Wall, SD, in Nomadland

Julie is taking a virtual walk to Moab, UT, to see her nieces and nephew. John and Ben are tagging along. As they pass Smallwander towns, John has a stream of consciousness. Read the origin story.

This post is about our journey during the week of May 10. I should have been noting the calendar intervals as we went along. Oh well.  We have been walking for 4.5 months since January. I am very near Moab, in Thompson Springs, UT, and Ben and Julie still have a considerable distance to go. Again, it’s not all their fault, as I sent them on various excursions to visit different Smallwander towns. Sometimes we get lucky when the destinations match up with pop culture. I just saw Nomadland the other night, which is about a woman named Fern, played by Frances McDormand, who lives in her van and travels to various parts of the country, working here and there, sometimes at national parks serving as a park host, sometimes for Amazon in one of their warehouses for the holiday delivery season, and various other places. Her path intersects with other nomads, some of whom have purposely chosen this vagabond lifestyle to escape the grip of ‘normal’ society. That is a long intro to say, for a good part of the movie, Fern works at Wall Drug in Wall, SD. This is where Julie set out from last week. What are the odds? This film, which won Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actress, portrays the openness, loneliness, and freedom of not only Fern’s life, but the West itself.  During this week’s walk, Julie ended up in Sundance, WY, Ben, in Sterling, CO.