Adventure: Idea to Action

Hitchhiking outside Boise, ID

When Darrell and I first talked about Highway Walkers it was founded on a discussion about all the ideas, projects, and trips that had fallen through in the past.  
“We should... (insert cool idea here)” and never followed through.
We vowed to make this trip different. And it was. But why? We were able to successfully hitchhike from Leon, IA to Mount Hood, OR, getting rides from dozens of people along the way. We documented our experience and from the footage produced our first feature length documentary, which has been shown at several film festivals including Highway 61 Film Festival in Pine City, MN and New Jersey Film Festival in Cape May, NJ. What made this different from all the other discussions that ended as just another night we stayed up and talked about the future? Thinking through this project from first to last, I’ve tried to distill a few reasons for the success of this project over the failure of another. 

Create space for the project
There was no right time for this project and many others are similar. The right time was time that we carved out. We created the space for the project even before the project had taken shape and it was that space that allowed the project to breathe and grow and form.

Be held accountable
It is rare and necessary to find a person or group that will hold you to a higher standard. Without regular conversations, planning sessions, and both people sharing the load this project would’ve been another discarded idea. Along this line, announcing something publicly is another way to hold yourself accountable – by announcing your project, you are committing to the production and the public will hold you accountable.

Ask for help
Many, many people helped us along the way: funds, support, rides, places to stay. The list is long and each was necessary. We are thankful and grateful and we recognize that nothing would have happened had we been too timid to ask. The questions start the process.

Cultivate relationships
Tagging on to recognizing need and asking for help, we reached to people who were in this situation before us, who have progressed and grown and are now helping us progress and grow. A lot of the people we are getting to know were in these beginning stages not so long ago and are happy to help beginners like us. Reaching out to someone, showing and sharing interest and asking to start a conversation all carry weight.

Leave
There’s always one more thing to do, one more step to plan out, a hesitation, fears, concerns. The few days prior to leaving were a flurry of details and last second needs. Darrell and I were both stressed and nervous. There were a few false starts. Then we left and everything cleared up. The journey became more important than the details. And yours will too, so start the trip already!

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