some differences in interests and the changing logistics of whether or not I would have a car at my disposal (I did not have a car at my disposal). Our starting locations fluctuated from PHX to DEN to SLC. Each location being well over a 10 hour drive to end up in San Francisco. Being unable to make up our minds, or figure out the logistics, we eventually added Nick Wu, a New York City boy/Yellowstone Park Ranger, to the group chat. Nick proposed we do a Pacific Northwest Trip starting in SFO and ending in Washington, passing through Redwoods, Lassen Volcanic, and Crater Lake. Out of all the earlier ideas, this was the only one that accommodated all of our interests: Jeff wanted to road trip, Sam was down for whatever, and I wanted to backpack. After some more back and forth between national parks in Washington, we settled for Olympic.
Chapter 2: The Logistical Nightmare
The vision was laid in full. Now, it was a matter of execution. The idea was always 4th of July week, but deciding to be in what city on which date was difficult. I was also reluctant to take an entire week off of research, so my original plan was to fly in at a later date, meeting the crew at Seattle halfway through the trip. However, this would have forced Nick and Jeff to drive about 1,000 miles in a couple of days. After some peer pressure, I was determined to get ahead of schedule on my research to make sure I could come at the beginning. From there, we had a couple of long calls late in the night to sort out the logistics. I remember being on a call for two hours with Nick and Jeff rummaging for a decently priced rental car that we could pick up in SFO and drop off at SEA. Sam was also there, but since he couldn't drive, he spent more time looking at himself in the bottom right corner of Facetime and providing emotional support. Somehow, through a few more hour long FaceTimes, everything was booked and the vision was starting to come true. The necessary gear required for the backpacking was also an important detail, but I guess we were ecstatic enough that the plan went through that we decided to postpone that until the actual trip. Our finalized plan consisted of spending a night in these locations: Nick's 100 square feet apartment, Lassen Volcanic, Crater Lake, Portland, Forks, Lewis Meadows, Glacier Meadows, Olympus Guard Station, SEA airport.
Chapter 3: The Grand Rendezvous
Roughly a month had passed since the plan had been set into motion. My summer fell into a schedule of research, tutoring, weightlifting, and rock climbing. It was nice, but it was also too comfortable. In those moments, days blended together and time felt so far out of my grasp. I became more and more excited for this trip. I've always been blessed with summers of travel and fun activities, and I was eager to associate some tangible, memorable events with this summer.
Before I knew it, I was on the BART making my way to Nick's apartment. I had a 55L backpack with a few changes of clothes, my schoolbag with a folder to hold the Olympic permit, and a camera bag that housed a Polaroid and a Canon EOS Rebel T5i. My feet felt good in my OCP boots and the weight of the packs felt the lightest they would .
Nick was at work, so I wouldn't see him until the Dodgers vs. Giants baseball game that we decided to go to. I charged my phone in the apartment for a bit, waiting for Jeff to get back from his In-N-Out run. Before everyone moved off-campus at the end of the school year, I was supposed to grab lunch with Jeff before he left. It so happened that he had to leave a little earlier than expected which meant I didn't get to send him off. The day he left I dialed Jeff telling him that I'd quickly jog over to his apartment to say bye, but he responded, "it's chill. Study for your physics exam. I'll see you on the road trip." At that time, none of these details I have described above had been laid out. Sure enough, Jeff walked through the apartment doors and we caught up for several hours, slowly making our ways to Oracle Park.
Jeff and I watched an uneventful first four innings, waiting for Nick, Rohan Thakur, and Alex Shin. When they did arrive, the game somehow became much more eventful. In between watching the game and cheering for a couple of home runs, I listened attentively to what my friends had been doing that summer. It was nice to hear that my friend were doing cool projects at their respective internships and the other travel excursions they had for the future. Each of my friends had a breadth of freshness to them. I was able to see them without the stress and sleep deprivation that usually plagues us during the school year.
Sam flew into Oakland right about when the game started, so we met him after the game at a small grilled cheese restaurant. Upon grouping with Sam, the "Manifest" group was finally complete. We walked back to Nick's apartment after saying goodbye to Rohan and Shin. Jeff and I got comfy on the floor of Nick's apartment. The place was so cramped that I couldn't even extend my feet completely and decided to sleep with by backpack straps on for a bit like a turtle. Fortunately, my friend Nate Matthew happened to be living across the hall from Nick, and he graciously housed Sam for the night.
It took some time to fall asleep, but I somehow did it. I awoke the next morning to my alarm at 7AM with some back pain and a small headache.