2025 Northbound Tour, Part One

Almost a month ago, I set out on something I never expected to do in my lifetime: I drove away from Salt Lake City on a journey that would take me 3,000 miles from home. No flights. No caravan. No itinerary. Just a full tank, the open road, and a final destination.

I left on a Friday morning, solo behind the wheel for the first 848 miles. The furthest I had ever driven alone. I took cat naps when I couldn't keep my eyes open and even paused to take care of some unexpected work on the road. I feel like I made great time (this is foreshadowing). Fourteen hours and countless landscapes later, I rolled into Snohomish County, Washington- wired and weary.

Driving alone felt incomplete. There was no one riding shotgun to gasp with when the horizon opened into something magical. No one to snap a photo when the light hit just right through the trees. Just me, the hum of the tires, and my mind full of wonder. As always, I was overwhelmed by how lucky we are to live in a time where we can cross through what looks like different worlds in a matter of hours.

Getting to Washington meant reuniting with Daphne for our 2025 Northbound Tour. If we weren’t going to get to do summer concerts together, we may as well do something completely unreal.

We added more to our already stuffed car (we couldn’t even recline the seats) and for the next four days we would drive further. We would go off-road and off-grid. Laws would be broken. And if you had told me a year ago that we’d be doing this, I would have laughed.