Allons! (Let's Go!)

Jose, Spencer and I have decided to journey “Whitmanesquely” from Brooklyn, New York down on to New Orleans, Louisiana and then back up north, ending in Camden, New Jersey. These destinations were chosen after researching and learning of Whitman’s own personal travels throughout his lifetime. In order to travel “Whitmanesquely” we have decided to keep the trip as simple as possible. The plan, for the most part, is to resist the big inner-city life and travel lightly. Thus, we have decided to take our camping (and fishing!) gear and rest on public camp grounds throughout our journey. We believe Whitman would coincide with this idea as Song of the Open Road does say: “Now I see the secret of the making of the best person, it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.” Indeed, we all agree that “the earth…[shall be] sufficient” for us. Moreover, we feel that camp ground areas and the like would be the perfect place to meet interesting folk to invite to travel with us, or to simply encourage to take their own journey some time. Although Whitman does emphasize the need for companionship, we felt that he ultimately pushes more for self-discovery. The line “I am larger, better than I thought; I did not know I held so much goodness” embodies this theme of learning about oneself along the way. The multiple stops we plan on making while on the road will encourage this growth and allow us to become more open to new thoughts and ideas, perhaps even leading us to being “reborn”.


When it comes down to it, our road trip will not occur at a fixed pace. We will come and go as we please. Of course, our final destination shall always be kept in mind. However, there will never be any sense of urgency. The purpose of this trip is to be free and do as we please and if one place calls to us more than another, then so be it: “You but arrive at the city to which you were destin’d, you hardly settle yourself…before you are call’d by an irresistible call to depart.” Whitman gave us this basis in thought in regards to the road: The world is at our [the traveler’s] feet and is ours for the taking, if we will but take it:


To conceive no time, however distant, but what you may reach it and
pass it,
To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you,
however long but it stretches and waits for you,...
To see no possession but you may possess it, enjoying all without
labor or purchase, ...
To take the best of the farmer's farm and the rich man's elegant
villa,…
To carry buildings and streets with you afterward wherever you go…
To know the universe itself as a road—as many roads—as roads for traveling souls.