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and headed north. He listened to <strong>the</strong> radio. Ronald Reagan was president; <strong>the</strong> Chernobyl nuclear disaster had<br />
just occurred.<br />
Someth<strong>in</strong>g happened to Chris on that drive, <strong>the</strong> first and only road trip of his life. He headed north,<br />
through Georgia and <strong>the</strong> Carol<strong>in</strong>as and Virg<strong>in</strong>ia, blessed with <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>v<strong>in</strong>cibility of youth, buzzed by “<strong>the</strong><br />
pleasure of driv<strong>in</strong>g,” and an idea grew <strong>in</strong>to a realization, <strong>the</strong>n solidified <strong>in</strong>to a resolve. All his life, he’d been<br />
comfortable be<strong>in</strong>g alone. Interact<strong>in</strong>g with o<strong>the</strong>rs was so often frustrat<strong>in</strong>g. Every meet<strong>in</strong>g with ano<strong>the</strong>r<br />
person seemed like a collision. As he drove, perhaps he felt with<strong>in</strong> himself some rumbl<strong>in</strong>gs of fear and<br />
thrill, as if at <strong>the</strong> precipice of a radical leap.<br />
He cont<strong>in</strong>ued all <strong>the</strong> way back to Ma<strong>in</strong>e. <strong>The</strong>re aren’t many roads <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> center of <strong>the</strong> state, and he chose<br />
<strong>the</strong> one that went right by his house. It wasn’t a co<strong>in</strong>cidence. “I th<strong>in</strong>k it was just to have one last look around,<br />
to say good-bye.” He didn’t stop. <strong>The</strong> last time he saw his family home was through <strong>the</strong> w<strong>in</strong>dshield of <strong>the</strong><br />
Brat.<br />
He kept go<strong>in</strong>g, “up and up and up.” Soon he reached <strong>the</strong> shore of Moosehead Lake, <strong>the</strong> largest lake <strong>in</strong><br />
Ma<strong>in</strong>e, where <strong>the</strong> state beg<strong>in</strong>s to get truly remote. “I drove until I was nearly out of gas. I took a small road.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n a small road off that small road. <strong>The</strong>n a trail off that.” He went as far <strong>in</strong>to wilderness as his vehicle<br />
could take him.<br />
He parked <strong>the</strong> car and put <strong>the</strong> keys on <strong>the</strong> center console. He had a tent and a backpack but no compass,<br />
no map. Without know<strong>in</strong>g where he was go<strong>in</strong>g, with no particular place <strong>in</strong> m<strong>in</strong>d, he stepped <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong> trees<br />
and walked away.