National parks quest a world-record journey of the heart
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CABRILLO NATIONAL MONUMENT — By 9 a.m. Monday at Cabrillo National Monument, Mikah Meyer had already mapped out his day. It began with a visit to the Cabrillo sculpture, historic lighthouse and viewpoints, followed by a walk down to the tide pools and an afternoon film screening in the visitors center.
The 32-year-old Nebraskan was in San Diego for less than 24 hours Monday as part of his three-year quest to visit all 417 U.S. National Park sites in one continuous trip.
Cabrillo National Monument was No. 305 on his map. This morning, he’ll start again at No. 306, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.
Once Meyer wraps up his journey by van in spring 2019, he’s expected to hold the world record as the first person to visit all the National Park sites in one continuous journey.
He could also be the youngest person to visit every National Park site, which includes the 60 National Parks and hundreds of others in 19 other national park designations, including monuments, memorials, reserves, recreation areas, preserves, lakeshores, seashores and more.
Meyer’s ultimate goal is to write a travel book about his picks for the best national sites this country has to offer. But that’s not the reason he’s doing it.
Meyer launched his Travel Beyond Convention tour on April 29, 2016, to honor the memory of his late father, a road trip-loving Lutheran pastor who died of cancer, at age 58, on that same day in 2005.
“My father loved his job,” Meyer said Monday. “My goal was to find a job that I can have as much passion for as he did. And I want to say to people that life is short. Nothing is guaranteed.”
On Monday, the sunny-natured Meyer walked around the park in sweatpants, flip-flops and a national parks-themed T-shirt of his own design that read: “Pride Outside.”
The openly gay classical singer has been supporting his travels over the past 14 months by preaching and singing every Sunday in churches along his route. His next engagement is at 8 a.m. April 8 at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Thousand Oaks.
Larry Meyer — who was once voted the nation’s No. 1 Lutheran campus pastor — died three years before Mikah came out at age 22. Mikah said he regrets not having the chance to have that discussion with his father, but he sees miraculous connections in the steps he’s taking now as the pastor’s gay Christian son.
“I preach sermons about what it’s like being part of what for so long has been a nonexistent part of the Christian church and I tie it into the scripture,” he said. “It’s about the journey I’ve been on. I’m talking about things that 10-year-old Mikah could have used.”
When Larry Meyer died of esophageal cancer, 19-year-old Mikah inherited just one thing — his father’s hail-battered Hyundai Elantra. One week after the funeral, he took a weeklong road trip in his dad’s memory, a tradition he carried on every year until 2011.
That’s when the professional countertenor finished his master’s degree in classical music, loaded up the Elantra and embarked on a nine-month road trip to 46 U.S. states and territories. Though he didn’t know it at the time, that would be the trial run for his Travel Beyond Convention tour.
Meyer keeps track of his trip with a website (mikahmeyer.com) and Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube accounts. This spring he’ll visit all of California’s 26 National Parks sites, then he’ll head to Alaska, which has 23 sites, many of which are accessible only by bush plane and boat.
He still has numerous places to hit in the Mid-Atlantic region as well as Guam before finishing on the 15th anniversary of his father’s death in 2019 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. He started the trip on that same day in 2016, just one mile away at the Washington Monument.
Meyer travels in a high-roof white van that he outfitted with a bed, shelves, solar-powered fridge and roof fan. There’s no running water, toilet, A/C, heating or wifi.
When he’s not visiting parks sites, he’s at the library studying and planning or he’s enjoying his one hot meal of the day at wifi-equipped spots like Qdoba, Panera and Wendy’s. He anticipates the whole three-year journey will cost him about $150,000.
Over the past two years, he’s traveled more than 10,000 miles and taken more than 55,000 photos. Along the way, he’s learned that most Americans have never seen all the national park sites in their home states. He’s also discovered that some of the national monuments and memorials are far superior to the national parks.
His three favorites places so far? Dinosaur National Monument in Utah; Buck Island Reef National Monument in the Caribbean and Theodore Roosevelt in North Dakota. Why? They’re beautiful, abundant in wildlife and recreational opportunities and, best of all, they’re little known to the public so they’re uncrowded.
His least favorite spot is Yellowstone, where he sat in 20-minute traffic jams and was sickened by the smell of its sulfurous springs.
For the first year of his tour, Meyer kept his sexuality out of his blog and social media posts. But he decided to open up a year ago when a gay teenager told him his trip was an inspiration. His openness cost him a major sponsor in 2017, but he said it has opened many other doors.
After he writes his book, which he’s tentatively calling “The Road to Everywhere,” Meyer said he’s not sure what to do next.
Travel is in his blood, but he’d be happy to see the world as part of a touring classical singing ensemble. More than anything, he’s looking forward to giving up his lonely life as a solo traveler.
“You can stare at the most beautiful sunset in the world but it doesn’t mean much without someone to share it with,” he said. “People are vastly more important than places. I look forward to the day when I can have a second date.”
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