Walden On Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom

Ken made it back to his hometown in New York, where his parents were not amused by his mode of transport. He felt that his debt was now manageable enough for him to enjoy the expedition. His parents drove him to Ottawa with his voyageur supplies, and he met the other voyageurs: Bob, Christian, Diane, and Jay. Bob, Christian, and Diane were seasoned voyageurs, while Jay, like Ken, was new. The others quickly realized that Ken had no practical experience, but they taught him the necessary skills, and Ken was determined and willing to learn. He wrote a letter to Josh explaining the daily life of voyaging, noting the long days of rowing the canoes, eating pea soup with salt pork for every meal, and struggling to sleep on tarps. Although Ken was straining his body and mind, he slowly adapted to the voyageur lifestyle, forsaking modern comforts and social conventions, growing a beard, and becoming introspective. The idea of a house full of needless amenities seemed ridiculous to him, and he notes that he was carrying everything he needed in his pack.

After some weeks, Christian and Diane left, and Art, another new voyageur, joined the expedition. Bob became irritable, barking orders and demanding compliance from Jay, Ken, and Art. Ken fantasized about mutiny and realized the artificial nature of the expedition. They could not travel back to a time when they were exploring frontiers, but they could recreate the expedition to emulate what life was like for the real voyageurs, who lived short, hard lives centuries earlier. Ken mused about how modern Americans, from the 1930s through the 1970s, found different ways to explore, and he noted that contemporary Americans lack these avenues of introspection. Ken became indifferent to nature, seeing himself as part of the broader nature around him. When Bob yelled at him during a strenuous moment in the canoe, Ken confronted Bob. However, rather than declaring mutiny, Ken apologized for his behavior and asked Bob not to yell or swear at him in the future.

Josh struggled to get a job after working the summer in Coldfoot, finally landing a position at Westwood College that paid $16 per hour and feeling uncomfortable settling into a routine after Alaska. Ken joined AmeriCorps’ Gulf Coast Conservation Corps (GCCC), moving to Gulfport, Mississippi, to help clear out the damage after Hurricane Katrina two years earlier. Ken lamented the predominantly Black community in which the GCCC placed him, and he disparaged his coworkers, both white and Black, for their promiscuity, weight, and substance use. Ken enjoyed the work, clearing trees and cleaning rivers, and found transcendence in manual labor. Sami, a 19-year-old working with the GCCC, caught Ken’s eye because of her pale skin and disregard for social norms. Ken was promoted to a GCCC leadership position and began a relationship with Sami. She struggled with depression and had attempted death by suicide five times. She told Ken how she was prescribed antidepressants. After high school, Sami tried to work and go to college but she struggled with substance abuse and survived sexual assault. Ken got Sami a summer job in Coldfoot but was unable to secure a park ranger position. When Sami said she wanted to hitchhike to Alaska, Ken told her not to but agreed to hitchhike with her to New York instead.

Josh found out that his job at Westwood College, which was not accredited and charged large sums in tuition, was to convince students to attend Westwood’s three-year degree program. Struggling with his own debt, Josh felt conflicted about convincing others to take on loans for degrees that are effectively worthless. In March, Ken and Sami set off hitchhiking up the East Coast, meeting strange men along the way who told stories of trauma and hope. Many nights, Ken and Sami camped in Ken’s tent, eating macaroni and cheese or ramen. When Sami became sullen, Ken worried about her, and she revealed that she was pregnant.

Disturbed by Sami’s admission, Ken decided that though he would like to have children eventually, he was not ready to enter the American lifestyle of having a wife, children, and a regular job. Sami told Ken she was joking, noting that it was April Fool’s Day, and Ken questioned his relationship with her. They hitchhiked north, exploring New England and central New York, and eventually ended up in Ken’s hometown of Wheatfield, New York. Ken’s mother was disturbed by his lifestyle, thinking he wanted to hurt himself, and Ken confronted his mother about her and his father’s lives. Both of Ken’s parents had sustained troublesome injuries at work but were unable to change their lives because of complacency and financial obligations. Ken’s mother told Ken that she needed to distance herself from him to protect herself, and Ken was unsettled by the way his actions affected others.

Sami left for Coldfoot, and Ken explored his hometown, noting how suburbia breeds boredom and complacency. Although Wheatfield had some forest when Ken’s family moved there in 1989, it was now almost exclusively housing complexes and communities, which Ken saw as a kind of cancer spreading across America. He became inactive, playing video games for long hours that struck him as false worlds, allowing false exploration and experience. Traveling to Niagara Falls, Ken was disappointed by the Native American casino, which he notes killed small businesses, and the abundance of modifications, power lines, and guard rails, all of which reinforced Ken’s feeling that civilization is destroying wilderness. This destruction, for Ken, also occurred in people’s minds, and he understood how his call to Alaska was a longing for escape from modern confines. The Gates of the Arctic National Park called to offer Ken a park ranger job, and Ken felt like he was heading to his real home.

Ken muses about the power of wilderness, noting how unexplored territory allows people to imagine its contents. The Gates of the Arctic National Park is one such territory, spanning an area the size of Maryland and filled with wildlife without the tinge of industrial society. To become a park ranger, Ken underwent rigorous training, including methods for handling bears and techniques for keeping food safe. The job was to lead expeditions through the park, removing any trace of human impact and educating campers and tourists on park safety. Ken often gazed at the park’s expanses and marveled at the beauty and horrifying size of the wilderness. The other rangers were largely men Ken’s age paying off their own debts, and Ken was grateful for the $20 per hour he made as a ranger. Although he had to borrow $5,000 from his mother to pay for food, plane tickets, and expenses to get to Alaska, Ken quickly paid back this debt from his increased wages and also continued paying back his student debt.

Josh struggled with the ethics of his job at Westwood College, where he was encouraged to lie to prospective students to secure their enrollment. Over time, Josh improved as a salesman but resented the damage he was causing as he struggled to pay off his debts. Ken lived in Coldfoot between expeditions, spending time with Sami, who was cleaning rooms at the lodge, and he worried about becoming too comfortable. The rangers implied that Ken could get law enforcement certification and land a permanent role with the parks service, which Ken found enticing. However, he wanted to continue to grow and expand by attending graduate school. Sami planned to attend community college in California, and they bade each other a heartfelt goodbye at the end of the summer as Ken headed to Denver.

Ken lived in Josh’s girlfriend’s basement, applying to graduate schools and working for UPS. He saw how Josh’s life consisted of going to work, coming home, mindlessly watching sports or playing euchre online, and doing random tasks around the house on weekends. Ken was disappointed to see how Josh had changed since Alaska, and Josh had given up his intentions to report the unethical practices of Westwood College. Ken made enough money working for UPS to completely pay off his debt, though he did not feel as relieved or exhilarated as he anticipated. He mused on how people derive comfort from limitations, noting how debt gives people a goal or a boundary within which to plan their lives. Having paid off his debt, Ken saved another $3,500 and applied to three universities, including Duke University in North Carolina. After getting acceptance letters from the other two universities, Ken had a phone interview with Duke and received an acceptance letter from Duke weeks later. Although Ken was excited about going to graduate school for a master’s degree in liberal studies, he worried about taking on more debt to get his next degree. Remembering James’s living situation in Alaska and Thoreau’s assertion that a person can live comfortably in a box, Ken decided to buy a van to live in at Duke to avoid accruing more debt. Josh took him to the airport and gave him a power inverter, and Ken saw that Josh still had a wild side.