Some of my favorite memories don’t come from reaching the destination.
They come from everything that happened before I got there.
It’s easy to believe that adventure begins when you arrive at a campsite, reach a mountain summit, or finally park beside a beautiful lake. Social media has conditioned us to celebrate the finish line—the postcard view, the perfectly framed photograph, the destination everyone recognizes.
But the older I get, the more I realize those moments are only part of the story.
The real adventure begins long before that.
Every Mile Has Something to Teach
One of the reasons I started The Open Mile is because I’ve learned that the most meaningful experiences rarely go according to plan.
Sometimes a vehicle decides it wants to test your patience.
Sometimes the weather changes your route.
Sometimes you take a wrong turn and discover a place you never intended to visit.
Sometimes your carefully planned campsite is already occupied, forcing you to explore until you find something even better.
Looking back, those unexpected moments are usually the ones I remember most.
Adventure Isn’t Measured in Distance
For a long time, I believed adventure meant traveling farther.
Longer road trips.
Bigger mountains.
More remote destinations.
Then I realized something.
Some of my favorite weekends happened only a couple of hours from home.
Adventure isn’t measured by miles.
It’s measured by curiosity.
Choosing to take the scenic road.
Stopping to watch a sunset instead of rushing home.
Walking a trail simply because you’ve never walked it before.
Sometimes the open mile starts just beyond your own driveway.
There Is Beauty in Imperfection
Not every trip produces perfect photographs.
Not every campfire lights on the first try.
Not every vehicle behaves exactly as planned.
I’ve photographed an entire trip in JPEG when I meant to shoot RAW.
I’ve chased stubborn check engine lights before heading into the mountains.
I’ve packed gear I never used and forgotten things I needed.
At the time, those moments felt frustrating.
Now they’re some of my favorite stories.
Perfection rarely creates memorable adventures.
Imperfection almost always does.
Slow Down
Modern life constantly pushes us toward the next thing.
The next destination.
The next weekend.
The next upgrade.
The next accomplishment.
Adventure has a way of slowing everything down.
Coffee tastes better when it’s brewed outside.
Conversations last longer around a campfire.
A quiet forest somehow makes everyday worries feel much smaller.
Maybe that’s what we’re really searching for.
Not another destination.
Just a reason to slow down.
Why I Built The Open Mile
The Open Mile isn’t about collecting passport stamps or checking famous destinations off a list.
It’s about discovering the places between those moments.
The unexpected forest road.
The small-town coffee shop.
The overlooked trail.
The quiet campsite that never appears in a travel brochure.
Those places often become the stories worth telling.
The Journey Continues
Every adventure eventually comes to an end.
The tents get packed away.
The vehicles point toward home.
The dust settles.
But the memories don’t stay at the destination.
They travel home with us.
They shape future trips.
They teach new lessons.
They remind us why we leave home in the first place.
Because sometimes the destination is simply an excuse to experience everything that happens along the way.
And that’s why, to me, the journey will always matter more.
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