In his recently released book ‘100 Days Drive' author Aaron Lauritsen chronicles a therapeutic road trip he did around North America in 2013. In it he describes a voyage of discovery, which came about accidentally, but that morphs into a spiritual journey that unlocks long forgotten memories of growing up with a single mother, being a small business owner, serving with the military and of starting all over after a lengthy divorce.
It begins by Aaron selling his business and putting a tenant in his house, then after packing up his Toyota pick-up truck with some camping gear and his dog Athena-Bear, he hits the open road intent on getting lost, then found somewhere. In the one hundred days that follow, together they traverse the Continent and cover some 30,000 zig-zagging miles of backroads through thirty eight states and seven Canadian provinces. The trip, full of iconic landscapes, eccentric people, ghosts of history, worldly cities, adventurous activities and extreme introspect becomes an experience of a lifetime...
"Crossroads (noun): A point at which a crucial decision must be made that will have far reaching consequences.Risk taking, space flight, life as a soldier and finding one’s self: all themes explored in this memoir written by local author Aaron Lauritsen, and if I might add, done so quite well with openness and honesty.In 100 Days Drive: The Great North American Road Trip! Mr. Lauritsen travels around Canada and the United States visiting seven of 10 Canadian provinces and 38 states covering just less than 30,000 miles (that’s just less than 48,000 kilometers).The impetus for this journey, as stated by the author, was a crossroads in his life and his decision to do what many people dream of doing. He put his troubles “in the rearview mirror and headed out the door.”In the hopes of finding himself again he just left, without any real plan, without a map, and taking roads less traveled where few have been before. The author takes the reader on a journey of self discovery interlaced with personal memories of bad times and good, with accounts of history from experience and study that are at some times unmistakably relatable.Of note is his visualization of what it would have truly been like to be there on the day that John F. Kennedy was shot: from a sniper’s point of view (Mr. Lauritsen was a sniper during his time in the Canadian Army), could Lee Harvey Oswald have done it?With the mantra “explore, experience and then push beyond,” Lauritsen sets off in search of the adventure of a lifetime. While trying sky-diving in Florida over Cape Canaveral, sleeping outside overnight in New York for tickets to Saturday Night Live and surfing in Tofino among many other experiences, the author found out who he was and what he wanted from life. My favourite part of this memoir is that the author ties his new experiences to the past in such seamless fashion that the reader believes that they are on the journey as well. I say 'Bravo Mr. Lauritsen!'”
