American Highway (2024) Movie Script

1
[man] When you look
at the highway
from far above,
it resembles countless
vessels of oxygen
pumping through
the veins of an organism.
But as you get closer,
you start to see us
writing on pages of pavement,
writing chapters of a journey.
[soft acoustic guitar music]
My current situation and story
isn't all that unique
or special,
but I guess that's
the point of all this.
So 10 years ago,
I had just graduated college
and was living at home
with my parents,
working a job I hated.
Achieving a life of success was
something I desperately wanted,
so I started writing
a movie script,
The Highway.
A fictional story
of a road trip two brothers
take
across America,
and how the adventures
and people they meet
inspire one of them
to chase his fading dream
of making movies.
I then quit my job,
and my dad rode with me
across the country and helped
me
move to California
so I could try
and bring The Highway
to the big screen.
I was eager to start
this next chapter
and bring aspirations to life.
[keyboard keys clacking]
Hey, buddy, it's me.
Which is you,
ten years from now.
And I just wanted
to tell you that...
I'm sorry I didn't try hard
enough chasing your dreams.
What happened with your life
is you move back home,
you didn't achieve
the success
that you dreamed of or expected,
but you found a job
that made you happy.
You found a life
that made you happy.
And that's also where
eventually you met a girl
that you fell in love with.
But that doesn't come
without a heartbreak,
because right now
I am sitting alone in a hotel,
and I have just lost that life.
I was depressed
and drinking alone
after a breakup
with my girlfriend.
I just moved my stuff
out of her house
and was contemplating quitting
my job where we both worked.
[sad, folksy music]
I have no idea what to do
or where to go,
so I guess I thought
maybe you could tell me.
In a world just like a flyer

[dramatic guitar music]
We live in a country full
of diverse, everyday Americans
navigating the challenges of life
to find happiness and success.
Those are the people
I want to meet
and whose stories
I want to hear,
because over the past few years
I've only seen America
through a lens
of news and social media,
not what it is face to face.
So I cashed out the $6,000
in my retirement savings
and decided to start
a journey with three goals.
To see America
through its people,
to search
for where I'll live
to pursue a happy,
successful life,
and to chase the dream
of making a movie
about the highway.
But by living it now.
Before time flashes by
and suddenly
it's 10 years later again.

I reached out
to an avid traveler
and talented videographer,
Seth Tucker,
a childhood friend
I hadn't seen in 14 years.
- Hello!
- Long time no see.
- [Brian] Yeah, good to see you.
- Dude, how are you?
[Brian] Oh man, uh not bad.
So like when you first called
me and told me about this,
which is totally
out of the blue.
- Oh, yeah.
- Brian Mulvey?
This is the part
of the conversation
where we insert
that picture of me
punching you into a locker.
I will say I really looked up
to you back then.
When you first called me
and told me you were
about to do this
and you went all into it
between the landscape
and the people that you meet.
It's really eye-opening
and it's humbling, you know,
and I think to me
that's what spoke the most
and why I continue
to love to do it.
We're about to leave here
and get set.
I'm excited.
- Excited, dude.
- Let's do this.
- Let's do it.
- Let's go.
All right, a little bit
of an update.
We still haven't left town yet.
We're already facing
a little bit of a setback
with Seth's van.
It does need to get fixed.
It's not road ready, unfortunately.
The plan was and hopefully
still is to take two vehicles,
Seth's van and my Corolla.
The reason for that being
is there's going to be
a lot of stuff that we have
to transport on this trip.
So what's the issue?
They're going to put a new pump,
a fuel pump and fuel filter.
This has already
delayed our departure
by a couple days now.
It's just something that we got
to figure out.
So setbacks are something
that I expected,
but I guess I didn't expect it
before we've even left.
Stuck in a hotel room
for a couple more days,
I decided it was probably
time to tell Seth
how much ground
I wanted to cover
in just a little over a month.
Holy shit, dude.
That's--
I mean, that's three quarters
of the United States.
Like, I mean, you're--
[exhales]
Whoa.
Is that a lot?
Give or take being
all direct routes.
You're talking
a little over 10K.
- Miles?
- Yeah.
- Wow.
- Yeah.
Let me figure out
the gas cost here.
Yeah, dude, for real.
It's going to be
a lot of miles, dude.
Realistic?
Um, I mean...
[exhales]
[upbeat country music]
It runs.
You'll never guess the places
that I've been
You'll never guess the places
that I've been
'Cause everything
is like a dream, yeah
But only in the dream
that I live in
[Brian] Over 30 days
and thousands of miles
of empty road ahead of us
to tell the story
of American Highway.
And we have no idea
how it's going to go.
'Cause everything
is like a dream, yeah
But only in the dream
that I live in
I hope we get something
on like the ground floor,
so we don't have to lug
a bunch of stuff up.
- Hello.
- [clerk] How are you?
Good, how are you?
And if you possibly have
anything on the ground floor
just 'cause we have a lot
of stuff that we have to--
We are on the third floor.
All right.
So this is calisthenics
working my core.
Less injury from running
because it's very tightening.
from this position
to a handstand push up.
[Brian] Wow.
Can I show you what I can do?
I can do a headstand, but it
has to be with a pillow.
We wanted to start
the road trip in D.C.
because it seemed
appropriate to start
the American Highway
at the nation's capital.
Seth pulled out his camera.
It's time to make this movie.
So I walked through
the streets trying to find
an interesting stranger
to interview,
and I was incredibly nervous
because I have no idea
what I'm doing.
I wonder
if this looks suspicious
carrying it anywhere.
Do you think you get questioned
by Secret Service or--
[Seth] You never know.
[security guard]
What's in the case?
The gimbal for his camera.
[Seth] Yeah.
I can open it and show you
there's nothing in here.
I promise.
It looks like suspicious,
I'm sure.
There's nobody here.
This is kind of a depressing,
depressing scene.
Usually I would expect there
to be like 50 people
taking pictures
and stuff in front of it,
but it's just us.
Pretty desolate today in D.C.
is what we've discovered.
Not a lot of action, but...
we're just the only idiots
that go out
and try and do things
like this when there's a...
spike in the pandemic
and COVID or anything.
Hopefully it's not like this
across the whole country.
We might have
picked a bad time.
Literally right in front
of the White House,
no one--
no one's standing there.
[sad piano music]
A year ago on this day,
actually,
there was the insurrection
Capitol riot,
thousands of people.
And now a year later,
kids sledding,
hardly anyone here.
It's crazy to just to see
the contrast
of whole different
change of scenery here now.
The playing in the snow sort
of symbolized a blank page
as we watched a purity
and joy and curiosity
of life that exists before
our partisanship and politics.
[people shouting]
[kids speaking indistinctly]

Walking the streets,
finding no one
willing to talk on camera
made me feel very anxious
about this project.
You can't tell a story
about people without people.
I'm feeling a pretty
big pit of anxiety
in my stomach right now.
Stemming
from a couple things.
One being the uncertainty that
lies ahead with this project.
Not, you know...
in terms of are we going
to find the right people?
Are we going to find people
with interesting stories?
Are we going to, you know,
bring this vision
that I have to fruition?
I don't know.
I don't know what lies ahead.
I want to make sure
we do it justice.
Um, but secondly,
and kind of what
I'm feeling more,
this trip isn't
just about this project.
This is also my life.
Like, I don't know
where I'm gonna live.
I don't know
where I'm gonna end up.
I don't know
what I'm going to do.
And that scares
the shit out of me,
to be quite honest right now.
I'm just feeling the fears
that lie within my fears.

Everything that I have
done in my life so far
has been just getting by,
getting by day to day,
like just living day to day.
And why I wanted to do this
is sort of like achieve
some vision of life beyond that.
I would say even the things
that I've learned
from what I've done
in traveling,
giving back, it feels
so good to see that impact.
Yes, leaving an impact, right?
That is something I want to do.
Just like I told you, the thing
that really started that
for me was the people
who I've met,
who not even knowing
me have given to me.
That left such an impact
on me that, you know,
I want to do the same.

[Brian] The next morning,
we rode into
a small Kentucky town,
decimated just weeks prior
by the deadliest
American weather disaster
in more than four years.

The night of the storm,
we knew the tornado was coming.
We knew it was going to be bad.
And so we got--
our grandchildren,
two of them
live with us.
So we got them out of bed
and got them into shelter.
We were in the house
when the storm hit.
It was about 9:30 at night.
And at nine o'clock,
everything's good.
We're just planning
for, you know,
normal Christmas season
and stuff.
And at nine, about 9:27, 9:30,
the storm hit.
It lasted about two minutes.
And in two minutes,
we're homeless.
[Brian]
This is just heartbreaking.
Where do you
put all these people?
There is not a single home
that's not damaged.
I mean, none of these
are even livable.
[Seth] Yeah.
We didn't have any loss
of life, you know,
and we're thankful for that.
At the same time,
our heart hurts for those
that did lose because
they had the same kind
of stuff to go
through that we did
with the cleanup
and all that kind of stuff.
But then they had to plan
funerals and go to funerals
and stuff like that.
And, you know, their lives,
everybody's lives is going to
be forever impacted from it,
but not like those that,
you know, lost loved ones.
[somber music]
Really, probably the darkest
days are behind us.
This is not the end.
We know ultimately how it ends.
You know,
we've got some chapters
between here and there.
We don't know how those chapters
are going to be filled.
We're just enjoying life
and seeing
what's going to be ahead for us.

[woman] When I found out that
they were going to open up
the fairgrounds
for food and things
for people, I said,
I'm going to volunteer.
We're getting it from all
over the United States.
Semis, just loaded with food, clothing.
The community, people that I've
worked with has been awesome.
I think they're very thankful
that anybody is here to help.
[Tommy] The community
coming together,
is just--
it's been awesome to watch.
It's fulfilling my life that
it's happening in my town.
Everybody's coming together,
Black and white,
putting together,
and I think the Lord's
going to work it all out.
[Brian] People
from all over the country
traveled to Mayfield,
a place they'd probably
never heard of,
to offer help,
which showed me
a unified side of America
that's rarely focused
on in the media.
Walking through the streets,
we met a family
who came from Georgia
right after the tornadoes
to offer free meals
to those in need.
I'm not just a local yokel
or fly-by-nighter.
I've got my restaurant
certificate.
[Brian] Yeah, don't worry.
I'm not with
the health department.
So my friend Seth and I were
traveling all over the country
to just meet people from
different areas, show America.
Now the people are pulling
together to help people.
Absolutely.
So it's me, my son
and my husband.
- Okay.
- Three of us.
We're all funded by ourselves.
Really?
We ain't getting no--
I mean, we're getting some food.
- Yeah.
- From up here [indistinct].
We've got three or four
generators running.
We spend about
$130 of fuel every day.
Oh, my goodness.
And hoping.
People giving [indistinct].
So what do you want
for Christmas?
I want to go to Kentucky
and feed the people there.
That's what I want
for Christmas.
Well, then the construction
guys came and said,
"how long are
you going to stay?"
I said, "Well,
my birthday's January 12th,
so I'm going to tell
my husband for my birthday,
I want to stay
three more months."
- [Brian] Wow.
- So we're staying.
Those are the best looking
tacos I've seen.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate that.
Hey, look at these.
[Seth] Good looking tacos.
Mm. 10 out of 10.
Obviously it doesn't
just take a month
that these people need help.
I mean, this is going
to take years and years.
About three years,
a good three years. Minimum.
We don't know if the city's
going to let us rebuild
back or anything else.
So even if they do,
they're thinking about maybe
a two or three year cycle
before it's built.
And that's a long time to kind
of live in uncertainties.
[Hank] And right now
they're going to tear it down
and clean it up.
They started building it.
It'll be 10 years down the road
to build all this back up.
[Brian] Yeah.
What inspired you
so much about Kentucky?
Have you guys done this
for other like relief efforts?
No, this is the first time.
We've been 25 years
out of our restaurant.
I've been the homeless
ever since.
They're all in need.
- We're just trying to help.
- Yeah.
In fact, I can
tell you a little story,
this happened the other day.
Just after fueling up
my generator.
This little baby mouse
been running across guys.
He crawled up on my shoe
and I could actually
get down and pick him up.
He didn't try
to get away or nothing.
I put him in a little cage
in there and feed him.
[Brian] That's Mayfield,
the mouse.
[Bud] Yep.
[Brian] Look at him.
Now he's living
the life of luxury.
We ain't just
helping the people,
we're helping the wildlife.
Yeah. Not bad. Not bad.
You can ask anybody
that knows me.
I'll give you the shirt
off my back.
And help you.
And that's the way I was raised.
[Brian] How much fulfillment
have you felt helping people
and seeing people you're
making an impact on here?
How much of an impact?
How do I know?
How do you, how do you feel?
Do you feel fulfilled?
- How much fulfillment?
- On top of the world.
[Roberta] What you give away
comes back to you 10,000 times.
Because we're just so blessed.
And just not money.
Health wise.
My man's been in two wars.
He's been in one.
And we're all healthy.
Cancer survivor twice,
he's a cancer survivor.
And I just believe
God gives me the strength
to go on to do
what I'm doing now.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- How many people that are 75
are laying in the nursing home?
[Brian] And standing outside
in 30-something degree weather
- in a t-shirt too.
- [laughing]
I've got like four layers on.
You're tough as nails. Geez.
I had breast cancer
eight years ago.
And I consider myself a warrior
because I was raised
in the country
and I'm a rough old bird.
Go where the wind blows
you for a while.
Yeah.
I appreciate that.
And good luck with
what you guys are doing here.
I'm glad, you know,
to see this.
I'll stay until
they tell me I have to get out.
Yeah.
20 years from now,
like, "All right, we really--
we're good."
But I just love life
every minute of it.
Every day
that God lets me get up
and put my foot
on the ground,
I go, "I'm going to do
something useful today."
I put all that food out
this morning.
- [indistinct]
- [Roberta laughing]
I'll take care of other people
before I worry about myself.
[Brian] I love that.
It's uplifting, you know,
to see people who have lost
everything
that are still feeling
that there's still hope.
[Tommy] There is hope.
There's always hope.
It is an opportunity
to make a new start.
Life is going to go on.
And that's really
what life's about.
It's about change.
It's how we deal with it.
[Brian] Roberta, Hank,
and Bud spent a total of 70
days
and $12,000 to help
the people of Mayfield.
And like Roberta says,
what you give away
comes back to you 10,000 times.
Something I will say
about Kentucky
is it is truly the nicest
people I've seen.
People that will just strike up
a friendly conversation
with you in the grocery aisle.
Just everyone in there knows
each other, makes small talk,
checking in on each other.
I mean, people
even started talking to me.
It's just friendly people.
I mean, that's--
it's nice to see.
And I think that really
represents, you know,
Mayfield and how,
you know,
a guy that I was talking
to on the street
told me this was a strong
community beforehand,
but it's even stronger now
since this tragedy happened.
And I just, I'm very impressed
with Kentucky people.
The hope and resilience
in the people of Mayfield
showed me that whatever
problems
that I'm facing in life,
they pale in comparison
to those of others.
It's time to embrace the
journey
we're on and enjoy it.
[upbeat music]
- [Brian laughing]
- Stiff!
Mattress is a big no.
After a week on the road
and in need of some fun,
we partook in a bunch
of random activities
in our short time in Memphis.
[indistinct]

Eh!
What you
feeling like then?
Uh, all right, let's go there.
Boom, done.
[upbeat blues music playing]
[server] How you doing?
[Brian] Good, how are you doing?
[server] I'm doing good.
Sit wherever you want.
[Brian] Perfect.
Are you proud
to be from Memphis?
Yes, yes I am.
I've just like grown up
on Bill street,
kind of, and I've always
come down here
and that's what made me
want to work down here
once I got old enough,
I was just like--
because my parents,
my parents worked down here
when they were my age.
My grandparents did too,
and it's just kind of been
a family thing.
And one thing
I love about the job
is just getting
to meet everyone
and like
especially you guys,
like I don't think I want
to live here forever,
but I do want to kind
of like get my life figured out
before I move,
you know what I mean?
[Brian] We went out that night
and made friends with a couple
at a brewery and they took us
to
their favorite local dive bar.
Going into freshman year,
I was 4'10".
- [Seth] Yeah.
- End of sophomore year,
- I was 5'7".
- [Seth] Yeah.
Then end of senior year,
I was 5'11".
I haven't grown taller
since fifth grade.
- [Brian] Really?
- Yeah.
[Brian] You were that tall
in fifth grade?
[Seth] You guys are big
Three 6 Mafia fans too.
I used to work with
Juicy J's mom.
[Seth] Really?
I remember in high school
listening to a lot
of Three 6 Mafia.
Just thinking I'm awesome
in my '88 Oldsmobile.

[Brian] I'm definitely
enjoying starting to see green
now that we're
in Mississippi,
as opposed to the barren
wasteland of the north
and the cold temperatures,
it is now warm and green.
So that is what I love most
so far about Mississippi.
Holy cow, that guy's
going a hundred miles an hour.
So this is my first night
on this trip sleeping in my car.
I'm in a Walmart parking
lot in LaPlace, Louisiana.
So right outside
of New Orleans.
So I've never slept
in a Walmart parking lot before.
This is where I am.
This is my setup.
Traveling in two separate cars
and trying to save money
in the warm weather states...
Yeah, it looks
cozy as shit, man.
Led to two different sleeping
situations for Seth and I.
I'm watching TV, I'm just going
to stretch out this way.
- [Brian] Yeah.
- I can work.
Oh, that's awesome.
It feels relatively safe,
but I will...
see how the night goes and make
it through the morning
and talk to you again.
Good night.
[Seth] Word of how you liked
sleeping in your car?
I would say it was good
for the most part.
My back did get a little sore
because I couldn't fully
stretch out in the back seat.
I was kind of like
sleeping like this
or like trying to like
put my feet in the front
with me in the back.
But overall, if I had to give
it a score out of 10,
I would say a 6.8.
First time convincing
Brian to do anything
involving nature.
And when have you tried
to convince me so far?
[Seth] Have you seen
an alligator before?
Uh, actually, yes, in Florida.
It was in a pond
or swamp
or whatever you call
alligator homes.
Walking through the swamp,
we struck up a conversation
with a lifelong
rural Louisiana native
who took an interest
in our camera gear.
- My name is Ren.
- Ren, Brian.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- This is Seth.
- [Seth] Yeah, I'm Seth.
Seth, nice to meet you.
This is Ponchatoula,
which means hanging hair,
the moths
in the trees, hanging hair.
It's home no matter where I go.
It's simple.
And some would say
sometimes boring as it can be.
It's still home.
We actually grew up
in upstate New York together.
So this is totally different
vibe and culture here.
But the thing
that I've loved seeing most,
even if we come
from different backgrounds,
everyone's willing to talk
to people, kind of share
about the area, which I love.
People take pride
in where they're from
and are just willing
to connect with people.
Yeah. Yeah.
It enriches your life.
It just makes life better.
I've always said that
of all the billions of people
on the planet,
we're so fortunate
on any given day to encounter
the people that we do.
I've learned in some
of those traditions,
those old things that die hard,
grew up with a lot
of prejudicial verbiage
in my background.
And I began to realize
every single person,
we're just people.
You know?
And I can celebrate life
far more richly by encountering
what your talents
and abilities are
and what you might have
to offer someone
that I can never be,
but yet my life
can benefit from that.
And so surely I can do that
for somebody else too.
- So...
- Yeah.
Yeah. Just--
It's a great experience.
Any dreams that you have?
My-- I have
a cinematography degree
and I want to put that to use
to make meaningful content
that just moves people
and gives them
a different perspective
on the human experience.
Just capturing things
that are meaningful to people.
So that's a big dream of mine.
I have a passion for it.
I love stories.
I mean, in the end,
we've got so many days
to live and what we do
with those days
is kind of how
our life turns out.
We just happened to be here
today, run into you guys,
but I may
never see you again,
but I'll never forget
that I met you.
- Absolutely.
- So...
You never know,
that person you meet
might be somebody that inspires
you to do something
that you haven't had
enough initiative to do,
or just a memory
you can recall.
This will be a pleasant memory
to look back on.
- Great to meet y'all.
- [Brian] Yeah, thank you.
And be safe.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
- Have a good one.
- [Ren] Yeah, you too.
Nice guy. Very nice.
[upbeat music]
Okay.
Seth and I are about to go
to a drag brunch in New Orleans.
Neither of us have
ever been to one before.
I'm excited for the drag show.
I'm also excited for brunch.
I think they got
a deal on mimosas, so.

[host] Put our hands together
for one of the most amazing
entertainers,
she's all the way
from Mississippi,
so make sure you tip my ladies.
Give it up
for Miss LaTanya Love!
My mom was the first one
to call me.
She called me outside.
And now I'm still
living at home.
So this is by the time that
I was a freshman in college,
somewhere around there.
It's kind of gray now,
'cause I'm old.
But um, I was
still living at home.
So I had my two bottom drawers
still had all kinds
of feminine things in it.
So she called me outside
and we had a conversation
and she was taking
a human sexuality class
at the time.
She was working
on her master's degree.
Excuse me.
And I think
retrospectively she did that
because she had found out,
she was trying to learn
more information
about what was going on.
And so we went outside
and she said, "Well, listen,
I need to ask you
a couple of questions,
I, you know,
found these clothing.
Are you wearing these?"
And I said yes.
She asked me
if I was going out like this.
I lied and said, no.
- [Brian] Out of fear.
- Out of fear.
But she said, the one thing
that she said,
"I need you to understand
that I love you
and I'm always
going to love you."
[crowd cheering]
I say that my story is unique,
but the more that
I've talked to people,
I'm finding out that my story
is not all that unique
because I've been
married for 31 years
to the woman that you had,
that was-- that was--
that we had doing the set.
Desiree and I've been married.
We have three grown children.
We're raising our grandbaby.
We have a very
loving relationship.
Um, we've been together
for since college.
And as a matter of fact, I came
out to her as being who I am,
which, which to me,
I guess it started off
as just wearing women's clothes.
I didn't know much
about what that meant
or how that would transition
into anything else.
And I'm also a musician.
So I play guitar and sing
and some kind of way,
several years ago,
maybe about--
maybe a little
over 10 years ago,
I ended up being involved with,
well, I met my drag mother
and she wanted me
to do her show as Vanessa.
And I had never played
guitar and sang as Vanessa.
I'd always done it as Juan.
But she said, "No, no, no.
I want you to do it as Vanessa."
I said, well,
"I can't sing as a woman."
She says, "I don't care.
Come and do it."
And so I did it.
And it just, it took off.
It was, it was combining two
things that I love in my life,
which is that side
of me that is feminine
and that side of me
that is a musician.
And I combined them two
and it just-- it fit.
[pleasant guitar music]
I was lost in the art
Of a foreign nation
In a shop to escape the rain

Not to have a conversation
And that's the moment
you step in
To find some shelter too
Don't get a word you're
saying
But, girl...
- [Brian] Where are you from?
- Tucson, Arizona.
- [Brian] Really?
- Yeah.
[Brian] You came straight
to New Orleans?
No, no, no, no, no.
I was drifting around for years
- before I came to New Orleans.
- [Brian] Yeah.
Just like just living
the nomadic lifestyle,
you know, sleeping
under bridges and all that.
[Brian] What's your dream?
What do you,
what do you want to achieve?
What I want to achieve?
Just being a great showman
and a great friend
and building good communities,
you know,
because at the end of the day,
it's just like,
community is
what's most important.
And also I like, uh,
I thoroughly enjoy living
my dreams as a circus performer.
You know, this doesn't
get much better than that.
It's a, it's a classic dream,
you know?
Running away
to join the circus,
but reality is it's kind
of hard to join a circus.
So I decided
to become my own circus.
Instead of hiding it,
we started embracing it.
You hiding you
and not being yourself
is what makes it dirty.
She said, "Stop,
stop doing that. Be you."
[Brian] It's easy to get stuck
in the comfort of normality,
but in New Orleans,
the people I met
showed me the importance
of being unique
and chasing a path
that's true to who you are.
We tend to belong
to each other.
New Orleanians
belong to each other.
That's what's fun about this
spot is that at any given time,
you can come in here
and you can see people
of every nationality,
race, background,
all hanging out,
having a good time
and listening
to some good music.
And that's why New Orleans
sets such a great example.
And when people come here,
they get to feel that.
And hopefully
they take it home with them
and they put it in practice.
I just want to say that we had
an incredible experience
in New Orleans.
I love the spirit of this area,
I love the vibe,
I love the culture,
I love the people.
I would say that has been
my favorite city so far.
So we got a long way to go,
a lot of America to see,
but New Orleans, love it.
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
[bed squeaking]
We're going to a karaoke bar
because I haven't been able to
sing karaoke this whole trip.
[Seth] And you met
some new friends.
[Brian] We met some new friends.
[indistinct chatter]
[man] We going to Rain?
[Seth] I hope there's
a lot of people there.
Is that--
you're going to sing Cher?
- Wow.
- [Brian] I like some Cher.
[Seth] We're going
to have a night.
[host] But be careful, she may
have a battle ax in her purse.
Well, I hope you're up next.
You're up, you're up, you're up.
Get up there.
[upbeat music]
I love you, I love your energy.
[woman] Cheers to that.
[Brian] Amidst
the fun side of Austin,
I learned that sometimes
focusing on our own happiness
blinds us to the broad
spectrums of reality.
Part of America's story is told
through our tale of two cities.
So like my body's sick,
I have something
in my body that's killing me.
[Brian] And no one's better able
to tell
the other side than Trey.
So I came from North Carolina
to visit my uncle in Killeen.
Uh, I came to Austin
thinking
that I was going to utilize
the resources
that they had here.
Uh, I heard all these wonderful
things about Austin,
about how you can
get a case made,
a case worker, how you can go
to these different places
to receive employment,
how you can get on your feet
and get an apartment
just so quick.
And I've been here for 20 years
of stuff on the streets.
- [Brian] 20 years?
- [Trey] 20 years.
[somber music]
You talked to me before
we started this interview
a little bit about like
the catch-22 of being homeless,
them fining people
for sleeping on the street.
Okay, they have a zero
tolerance for sit, lie, stand,
camping, any of that.
And they come through 6:30,
7 o'clock in the morning,
which they do their rounds early
as soon as shift changes.
They catch you asleep,
they catch you sitting down,
they catch you camping,
they'll wake you up
and the first thing they say is,
"Can I get your ID?"
They write you a $200 ticket.
You're a homeless person that
has received a $200 ticket.
You have no place to stay.
You have no employment.
You have nowhere
to take care of yourself.
What do I do? Like,
how can I get out of that life?
Like, how can I get off
the streets onto my feet?
It's impossible.
And people...
they judge me
because they look.
But they don't know.
A lot of homeless people
feel ignored by society.
Like, what do
you want people to know?
I want people to know
that I am a human.
Regardless if I have a house,
a physical house,
I am a human being.
When I am down, do not kick me.
Do not make me feel less
than a person, less than I am.
I don't want to hand out,
I want to hand up.
I don't want you to give me
things on the street,
but I want you to encourage me
and help me.
Little girls, they cry.
They cry.
"Daddy, when
you're going to come back?"
I'm stuck here.
It's like if you take a boulder
and put it on a seaship,
and the rain,
and the weight of the storm,
constantly hitting
it with the boulder,
from a boulder to a rock,
from a rock, to a grain of sand.
It's the same thing
with human beings.
When you put them out here,
they put their head high,
and they go forward.
But then you have
all these things
that's constantly kicking you.
And you wonder why
they all come in at all.
Is there anything about life
in the future that scares you?
Do you have any fears?
The only fear that I have
is when I leave,
this suit,
this meat suit drops
and I ascend
to a higher level.
The only thing that bothers
me about not being here
is the fact that I won't be able
to see the ones I love.
It's not the fact of dying,
it's the fact
of not being able to see
the people every day
that you love,
that you hung around,
that were there, that
I've met for the last 10 years.
[Brian] On the surface,
we're all different.
But beneath,
we're all the same.
- Good meeting you.
- Nice meeting you.
[Brian] Just life's assorted
pawns of circumstance
placed in its complicated game.
[man] Too true
to be in The Truman Show,
so many will never truly know.
We're sitting in a vat
like The Matrix,
too thin for theatrics,
to depict green tricks
and graphics.
Only prepped up on the ones
that slept through nights
[indistinct],
what life really was,
just because someone's fool
would use such a tool
to eat instead
of seeds to sow.
What people need to know versus
more manipulation
with the intention
that needs to go,
slowly replacing
what needs to grow
with the soul's further
encapsulation.

[slow, twangy guitar music]
[indistinct chatter]
Looks good.
I love this kind of food.
We came from Austin,
we're headed up to Denver now.
I saw the shift from temp
from Austin to Lubbock,
it's like 20 degrees.
Is that normal?
Or is that just because there's
like a cold front or something?
As you get farther--
Yeah, west,
it's gonna get
flatter and flatter.
- What was your name again?
- Bill Long.
Bill Long.
I'm Brian Mulvey,
this is Seth Tucker.
[Seth] Hi, nice to meet you.
I can shake your hand there,
there you go.
[Bill] I moved
here back in 1980.
I love it here because there's,
you know,
people are easy
to get along with.
And it's like most
of rural Texas.
If your great-grandparents
weren't born and raised here,
you're an outsider.
- You ever watch Andy Griffith?
- Oh yeah.
In Mayberry?
That was my dad's
favorite show.
Okay, well this was an enlarged
version of Mayberry.
- Okay.
- Everybody knows everybody.
They know their parents,
their grandparents, their kids,
they know who's doing what,
who's doing who.
You got some headaches
or whatever, you need some help,
you just ask your family,
hey man, can you help me out?
"Yeah, sure, what you need?"
And you know,
they help each other out.
You think that's like
a very Texas type thing?
Yeah, definitely.
Definitely, definitely.
Part of like what I want
to talk about with people
on this project
is chapters of life.
For me, I'm going
through a transition,
leaving my life
behind in New York.
I want to find happiness.
So I want to be inspired
by people who share
what makes them happy
and have different views
of what brings them joy.
I'll tell you
what makes me happy,
being 5,000 feet
in the air in my airplane.
That makes me happy.
And pardon my French,
but that's the most fun
you can have
with your clothes on.
Hey, I don't doubt that.
But I did radio and television.
I was actually
a TV meteorologist
from KTRE-TV Channel 9
in Lufkin, Texas.
And I did that for the longest
time until I finally got--
when it gets to
the point where you wake up
in the morning going,
"Oh man,
I got to go do this again.
I just don't wanna do it."
It's time to do something else.
So that's
when I switched gears,
went into law enforcement
for the time.
Were you nervous
about making that transition?
Oh, listen, I was nervous
as a long-tailed cat
in a room full
of rocking chairs.
More and more, I miss being
behind the microphone.
And I loved it on the air.
Do you wish you stuck with it?
Do you have any regrets
about your career path?
No, I rode that horse
and put it up well.
That's-- I've run as far
as I could go.
But as far as living here,
I plan on being buried here.
Not anytime soon, I hope.
- Yeah.
- [laughing]
I mean, Brownwood,
Texas is home for me.
Yeah, it will be from now on.
We're the only state
that can fly the American flag
and the United States flag
together.
We can succeed
from the United States
if we can take care
of ourselves.
We've got the oil,
we can produce crops.
And whatever else.
We can take care of ourselves.
[Brian] Is that a common feeling
around here?
When we lost Trump,
that's downfall.
- Mm-hmm.
- And people around here
are definitely...
Discouraged?
Very, very discouraged.
As far as Mr. Trump goes,
I voted for him
and I supported him.
But I really got disappointed
there right before the change.
I remember the change
of office came over
with the situation
in Washington.
And I don't know that he had
anything to do with it,
but I know that it was
in support of him.
Would you say that you're
proud to be an American?
Definitely.
Definitely proud to be American.
That's, you know,
I fought the Vietnam War
and the Iraq War, both of them.
Oh, wow.
Well, thank you
for your service.
- You're welcome.
- So you're a Vietnam vet?
And [indistinct].
What do you guys
love most about America?
Just think about freedom.
That's what it's all about.
And people take it for granted.
A lot of people.
Yeah, they take it for granted.
People need to get out
and be heard.
I think everybody's
just politically exhausted.
- Yeah.
- And people are afraid
to get into those conversations.
America is a powerful
and complex word.
But what is this collection
of lives inside imaginary
lines?
What is America
supposed to mean?
Unity.
We all need to be
on the same page.
I live
in a neighborhood that has
some very conservative
neighbors.
But they know
that I do drag now,
and they wave at me when
I come in and when I leave.
And these are
the same people that vote
very differently than I do.
You know, we love our country.
Simple as that.
We don't like the way it's run,
but we do like the country.
If my dog gets out, they will
go and chase my dog down
and then take it home
and call me up and say,
"Hey, we got your dog.
It's been fed. It's bathed.
We painted his toenails.
It's ready for you.
Don't worry about coming home."
And that's what America is.
That you can believe
in different things.
And start believing
in ourselves again.
Start producing again.
Put people back to work.
Put people in their own homes.
Put an ear out there
and close your mouth
and open your ears for once.
Like the words
that are out there,
that's now helping a lot, man.
I think America needs
to open up their eyes,
open up their hearts,
um, and try to make a change
for everything
before it's too late.
[Brian] As we moved
further north through Texas,
we wanted to explore one
of those many American towns
you pass by on the highway
in the blink of an eye.
That you either
think nothing about...
Hello. How are you today?
- [clerk] Good, how are you?
- [Brian] Good.
Or you wonder
why people live there
and what that life is like.
We're out-of-towners.
We thought
we'd check out the place
and we're passing
through town, so.
It was recommended by multiple
locals that we visit
the site of Slaton's
historic charm,
the Harvey House.
And the purpose
of the Harvey Houses
were for people to be able
to have food on the railways.
And they were built
about every hundred miles or so
because you couldn't
have food on the train.
[upbeat, folksy music]
This is Barry Wicker.
- Hey, Barry.
- How are we doing?
- [Seth] Good.
- Good, how are you?
[guide] Barry is from Slaton
and knows Slaton.
And actually one
of his cousins was one
of the Harvey House girls.
The Harvey girls
were young ladies.
They were told,
"Go west, young ladies."
Which is where a lot of them
met their future husbands,
they were railroaders.
And they had to be
prim and proper.
When they came in, this is
what they told the customers.
If you put your cup upside
down, you wanted coffee.
This is the uniform
they would wear.
That's my dad's cousin
right there.
Are you guys familiar
with Judy Garland?
[Brian] Yeah, absolutely.
She made a movie called
The Harvey Girls.
That's what
she was saying, yeah.
We have this, so they can
watch that on this TV.
[guide] Do y'all know
what that is?
[Brian] I'm going
to take a picture of that
because I--
now I gotta watch it.
I'm going to take a picture
of it so I can remember.
[guide] We do have
the DVD as well.
[Brian] Yeah.
[Barry] When I was like
10, 11 years old,
can you imagine me
being on a train?
Going down these tracks
and seeing the countryside
like I've never seen before.
Riding a train.
And even to this day,
it would still be the same.
That's one of the greatest
memories of my life.
And you talked about getting in
the caboose and riding up top.
Yes. So it's very--
this place is very meaningful
to a lot of us.
Trust me.
And even those people there,
our townsfolk,
they love this place.
I don't guess this town's
ever going to go away.
You know, we've been
here 109 years.
What's going to make everybody
and anybody get up and leave,
we're here.
Texas is an Indian
word meaning Tejas,
meaning friendship.
And that's the state motto
of Texas, is friendship.
That's where that supposedly,
that's where that came from,
- Caddo Indians.
- [Brian] Yeah. We certainly--
Y'all go look
that up and see
if that's what
I'm telling is right.
That's what I'm certainly told.
- [Brian] I like that version.
- Yeah, I do too.
Well, thanks again.
I appreciate it.
- Bye. Be safe.
- Take care.
[Seth] Take care, yeah.
- Nice to see y'all.
- [Seth] Yep, take care.
- [bell ringing]
- [horn honking]
[Brian] I drove the long roads
of rural Texas,
admiring the sense of pride
felt
in small communities.
That's northern Texas.
The nothingness.
Beauty and the nothingness.
But I was eager
for the beautiful change
of scenery I had.
Where the river takes us
far away from home
Time to ponder
In the fields around me
Where there's nothing but the
breeze and the great unknown
So this was built.
It wasn't naturally formed.
[Seth] Their reaction.
Perfect.
It's pretty far.
That's more
than the rocky stuff.
[Seth] But I'd
like to watch you try it.
What do you think?
I don't know.
I don't want to--
Maybe a half.
[Seth] How are you feeling?
I'm nervous.
I would love to--
Thankfully, you won't be
recording me throwing up
at the top of it.
Leave your worries
And your suitcase
All you don't need
[Seth] He's looking
pretty good right here.
So don't throw your hopes
Down a wishing well
I don't think I'll ever
physically recover from this.
- [Seth] No.
- It's that Denver air,
it's just too thin.
And I also never
do any cardio exercise too.
So that's probably part of it.
But I think it's mostly
the Denver air.
12, 13...

Pathetic.
I mean, I'm kind of embarrassed
to even be here with him.
So I'm going to act
like I'm not with him.
I'm going to blame the slippage
at the first couple
of steps there.
Oh, really? I didn't have
any issues with that.
Yeah, we can take that one out.
Well, that'll
be heavily edited.
We are going
to the Flatiron mountains.
Like jagged edges
sticking out of the ground.
So when
the tectonic plates back--
the tectonic plates
[indistinct],
so when they push
against each other,
we'll see push up above it.
- And that's basically what--
- Then it went...
- Yeah, kind of.
- Mr. Yotzko taught us that.
And you were paying attention.
Mr. Yotzko.
Well, I would love to know
where some
of those teachers are.
Mr. Bedor I really liked.
Wonder what he's up to now.
I don't know.
I got cut from the soccer team
in seventh grade.
- He was the coach.
- Yeah.
And he asked me
if I wanted to stay on
and be a manager for the team.
And he said, if you want
to be the manager,
you get to play
in the last game of the season.
So, um, stayed on the team.
I think even before the end,
because I was still allowed to
practice and stuff with him,
I got a lot better.
So I actually played in the last
few games of the season.
- Nice.
- So then in eighth grade, uh,
cuts were coming up again
and I wasn't sure.
I was like,
it might be on the bubble again.
Like, I'm waiting in study hall.
And he comes in.
He's like, "Can I--" he said
to the study hall teacher.
He's like, "Can I steal
Brian Mulvey for a second?"
She's like, sure.
And I'm like, fuck,
I'm getting cut again.
And he's like, "So I'm
going to take you with me.
We're going to pull this kid,
Travis, so-and-so out of class.
"And you and I are going
to talk to him because he's
"going to get cut from
the team."
He's like,
"I want you to talk to him
"because 25 guys make
the team-- or whatever it was.
"And you were the 26th
last year.
"And he's the 26th this year."
So I remember going to that
classroom, the seventh grader,
and he goes, "Hey, is Travis
in here? "Can we steal him?"
And this kid, I could
just see the look in his eyes.
He just seemed so nervous.
- Yeah.
- So I pull him out.
And Mr. Bedor talks to me.
He's like, "You know,
Mulvey was the 26th guy
"last year,
the 26th guy this year.
"I'm going to have Brian
talk to you why you should stay
on and be a manager,
what the reward is for it.
So I talk to him, was like,
"Yeah, it's fun.
"You get to play in the last
gam, ya-dee-ya-da."
So he agreed to do it.
Then fast forward,
last game of the season,
game is tied up.
Comes down to a wild
winning penalty kick
to see who wins the game.
Mr. Bernard puts him
in to kick it and goes in,
kicks it, wins the game for us.
And everyone goes nuts,
cheering for him and everything.
Damn, that's crazy.
Well, if he's ever
watching this movie, I can tell
him that that definitely
had an impact on me.
I mean, shit, I'm 32 now.
I was 12 then, 20 years later,
- that's stuff you remember.
- Yeah.
[singer vocalizing]
[upbeat indie music]
Yeah, but I didn't
bring a towel.
Do you have an extra towel?

[gentle inspiring music]
The week spent
traveling from rural
Texas through Colorado,
Utah, and onto the Northwest.
I took in the diverse beauty
of America's landscape,
thinking
of the generations before
us who moved through it too.
And how so many aspects
of life and civilization change
through the passage of time,
while so many stay the same.
I thought of how
our land is not just the page
in
which we tell the story,
nor the stage of the show.
It's the reader.
It's the audience.
It's the infinite motionless
rest of dirt and stone,
laying witness
to the ways we walk,
the roads we ride on,
the rivers we have to cross,
holding our stories
secret through sun and snow.
It's silent,
like a stranger we
all wish to know.

What you gotta do is
a little squirt of Blue Plate,
real mayonnaise,
none of that fake shit.
[Seth] I mean, mayonnaise is
pretty fake in itself, I think.
This is the realest
mayonnaise you can get.
I feel like I'm making cat food.
[Seth] I mean, honestly,
this looks exactly like
what you'd get in
the store anyway, so.
[Brian] Yeah, thank you.
And that is how you make
a Southwest chicken wrap.
- [Seth] [indistinct]
- Yeah.
As the snow melted and we
passed
through the gray skies,
we finally reached
the pinnacle of the Northwest.
[typing]
- [city din]
- [indistinct singing]
I need to go find a fish.
[mellow electronic music]

So I mean, you definitely caught
our attention walking by with
the flag and the outfit here,
but what inspired you?
Talk about what you're doing.
Uh, what inspired me to
ride is I was...
I was in a coma on life support
for a year and a half.
I had eaten teriyaki steak,
I got food poisoning.
They gave me the-- Um,
they gave me the wrong shot.
I started
having violent grand mal
seizures in the emergency room.
So when I came out of all of it,
I had to go through
full rehabilitation.
My father
flipped the TV channel,
saw the Tour
de France for the first time.
And apparently,
if you do your homework,
you'll see how Greg LeMond had
returned
back from a hunting accident.
I was like,
wait a minute, if he can
do it and return, so can I.
Um, our veterans were,
they were dying at, um,
a desert storm in Kuwait.
And I was like, you know what?
I want to be able
to honor our veterans
and military families.
And it was a higher
purpose than what--
for me, it was a higher purpose.
As a person
who my father served,
I wanted to
be able to honor them.
How much more of my life
am I able to give to be able to
provide for them so help lift
a load off of their shoulders?
- [Brian] Yeah.
- They're like-- they really
don't get the help
because of the system.
The whole political side,
I don't get into that.
I'm like, leave
that with you guys over there.
This is what I'm supposed
to do is help bridge that gap.
[gentle piano music]
So for example, if you served,
you had a brother that served,
you need to get on the road
and you didn't have a bike.
You see me, "Okay,
hey, here's my card.
"I really need
to get on the road.
"I'm having
a really difficult time.
"I don't know where to start."
I would contact either Trek,
Specialized.
I contact my sponsors.
Um, Dynatech in Europe.
And I would be able to,
within three weeks to a month,
I'd be able
to get you sponsored.
You wouldn't have to worry
about no money or anything.
Here, boom, here's the bike.
If you need help on the road,
don't have any gear,
contact me again.
I'm gonna get ahold of my
guys or I would go out, put 17,
19 hours on the trainer,
raise the money, boom,
I would get you everything
you needed to get you going.
Road advocacy, I would teach
you everything there is to know.
That's my job is to give my
life to you, to lift a load off
your shoulders so you can be
able to enjoy life for a change.
And I have people
that come up and say,
"Just your consistency
alone has shown us that nothing
"is impossible, that yes,
I can make it another day."
I've had drug addicts
come up and say, "Okay,
"I don't know what else to do.
Because of you, bro.
"I need help." And I'm able
to help get them treatment.
- [street din]
- [indistinct chatter]
[Brian] So what is-- what
is it you're taking there?
[person with drug addiction]
It's fentanyl.
They make them
look like painkillers.
They make them
look like they're...
My addiction is not as bad as
a lot of people out here.
A lot of people are
doing like 20 of these a day.
I do maybe
five to seven, you know?
Because I don't really-- I don't
really steal as much,
you know what I mean?
I'm not as much of a thief.
[Seth]
So what do you think, man?
So are you, uh, are you kind
of like on this block?
Do you kind of control things?
- [man] Control things?
- Yeah, or do you like, so...
[man] I talk to myself.
I-- I talk--
I talk to myself, bro.
- [Seth] Hey, hey man.
- [thudding]
[ambient music]
[Brian]
In the heart of Seattle's
international district,
a continued spike in
homelessness and crime has
funneled into the area
since the pandemic, along with
its rising racial stigma
and attacks on Asian
businesses.
As a restaurant owner,
we were already struggle
once the pandemic hit.
[Brian] Seattle's power holders
have ignored the problem as
evidenced by the sight of not
a single police guard
patrolling
one of the city's
most dangerous streets.
You know,
I have been waiting for
two years to see if, um,
if things get better around
Little Saigon,
but nothing has been
changed or improved at all.
The city office,
you know, they promise
certain things, "Hey,
we'll make this area safer."
For the first month,
there was a lot of police
presence over there,
but once they leave,
you know,
they start coming back again.
We lost at
least 50% of our dine-in.
Usually on the weekend,
we're-- we're busy,
we're full and
we have a waiting list,
but now we hardly see,
like, half capacity
because people are afraid.
They come in and they tell us,
"Hey, we're regular customers."
They would say,
"I would love to come
"down here,
but I don't feel safe."
You know, they come in
here to eat and they ask me,
would their car
be okay out there?
And to be honest,
my car and my staff car
has been broken
into almost monthly.
We invested quite a bit
of money and we've been in
this area for seven years.
And when you just pick
up and go and have to build
something brand new
and start your client
base in another area,
it's difficult.
So where they managed to
kick the cans down the road,
I believe this is
the most convenient
area because the I.D.
doesn't have a strong voice.
[Brian] To see America is to
see both every way it's
meant to be
and the many ways it is.
How long have
you been hooked on this for?
[person with drug addiction]
Well, painkillers all together,
I was like 19.
- [Brian] So how old are you now?
- 38.
[Brian] Living in our own
lanes of life,
face towards all the things
we want to see,
from the things
we look away from.
[Alvin] To raise that flag,
it lets you know that you're
not overlooked.
I may not know you,
but I know you.
I may not see you,
but I see you.
I may not hear you,
but I hear you.
[Seth] So what does
the American dream mean to
you coming to
Vietnam and coming here?
The American dream is,
you know, having my freedom
and building a business from
scratch where I can feel safe.
That's my dream.

[gentle guitar music]
[Brian] Since we were
starting to approach
warmer weather again
and money was running tight,
it was time to start
sleeping in our cars again.
I feel grimy.
This is how I shower.
We got wet wipes.
When I was staying--
I didn't actually stay
in this parking lot last night.
I got kicked out.
But when I was in
the mall parking lot,
there was security
patrolling and me being
uh, ignorant, was thinking,
oh, that's makes me feel good.
They're going to handle any
like riffraff in the parking lot
and stuff, until they tap
on your window and you realize,
oh shit, I'm the riffraff
that they're taking care of.
Humbling experience.
It really is humbling the way
people look at you when they
can
see that you're
living out of your car.
But this was my home
now and I was going
to make it
as comfortable as possible.
I mean, it's not going to
be like sleeping in a Motel 6,
but I think
it'll get the job done.
[Seth]
It's actually going to be like
- sleeping in a Motel 6.
- [Brian] Yeah, probably.
- Okay. Okay.
- [Seth] Okay.
- It's complete. Okay.
- [Brian] Yeah, this is nice.
- It works, huh?
- Yeah, well, look how much--
come and look
at this thing here.
- So not much space here.
- [Seth] Okay.
But I mean,
I'm fully stretched out.
This is my home.
Welcome to my home.
I'm laying here in
the back of my Toyota Corolla.
I can see the stars
right outside this window
and right outside that window
and the ocean
is right by my side.
And who would have
thought that this car,
which previously was just
what would get me to work,
get me home, just get me
through mundane activities
has now been taking me
on this whole adventure
and has also become my home.
It feels really good
to have maximized the space
and now be in it.
And I'm very happy right now.
I see you did find a good spot.
You can see the Milky Way.
It's beautiful.
And it's like this all
the way down the coast, man.
It's absolutely gorgeous.
[Brian] All right,
close my door.
Keep the heat
in and good night to you.
- I'll see you in the morning.
- Okay, sounds good, sir.
- [Brian] All right.
- Good night.
[mellow electronic music]
[Brian] I'm coming
over to the coffee shop.
Uh, double espresso latte, please.
- Is that on the menu?
- Black?
[Brian] Any seating,
outdoor seating, inside seating?
Wherever the hell you want, man.
[waves splashing]
5,500 miles, I think
it's been over the past month.
And there's been,
you know, certainly like gloomy
kind of dark days,
just kind of sitting alone
in the car,
driving, thinking.
This trip, this project,
is it all going to be worth it?
Um, and I think now being
here makes me feel a sense
of peace that makes me
understand why we're doing this.

Crossing the entire
country and staring out
at the Pacific Ocean,
I felt incredibly humbled
by all the people we met
and miles we traveled
and realized how lucky
I am to have taken
this adventure
I may never take again.

How many times
have you done this?
Nope, there's my key,
I see it.
Uh, maybe like three times.
[Brian] And you've
found success with a wedge
and a wire every time?
- No, it's usually AAA.
- [Brian chuckles]
[Brian] Have you found success
at all with a wedge and a wire?
I've never had a wedge
and a wire, so I don't know.
[Brian] Have you ever found
success without AAA?
No.
I've locked myself out
of my car several times.
I saw this at the hardware
store and I was like,
- you know, this will work.
- [Brian] That will save you.
So I leave it
in the back of my car.
- [Brian] Brian.
- Hey, how's it going?
- What's your name?
- Dave.
[Brian] Dave,
and you're a car thief?
- Professionally?
- [all laughing]
- No, I'm a contractor.
- [Brian] Yeah, yeah.
[Bill] I came here when I was
21 for the first time
and then I had to go back
to Florida to finish
my education and came
back out here when I was 27.
I'm a surgeon.
The joke I tell people
is when I was--
when I was thinking about what
I wanted to do with my life,
I wanted to become a surfer.
So I looked up
in the yellow pages
for surf schools and
if you look at alphabetically,
right underneath
surfing is surgery, so.
[laughter, overlapping chatter]
How would you like talk about
the personality of this area?
It's kind of a mixed bag.
It's an old fishing town.
It was formerly
the capital of California.
So it's very important
in California history.
You know,
so you've got kind of like
a really, you know,
unique fabric of the community.
There's people
that have lots of means live
in really wealthy areas.
Their second or third homes.
Then you've got people that grew
up here with little means.
[gentle guitar music]
[Bill] California
has a lot going for it.
It has a history of
people coming here and making
their way and, you know,
coming with nothing
and winding up with something.
I mean, relative to most people,
I haven't had
a great deal of adversity.
I have to say, you know,
and I'm always amazed by people
who are, you know,
who, in spite of adversity,
really come along
and have a remarkable life.
Maybe it's because of that.
Maybe it's in spite of it.
[Brian] Would you say
that you've achieved
happiness in life,
being here?
Or is that a loaded question?
I'm happy to be here.
Happiness in life,
I've managed to
make all the wrong
decisions for happiness.
Marriage and divorce,
those are the biggest ones,
you know, and those are things
I've learned
something from that.
Fortunately-- Unfortunately,
I made the same
bad decision again,
and then after many
years got out of that.
So, and this time it was
kind of an opportunity to think
- about things differently.
- [Brian] Mm-hmm.
Did you have dreams
when you were younger?
Have you lived those
dreams or have your dreams
transformed
as you've gotten older?
Uh, I feel like I'm living
the dream now, you know.
I'm where I wanna be
and I've got everything
I need and I've got food.
I can drive around,
I can go surf.
What else do you need, right?
Yeah, this is what makes me
happy as much as anything else.
It's just being
out here doing this.

"There was the Pacific,
a few more foothills away,
blue and vast and with
a great wall of white advancing
from the legendary potato patch
where Frisco fogs are born.
Another hour,
it would come steaming through
the Golden Gate to shroud
the romantic city in white."
And now we've been
on the road for,
I mean, a little over a month.
And, uh, have barely
scratched the surface.
Traveling around the whole
country, I mean...
I feel like there's
never enough time to do
all the things that
we wanna do.
I mean like landmarks
and stuff like that, I mean,
it's beautiful but
you can see all these
things in pictures
and you can see videos online.
I mean, nothing is
as good as seeing in person
but actually getting to know
the people and feeling it is
much more valuable
than you can do online.
Which was the whole
goal originally of this
project and I feel
like we've done that
in a certain sense
but never as much as you wish.

Between all the experiences
we've had so far
I've spent countless hours
alone behind the steering wheel
anxiously trying to figure out
what my life will be
once this trip is over.
[Seth] You know,
you've talked about your anxiety
a few times where do
you think that stems from?
[seals barking in the distance]
I think it's been
more serious as of late
since the breakup
and leaving my job.
You know,
some people find a freedom
in that and excitement in it.
I wish I did, I try to.
A lot of people get
stuck whether it's stuck
in a place
that they are in whether
it's in a relationship
that there's comfort
in it it's scary to break out
of that and face the unknown.
Every script ever written
every screenplay I indicate when
the ideas came from somewhere
somebody isn't admitting.
[Brian] Being on the west coast
and getting close to the end of
our journey I thought about 10
years ago on the road trip with
my father and me moving
out west to chase a dream.
I thought about
the yearning to achieve success
and make my parents proud.
And I thought about where
and who I am now and of losing
and leaving a life that would
have been good enough,
to my fear of getting lost,
chasing a life that
could be great.
I want to make movies.
I want my screenplays to
become movies.
That's what I feel like
would make me happy.
I think I'm good
enough but am I good enough?
Is it going to work out?
And can I make money?
I don't know.
The thing that calms that fear
the most is failure, man.
You learn from
it and then you realize
that that fear isn't
really that scary.
- Yeah.
- You know? The more--
The more I continually learn
the more confident I am
in-- in whatever endeavor
and then I know that if I really
truly chase whatever it is I'm
after, if I really want
it bad enough I can get it.
Well I think about,
say I were to have a son.
What if my son said to
me like, "Dad, what did you...
"is this what you dreamed
"or is this what
you wanted to achieve?"
And if-- what if I had
to explain to him, "No, I wanted
to be a screenwriter
I wanted to make movies."
"Well what happened?"
How would I answer
that question to my son
and just say I gave up?
Because I don't want
them to then have a dream
and think that it's okay
not to go all in on it.
My dad is al-- was and
still is always the one that...
[sniffling]
like, I look up to,
like, I want to be like him.
He's successful, he's always
worked hard to chase his dreams
and he's achieved them,
like, I admire that.
[gentle inspiring music]
[Seth] Do you really truly
feel like you can do that?
You can achieve that?
I don't know.
I mean... [sniffling]
I guess I'm--
I am my own person, like,
of course like, I know it's--
everyone is who they are.
...out of the normal
comfort zone to try something
that you very well, just
like anything, you can fail at.
Well should we keep driving?
[Seth] Yeah.
Overall, finding the happiness
in life you are ahead
because you really
are chasing what you want.

- [Seth] Over there.
- I don't know.
- [Seth] Right now nobody knows.
- [chuckling]
I don't know, I think maybe
they use it for military stuff.
I know they use some of
those islands for a purpose.
Oh really?
I'll have to look it up.
And then over to
the right they're going to
be the rest
of the Channel Islands.
San Nicolas Island...
Look at the sunset.
[Seth] Yeah, pretty nice.
[indistinct chatter]
"I thought and looked
everywhere as I looked
"everywhere in the little
world below and before me was
"the great raw bulge and
bulk of my American continent.
"Somewhere far across
gloomy crazy New York was
"throwing up its cloud
of dust and brown steam."
I mean, I don't--
I think I would only
live here if I had to.
It would have to be
because of an opportunity.
[Seth] But do you think, like,
no matter where you pick,
ultimately,
I mean, it seems like the first
six months, maybe even longer,
is still going to be hard
because you're not
going to know anybody.
And you know
like you said you like
you know, hanging out
with friends going places.
- Yeah.
- And if you kind of lack
that part of it
especially, you know,
at the beginning and not
knowing-- you know, like,
there's a lot of uncertainty.
I think I, um,
I'm most afraid of being lonely.
That's why I'm-- even
everywhere we've been
even the places I liked,
nothing has been something
that I fall in love
with because I'm afraid of
that transition when
you move there being lonely.
It'd be one thing
if I was 23 but being in
your 30s it's like well, how
hard-- how hard is it going to
be to make friends or
meet people, like, you know,
find a-- get
into a relationship.
It just seems very daunting.
"There was something brown
and holy about the east and
"California's white like
wash lines and empty headed.
"At least that's
what I thought then."
[gentle guitar music]
[Seth] You're going
to climb all the way up there?
Ah, we could just go-- we don't
have to go all the way up.
[Seth] It's like
a McDonald's play place.
Don't you want to
stand up in victory?
[Brian] No, I--
All right this is
a little behind the scenes
shots of Seth,
my photographer,
taking some nice model photos of
me sitting on top of a boulder.

The day that like,
all the lockdown
restrictions came in,
I moved into my van.
So you've been living
in this since March 2020?
Yeah since COVID.
My stepdad, he works at
a steel company and so I painted
steel beams there for like
three months to save up
the money to start
moving onto the road.
When I was
in high school I always like
thought of the idea, like
it was always entertaining to me
because I just watched
like YouTube videos
like ski bums and dirt bags and
I was like this is how you live.
- That's the life I want.
- Yeah.
I don't-- I can't think
of any place I'd rather be.
I think it's changed the way
I interact with people because
like when I first moved
into the van it was at the start
of COVID and for like a month
I didn't talk to almost anybody.
And so I would go out
like climbing alone but
it just, like-- I don't know,
it just changed everything
and then when I found friends
and like it's developed me
into the person I am today.
[Brian] Yeah so you don't think
that you're gonna get burnout
from this traveling,
like, nomad lifestyle?
No. I don't know how you could.
Like, I've definitely
been depressed in places
and like lonely in places
but then you just like
drive to another place.

We just passed Tucson,
Arizona on our way to Tombstone,
Arizona where we're
finally going to meet
Laurie which
I'm very excited about.
A little over a month before
starting this trip I posted
on various travel groups asking
if any strangers starting
a new chapter in life wanted to
go somewhere meaningful to
them.
One response from Laurie
struck me the most.
We developed
a friendship as we talked
over the next few weeks
and I learned
that after suffering
the loss of multiple loved ones
over the past two years,
she and her husband Keith
decided to sell their farm
in Iowa and commit to a life
of traveling and selling
Christmas trees
all over the country.
So have you guys had
anything to eat for lunch or?
No. Seth doesn't eat until
- later in the day.
- [Seth] Yeah I usually eat
- after I go for a run.
- You eat later in the day?
We should go to Big Nose Gates
and have lunch.
- Yeah.
- Do you want to?
I think
that would be a good idea.
- That sounds good.
- Go to Big Nose Gates
and then go on a hike
after that?
Yeah. I'm not gonna
go hiking on an empty stomach.
- No, no.
- No, no, no.
If you've never been
to Big Nose Gates you gotta
- go to Big Nose Gates.
- I don't think they've been
- to Tombstone.
- [Brian] No never.
No kidding? Oh.
[live country music plays]
[Brian]
The real Wyatt Earp, huh?
I look pretty good
for my age though.
That's what the Arizona
sun does to you.
Hey, I might as well
stay here then.
What do you think,
do I look like a cowboy?
- Yeah, a little big on my head.
- No. No. [chuckling]
[indistinct chatter]
I talked to a fellow
that had lived here
all his life and I said,
"There's so much history
and so much diverse history.
So he said,
"There's, you know, you may run
"into something that's
Spanish here might go over
"there and
there's something Indian."
[Laurie] And the history,
you can feel it.
I mean you can
just feel the history.
[Keith] ...when you stand in
places, it's really something.
This is
possibly the amphitheater.
You know, the chiefs,
we're among the chiefs up here,
talking to your Braves.
Wow. You gotta really
project I wonder how well
the sound carries.
Be a great place
for a concert too.
- Right.
- [Keith] Oh, man,
you could set
up a band right here.
A light show and have everybody
gather right down there.
And get seating on the top
of those rocks down there.
- Yeah.
- That's the $100 seats.
- Yeah, expensive.
Think of the power you feel
when you just look down...
- [Laurie] At your Braves.
- [Brian] At your Braves.
See, all those families
and tribes and all together
they probably
filled this whole valley.
[Brian] The rock formations
we stood on were the base
of operations for the
Chiricahua
Apache chief, Cochise.
One of the most
skilled battle leaders
defending Chiricahua
lands from the American
military
during the Apache
wars of the mid-1800s.
He was like the last
major criminal.
He was a tough guy.
And he put some
hurt on the military.
So they wanted
him almost at any cost.
They wanted to capture him.
And so he ran up into this stuff
and they couldn't get him out.
So they sent the tough guys.
They were the buffalo soldiers.
So they were
the bad boys of the bunch.
They were the bad
boys of the military.
And they had them come
out here and try to get Cochise.
And they never could get him.
So he-- somewhere up
in there are his bones.
And they buried--
the family buried him up there.
And they never told
anybody where he was at.
Because they knew
they'd go after him.
So they never said
anything about where he was at.
And he's--
they've never found him.
And if history teachers
could teach what they want to
it'd be the white
man overcame all of them.
And overcame Cochise.
And there's
already some people said
that they studied the history
and Cochise went down here to
council-- the bottom council
area, and surrendered to
the generals.
We never did. That's a lie.
He never surrendered.

There's one here and there's one
over there, I think.
"The pictures you see were
made hundreds of years ago.
"They have faded with
time and are now very fragile.
"These red and orange
pictographs are reminiscent of
"designs used by prehistoric
"Magolan? Magoan? ...peoples
roughly 1,000 years ago.
"Some may have been
added in early historic
"times by Apache visitors.
"The boulder formation
around you has served as
"a shelter by many
who passed through this area.
This beats
sleeping in the Corolla.
- I would rather sleep in here.
- [Seth] Yeah, for sure.
"The grinding mortars
on the large granitic
"boulder to your left and
the two within the shelter area
"were used with a pestle for
grinding nuts and seeds."
The Indians
were seriously active out
here raiding
the gold and silver shipments.
And then the Mexicans
and the cowboys
- and everybody here...
- Wow, yeah.
- You're right in the hotspot--
- Supposedly there's a treasure
up there in the Dragoons, yeah.
- [Keith] ...where it is.
- [Brian] That means there's
probably a treasure behind that.
That's how
they were locking it in.
[Keith] Gotta get that out then
you gotta crawl in that hole.
- [Brian] Blow that rock up.
- [Keith laughing]
- [Seth] You never know, Brian.
- [Keith] I know-- I know...
Like a little piggy bank.
...pretty much
for a fact that there is
still treasure out here.
But where do you find it?
Those boys were tricky.
I used to take her out on
these crazy climbs I'd go on.
I'd say, "Where the heck's
your sense of adventure?
And her answer
is always the same,
"I married you didn't I?"
[gentle guitar music]
You know it's been a hard six,
seven years for us.
- Losing his parents and...
- We lost parents and family.
Brother and friends
and then our daughter.
And you know it's been,
it's been tough.
And now it's time
for us to do for us.
- [Brian] Mm-hmm.
- Do something for ourselves.
We've done a lot
of service to other people
and it's time
to take our time now.

Our daughter Alicia
was addicted to meth.
And got off of it and
went from that to alcohol.
You know and that's
what a lot of them do.
They'll go from that meth to
alcohol thinking it's...
- They're just replacing.
- ...it's not as bad but
they're just replacing it.
How old was
Alicia when she passed?
She was 39 when she passed.
[Keith] She was such
a kind-hearted person
that she would take
these unfortunate kids that
had been thrown off, you know,
and didn't have
anything or anywhere to go.
And some of them didn't have
skills to get a job or anything.
She would take them in
and let them stay with her.
And she would get them
out there help them get a job.
I mean she was awesome.
But she just
had that serious problem
that she couldn't get through.
Alicia accepted anybody.
Yeah she'd accept anybody.
And she tried to quit sometimes.
We really worked
with her and she tried.
But it just--
she just couldn't stop.
Do you practice every day?
No.
I'm sad to say I don't.
I should.
I've been so wrapped
up in my emotions and...
- Yeah.
- ...everything for the past few
months that I just...
It just has...
It's not an escape at all?
No, it is starting to be now.
- Yeah.
- But I don't know, it was just
hard for me to even get it out
for a while, I don't know why.

Son of a gun
[indistinct lyrics]
On the bayou
- Yee-haw!
- Woo!
That was awesome.
When you said earlier
when I asked if you sing
karaoke and you said no,
I thought maybe
you were afraid to sing.
And I wasn't expecting
you to have such a good voice.
- Thank you. I appreciate that.
- That was awesome.
[Keith] Country sushi.
[laughing]
[Brian] That's good stuff.
The closer
to the far west you get
the more lunatic
friends you encounter.
- [Seth, Laurie laughing]
- Yeah. That's true.
You're not publishing
anything I said, are you?
[laughing]
We'll cut all of this off.
Remember he said he
didn't want to talk?
- I know I was surprised by that.
- Do you remember?
I met an Amish guy.
They were up doing
our roof on our house one day.
And this-- the old guy
was on the ground watching
the young guys do
the work up on the roof.
You know, he would trim
the pieces and send them up.
And about a half
a mile away there's a river
bed down south of the farm.
About a half a mile away.
A lot of trees you know.
And we had had that F5
tornado come through in '08.
And it just took
a section of those trees right
out and crossed over the river.
Just took a section
of those trees right out.
And so I'm
telling that little guy
you know he wanted to know
how long it lived and stuff,
you know, and I said,
"See that spot there where
"there's no
trees by the river there?"
He said, "Yeah, I see it."
I said, "That's where
the tornado came through."
"Really?"
He says, "Did you watch it?"
And I said, "Yeah I stood
up here and took pictures."
As I chased
all the women and kids in
the basement
and I stayed out took pictures.
He said, "Really?
Were you scared?
And I said,
"No, really, I wasn't.
"It gave me a little
jolt when the thing head
"this way and
it covered up the road.
"And then it went
back the other way."
But I said, "Then
I got a little twinged.
But I said,
"I wasn't really scared."
He says, "How come?"
And I says, "Well,
we believe that, you know,
"we have a certain
amount of days each of us
"individually
and they're all different."
I said, "If it's our day to go,"
I said, "It won't take
that tornado to get us."
Anything could get
us if it's our day to go.
But I said,
"If it's not our day to go
"that tornado can't kill us."
He says, "I believe
the same way you guys do."
And he says, "I've
been out here with you.
- [laughing]
- [Brian] Wow.
So you know we accept
the fact that we're going
to go and we don't know when.
So let's do what we can
and while we do, enjoy it.
See what we can of the world.
Has that helped
you guys cope with Alicia?
Oh yeah.
And we're, you know,
we know where we're going.
I know where
my mom and dad went.
I pray Alicia's up
there with Mom and Dad and
with my mom and dad.
But I definitely think
that our faith has helped keep
us going through all
the last six, seven years,
all the things
that have happened.
It takes-- Uh...
you feel the sadness
but it takes out the anguish.
I guess you'd
call it the extreme
you know, the extreme
pain of the loss.
You don't feel that so
much because you know you'll
be with them again.
It's just a matter of time.
I was holding
Keith's hand when he passed--
Keith's dad's hand
when he passed away.
And it was just like,
took his last breath and
it was just such
a release and it was peaceful.
And for at
least a week afterwards
every night when I went to
bed I heard the angels singing.
I felt like there
were no voices but it was
the most
beautiful angelic music.
You know, no words but just...
Yeah, I don't
know how to explain it.
We're not people
that that really go
for a lot of that.
We're pretty realistic.
- You know, we're realists.
- We're black and white.
I mean, we're not--
there's no gray area with us.
And that's-- you know,
if it isn't real we don't...
You're not going to
imagine things out of thin air.
- Right.
- If it happens you recognize--
And those things
happen and it just,
it's crazy because you know
it really attests to the fact
- that there is something else.
- Yeah.
Alicia came to me in
a dream and she was right
there and she was
saying, "Mom! Mom! Mom!"
And it was like I could
feel her breath on my face
and it was just so real.
And I woke up and I was
just in tears for the whole day.
Every now and then you think,
you know, what is it?
It was just... Ooh.
It was just like
she was there.
It just, uh, it just tells me
more that there, it is real.
You know this is reality,
not something that is
just a religion that
somebody came up with.
It's not just somebody's theory.
It's-- it's really there.
[melancholy music]
[Laurie] From beginning to end.

[sighing]
Well I think she'd be
happy with-- with this spot and
you said it represents her.
- Oh most definitely.
- Yeah.
Beautiful and... grand.
- Mm-hmm.
- You know.
All right, well, are you ready?
I'm ready.
Let's do this.

[music fades]
Fly free, my girl.
[sobbing]
[gentle piano music]

[Brian]
Looking at Laurie and Keith was
witnessing the emotional
intersection
of sadness and peace.
And I thought of
the long painful road of
loss they've had to
drive down to find it.
Before we went
our separate ways, we shared
a heartfelt goodbye
and they continued on
to the next chapter of
a life: to live for them.

[Seth] Well I guess
this is the grand finale huh?
Yep, I guess so.
Asking Seth to film
this project became so
much more than Seth
filming this project.
I couldn't have asked
for a better travel partner.
This is it.
This is the beginning.
- Dang, it is, dude.
- Yeah.
And although life's changed
a lot since our days running
track and cross-country
together almost 20 years ago.
'Cause I really looked
up to you back then.
I do still look up to him.
[gentle guitar music]
- Yeah, dude.
- [Brian] It's been fun.
Dude, it's been a wild ride.
- It has. Thank you.
- I mean, yeah.
- Hey, genuinely, thank you.
- Thank you, dude.
All my other trips, you know,
they're solo but this
is the first trip ever,
in my life,
that I think I've taken,
you know, or taken with somebody
- for over a month.
- [Brian] And who would have
thought it
would be Brian Mulvey.
Yeah, I mean, there's no chance.
If you had asked me a few
months ago like, "Oh yeah
you're gonna be stuck with
Brian Mulvey for over a month."
- I wouldn't have believed it.
- [Brian laughing]
But here we are.
[Brian] Now it's time for him to
drive back to South Carolina
and
for me to go
wherever I was going to go.
Every time I'm on the road
it's a blast and I think going
along with somebody has really
been pretty amazing this time.
- Yeah.
- Give me a hug.
You heading that way?
Yeha, I think so.
Where are you going?
So after 10,000
miles and 40 days
what did I learn?
As we were leaving
Horseshoe Bend I saw something
that reflected my favorite
realization from this journey.
Hi, Laurie, [indistinct].
- [Laurie] Alicia.
- Alicia.
[Brian] It's the power that lies
in the brief human interactions
and the impact
they can have on someone.
[gentle guitar music]
When I think of America,
it's the significance in all
of us sharing this
insignificant sliver of
time together searching
for ways to make it matter.
If we could all, in America,
stop listening to our
politicians tell us what we
should think and what we should
believe, I think that
we could all
get to a closer
neighborhood.
We got to get
back to being neighbors.
Brothers and sisters
[indistinct].
And then you realize, "Okay,
we're more alike
than we are different."

[Brian] I finally realized
we're not just measured by
our successes and failures
and not defined by our labels.
Or else every person
I passed by would have been
just a drag queen,
just a police officer,
just a homeless man,
just a surgeon.
Just an old friend
you never reconnected with.
A lot of times
it almost works out to
be a bit of a facade
that we think we have to
put on to guard ourselves
and we take the time just to be
human beings, we find out,
hey, we're all human beings.
[Brian] When you look at
the highway from far above
it's the veins of
America connecting us all
together as one,
writing our story,
and every great chapter
begins the moment we decide
which way we go next.
["Undertow" by Nick Kinswell]
Can't touch the bottom
Set into a tumble
Waves that shake me out
Out of my skin
Never been so easy
Losing my direction
My bearings have me
south of home
I've been wrong before
I was wading in the undertow

Set adrift with
feather-weight-like bones
Unaware of where my
heart would flow
I was wading in the undertow