Well it's taken longer than I thought to get to the rest of the Story of Us, but nothing new there. I tend to get a bid wordy when I'm telling a story, but that's not new either. If you haven't seen the first half, check it out here.
... We picked up right where we left off nearly 2 years before, like no time had passed. But I wasn’t naive enough to believe that Cuan flew half way across the world solely for me. I like to think that I was a deciding factor in that move, but surely there was something else he came back to do. And a few days into our reunion the truth came out. Although Cuan had travelled extensively around the States in 2008, it was his dream to visit Alaska. And if any of you know Cuan at all, you know that he was going to make it happen one way or another.
... We picked up right where we left off nearly 2 years before, like no time had passed. But I wasn’t naive enough to believe that Cuan flew half way across the world solely for me. I like to think that I was a deciding factor in that move, but surely there was something else he came back to do. And a few days into our reunion the truth came out. Although Cuan had travelled extensively around the States in 2008, it was his dream to visit Alaska. And if any of you know Cuan at all, you know that he was going to make it happen one way or another.
But what I did not expect was for him to invite me on this adventure! After some discussion, and a couple glasses of wine, we made a few decisions that kicked off the planning of an epic journey: Alaska. July. Motorcycle. I still had one semester of university left, so I knew that I had to get back to Baton Rouge before the school year began. But to make it official (and so I couldn’t back out), I booked a one-way ticket from Anchorage to Baton Rouge for the beginning of August. So some how, some way, I had to be in Alaska to catch that flight. We would work out the details later.
We spent the next 2 and half months getting to know each other more, finding our mode of transport to the top of the world, and saving every penny we earned through multiple jobs to pay for this trip.
Now I know what some of you may be thinking, where were Diane & David through all of this? They were around.. but I knew better than to drop a bomb like “this cute foreign boy that I met 2 years ago is taking me to Alaska on the back of a motorcycle and I already booked a ticket so you can’t say no.” So I decided to play it clever and slowly introduce them to Cu without revealing too much about our future plans.
But we were rapidly approaching our departure date so time was of the essence. On their second time to ever lay eyes on Cuan, we broke the news. You can imagine with a doctor for a dad and a nurse for a mom, motorcycles weren’t exactly at the top of their list of ways they would like their youngest daughter to travel. I just knew that it wouldn’t go down well, and I had been preparing myself for a long non-approving conversation from both parties.
Shows how much I knew those crazy parents of mine! In two separate conversations, we explained what we were planning and how we had saved up money, so we didn’t need anything from them but their approval. First words out of my mother’s mouth: “Where’s the side-car, I want to come!” and Dad: “I’m jealous that sounds like a great trip.” WHAAAAT? 😱 I had been building this conversion up for so long I was stunned at both of their answers. They clearly had more of an open mind than I expected... but I doubt that they would have let me go with just anyone. I think I have Cu to thank for that.
And with that, we were A for Away!
On July 7th, 2010, we set off on two wheels in the general direction of Alaska, with everything we needed to survive for the next 4 weeks. I was a little nervous, but beyond excited for this journey. I had been watching Cuan travel all over Australia and southeast Asia over the last 2 years, so envious of everything he was getting to experience, and now I was on the other end. Living out this crazy adventure with somebody that for whatever reason I trusted wholeheartedly to get us to our destination safely.
It was during this trip that I discovered the best kinds of vacations are the ones that are not planned. We woke up every morning not knowing where we were going to be sleeping that night, and it was so exhilarating. Again, neither of us owned smartphones so we would look at a real actual, physical MAP - the kind that you hold in your hands and have to figure out the best route for yourself - to work out our route for the day.
I had always wanted to visit California so we headed there. Cuan had been dying to get back to Yellowstone NP so we went back east . And neither of us knew anything about Canada which was absolutely remarkable! Sleeping in a tent only just big enough to fit our blow up mattress (which lasted about a week by the way before it popped), cooking cans of beans on the fire, visiting the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Napa, the Red Wood Forest, it was a non-stop sensory overload.
I put together a little slide show of this trip as well, its a bit long but check it out here if you have some free time!
I put together a little slide show of this trip as well, its a bit long but check it out here if you have some free time!
I know that doesn’t sound like the “ultimate” vacation to a lot of people, but I wouldn’t have changed a thing. It was truly a make or break it trip and we certainly made it. But as they say, all good things must come to an end…
I think I was purposely being naive about our situation. We hadn’t really discussed what was happening, or where “we” were going, and I liked it that way because I knew if there was a next step, it was going to be complicated.
Along our journey, Cuan got a call from his pops, Squirrel. I’m not entirely sure how the conversation went, but I can imagine he very gently reminded Cuan that he was 25 years old and it was time to grow up and come home to help the family businesses. Talk about a reality check. I think Cu knew that his life on the road was coming to an end, he just needed a little push.
When we finally made it to Alaska 30 days and 10,000 miles after we left Baton Rouge, Cu sold the motorcycle to pay for his ticket back to Louisiana. And a few days after our return, he was headed across the pond back to Zimbabwe.
I like to think that I have a pretty sensible brain between my ears, so as much as I wanted to, I didn’t drop everything and chase after him; I had to finish school and get that diploma. So for 5 months we did the long-distance thing.. calling cards and Skype convos whenever we could manage. And it didn’t take long for us to plan when we would next see each other.
When I graduated December 2010, the day before my 23rd Birthday, I had finalized my plans to visit Cuan in Zimbabwe over New Years. Unfortunately, with the amount of time it takes to get there, this meant I had to fly from Dallas on Christmas Day. Something I know Diane wasn’t too pleased with, but Cuan and his sister Kelly had so much in store for us, I had to get there when the trip started.
So off I went, first time missing Christmas Day with my family, first time traveling solo outside the country, to a place I didn’t know, to visit a man whom I had only really known a few months.
My guess is this is when you, as a reader, begin to think (if you hadn’t already), “Is she crazy?" 🤨 Possibly. Quite probably. But I had committed to something and needed to see it through. Not to mention I was SUPER stoked to be going to Africa over New Years! I mean, are you kidding?
After 36 or so hours of traveling, we touched down in Harare. If I was tired I didn’t let my mind believe it, I was just so excited to see Cuan again and meet his family I could have stayed up all night catching up. But we had an early start and a long journey ahead of us so, reluctantly, I went to bed so anxious for the next few weeks.
This first tour of Cuan’s home country could be a blog post in its own, but I’ve written about most of the places in previous posts and I’m DYING to share more recent happenings, so I’m going to give you the highlights of my first days in Zimbabwe.
Cuan and his sister Kelly had been planning this trip for months for a mix of friends and family on a killer vacation around Zim. We spend 3 nights in Vic Falls over the New Year’s festival with parties and live music every night. I got to see a Natural Wonder of the world and bungee jump of the Vic Falls bridge! We then drove back around the whole country to go to, you guessed it - Masau Lodge - where I spent my first days on the mighty Zambezi and left a big piece of me there.
I think that’s when I knew that I loved Zimbabwe. I still had no idea what the next step was for me and Cuan, but I knew it meant me spending a lot more time in Zim, and I was more than okay with that.
So I went back to Louisiana with a full heart, excited to get back and begin a life with Cuan in Africa. And a month or so later, I was back on the plane headed across the pond to be with the love of my life.
If this story was a movie, I’m pretty sure this is when the credits would start rolling. Everything has come full circle and the star-crossed lovers have finally ended up together. But that’s the movies. Reality is a lot more complicated than that...
Watch this space for the final (I promise!) installment of how I ended up as
- The American Zimmigrant
