Within 3 days of returning to the United States from my motorcycle trip, I was fortunate enough to attend a Detroit Lions game with some soldiers from my unit for their military appreciation game! It was my first NFL game and it was a stressful one! Fortunately, in classic Lions fashion, they scored 17 points in the last 2:59 to win the game against the Bears.

Shortly after that, I met up with my family in Kentucky at an Airbnb in Kentucky for a Thanksgiving get-together. This was the first time I got to see my different nieces and my nephew interact together. It was so fun to watch the older girls playing with their younger cousins! We ate a lot of good food and watched a lot of football and had a good time solving puzzles and playing games. Our Airbnb was also close to the Ark Encounter museum which features a full-size re-creation of Noah’s ark. It was very interesting to walk inside the ark looking at the sheer space of the structure and learning about how they may have fed all the animals.

I got to spend some time in Saginaw organizing all of my things and searching hard for an apartment before my move back down to Arizona. I got to go to the jiu-jitsu gym for a couple of weeks which was fun. I also had an army meeting during this time so my road trip beard and unkempt hair had to come to an end.

I joined a group of friends last minute heading to Chicago for the weekend to watch the Lions vs the Bears. I didn’t have a ticket, but I decided to join the trip. I figured I had already seen the Lions vs Bears so if things didn’t work out for a ticket I wouldn’t be too upset. I planned to go hang out and watch the game with a college buddy if there wasn’t an easy/cheap way to go to the game. Before the game we all met up at a hotel in downtown Chicago on Saturday and got some Indian food and grabbed some cases of beer. We played some card games and it quickly turned into old times with a hint of group therapy as we processed things that had happened in high school with our now more developed maturity. Needless to say, it was a fun night! The next morning we grabbed some food at a local breakfast spot. Then we started walking to the game and I still didn’t have a ticket or much of a plan. I was going to see what the ticket scalpers had to offer. As we got closer to the stadium I saw my first scalper and I stopped to engage him. He said I could get one ticket for $100. For reference, all my friends paid $150 for their tickets. As I tried to do some bartering the scalper noticed my group of friends had stopped to wait for me to see if I could secure a ticket. When the scalper noticed this he said, “Wait, are you with this group?” I told him I was and he said if you were with a big group just have one guy scan all the tickets and follow behind them. The ticket taker won’t count. I asked if he was serious and his buddy chimed in, “1000% nobody will check! You will definitely get in.” So with his 1000% guarantee, all my buddies and I agreed it was worth a shot. Sure enough, I walked right in behind them as the last guy. We got into the stadium and found their seats along with an empty one right next to them, a seat that wasn’t offered on Ticketmaster! It honestly wasn’t that surprising that our scheme worked based on previous sporting event ticket-taker encounters, but it did seem too easy.

Unfortunately, the Lions lost, but it was a fun atmosphere at Soldier Field and at the very least I didn’t pay to watch them lose. Feeling slightly guilty that I scammed my way into the stadium I used my saved cash to pay for the whole group to get some famous Chicago-style pizza at Lou Malnati’s. The pizza was great and it was a good time. After that, the group split and we went our separate ways. Two of my friends and I headed back to Detroit in a rented Tesla causing us to stop for a couple of charges. On one of our stops, we walked to a nearby Five Guys and I ordered a shake. The girl at the register put in the order and then went to make it. As I tried to pay with my card the card machine appeared to have processed the payment immediately. Almost too quick… Next up both of my buddies ordered shakes and they both received receipts after they paid. At this point, I realize I certainly didn’t pay. My buddy Chad is all mad that things keep going my way and I keep getting free stuff. To appease Chad and my conscious I go back up to the register and say that I don’t think my card worked and I didn’t pay. The guy behind the counter immediately responded, “Don’t worry about it.” Chad was even more mad after that haha! Should I have snuck into a Bears game? Probably not, but I can’t deny my good fortune, and it makes me laugh to see my friend’s jealousy of it as it unfolds in front of them!

The weekend following my Chicago excursion I flew to NYC to hang out with my buddy Joe, an army buddy. He had a nice studio apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He also had an expert read on all of the top local restaurants. The highlight of the trip was the variety and quality of food we ate. I may have had some of the best Indian food of my life, delicious NY-style pizza, sushi, shwarma, bulgogi in Korean town, pork dumplings in Chinatown, and meat on a stick from the street vendors. I was in heaven!

We did a lot of walking around the city. We visited the 9/11 memorial, the MET museum, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller Center, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a bunch of other neat places. To me, NYC is a great place to visit, but I would find it a little hectic to live in. The thing that I liked about it was the diversity. There were so many different types of people from all over the world living together. On my last day there we went to the Brooklyn Bridge and I got to see the Statue of Liberty and it was really cool to think about how my great-grandparents came to America from Europe and as they entered the “land of opportunity” one of the first things they probably saw was that statue. What a blessed country we live in!

Immediately following my trip to NYC, I flew to Phoenix and headed down to Casa Grande, AZ to move into my apartment. I only spent two full days moving in and scrounging Facebook Marketplace for furniture to get it ready before I returned after Christmas and immediately headed back to work. I think I made some good progress for the short amount of time I had. I’m excited to get back to Arizona and start living in a somewhat normal routine for the first time in a long while.

After the quick trip to Arizona, I returned to Michigan and gathered up the rest of my possessions and loaded them into my truck, and headed to my parents. I watched the children’s Christmas program that I grew up doing on Christmas Eve. Following church on Christmas day, I headed to the west side of the state for family Christmas. I got to spend two full days eating good food, opening presents, and most of spending time with family. Then I hit the road early in the morning for my 30-hour drive back to Arizona. I made it all the way to Pratt, Kansas the first night. The second day I made it back running on fumes and happy to finally be stable in one spot for a while.

New Year’s Eve and Resolutions

After spending a couple of days of full effort unpacking and getting my apartment situated I headed to church on the morning of Christmas Eve. It was super nice to see everyone that I had met 16 months previously before I left for my army deployment. The church looked like it had grown too! The sermon message talked about how we never really know what will happen. Life is crazy and things can blindside you. You might make plans and instead, your entire world could get upended by world pandemics, war, natural disasters, and other terrible things. One thing that is certain is God will remain by our side through it all and he has a better hope for our future than anything this world could offer.

After church, I continued my organizing and unpacking. Toward the evening I decided I would go for a run up a mountain to watch the sunset. I knew of one mountain park in town where I could do this, but it was further away so I decided to check out a new one closer to where my apartment is. I got there and realized there wasn’t any actual path up to the top of the mountain. With sunset approaching I didn’t have time to change my plans so I decided to hop some fences and scramble up the rocky mountainside to do what I set out to do in the first place. It was the last day of an incredible year for me after all. I had to end it in appropriate fashion.

I climbed slowly up the mountain side and as I did I thought about what I wanted my resolutions for the new year to be. I tried to keep up my pace because otherwise I wouldn’t make it to the top by sunset. At a certain point, I decided I wasn’t going to make it and even if I did it would be much too dark to climb down safely without a headlamp or flashlight. As I decided to cut my loses and stop I turned around and saw that I already had an amazing view of the desert and surrounding mountains! I had been so focused on climbing to the peak that I hadn’t even noticed. Immediately I stopped and prayed to God and thanked him for an incredible year filled with experiences beyond my wildest imagination. I started the year as an infantry platoon leader leading patrols in Syria and meeting with tribal militia leaders on the banks of the Euphrates River. After that, I rode my motorcycle through 13 countries on two continents. Through it all I was able to come back safe and to see my family for the holidays. Words can’t describe how blessed I felt in that moment. With that filling my heart, as cliche as it sounds, I decided my resolutions would be to enjoy the journey. Life moves fast and if you spend all your time starting up at whatever peak you’re chasing you’ll miss out on the view. As I start a new chapter and a new year in Arizona I am looking forward to routine and more importantly enjoying where I’m at. After all, only God knows what lies ahead in 2024.