Make (Seeing) America Great Again
By: Lindsey Lerner
Tags: Travel, America, Diversity And Inclusion, Vanlife, Traveling

In May 2020 I gave up my apartment and bought a 2019 Dodge ProMaster 1500 that I named Penny.

Penny | Sturgis, SD

I didn’t own much stuff, to begin with, but I stripped down, even more, to only what could fit in the van.

I’ve been a tour manager for the last five years, taking bands across the country, and as much fun as that was, it was always frustrating to drive by all the signs for National Parks and never get to stop. Being on tour means you’re always on someone else’s schedule. The idea behind Penny was that I’d be able to take myself and my dog Finn on our own tour.

Within the first six months I managed to visit these National Parks:

Acadia National Park in Maine

Badlands National Park in South Dakota

Arches National Park in Utah

Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah

Zion National Park in Utah

Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in Nevada

Crater Lake National Park in Oregon

Lassen Volcanic National Park in California

In addition to finding safe places to land with friends in:

New York

Rhode Island

Pennsylvania

Ohio

Indiana

Illinois

Wisconsin

Tennessee

Minnesota

Montana

Idaho

Washington

Missouri

Kansas

Colorado

As a solo female traveler, I felt safe because of my experience taking 6–12 people at a time back and forth across the country. It also helped me to know that Finn would eat anyone who tried to threaten me.

Finn | Big Sur, CA

It was a huge confidence boost to be able to navigate any problems that came my way and be completely self-reliant. The most nerve-racking part of the whole journey was the fact that it took place before the 2020 election.

Many people who choose to embark on the Van Life lifestyle learn several things:

Resilience

How to be comfortable being uncomfortable

How to do a lot with a little

Comfort in silence

Independence

Fortunately, I learned these lessons from my previous travel experiences and tour managing. They were definitely refreshed during the time I spent with Penny, but the time before the election taught me the true importance of people.

The physical land of the United States is absolutely stunning. It is the people and their behavior that have altered it, causing any trouble or turmoil.

Driving solo as a white woman, particularly a petite blonde woman at all of 5’2”, I could — and did — go anywhere I wanted whenever I wanted.

I slept in National Parks, National Forests, rest stops along the interstate, and really anywhere you can imagine that had a level surface to park, and never had any issues. That is the privilege of presenting as a blonde, little white girl.

The reason I bring up the 2020 election is that there were many places that I found that I thought I could stay at, which made me feel uncomfortable because of the political propaganda everywhere I looked.

There was one night in Montana that I found a free campground to stay at right along the river. It was one of my favorite nights during the summer. It could not have been more picturesque — a flowing river, burning fire, and a bath in that very river to kick off the next morning.

Itch Kep Pe Park | Montana

On the drive to the campground, everywhere I looked signs were promoting Trump. They made me uncomfortable, but because of COVID-19 nobody had interacted with me, so I didn’t think I would have anything to worry about.

The other time that got me thinking about this was in Idaho. I found the absolute best spot to sleep for the night. It was right next to a beautiful pond, had a walking trail for miles, and connected to a bike path. The only issue was when I went to walk Finn, just a few steps away I was greeted by a 10’x20’ banner of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s body with Donald Trump’s head that said, “Make America Great Again.” Since there was no cell service, I opted not to stay there.

As a little white girl, I probably would have been okay; but as a gay, Jewish woman with an Afro-Latina partner and Black stepdaughter, I couldn’t. If I was ever approached by someone at the campsite in Montana or the trail spot in Idaho, it’s devastating that if I disclosed any of the pieces of my life that are most important to me, those people would likely hate me.

Despite how painful that is, all the things that people might dislike about me, I can hide if I want to, and that’s a privilege.

My partner, stepdaughter, all my people of color, and Black friends, don’t have that option.

Whether we are on tour dealing with racist bullshit or on a family trip, I am sick of it.

Why can I go to all the National Parks I visited and have zero problems, but when we went on a family trip to Maine and checked into our campground there were issues?