What Makes Us Go: Retracing America’s First Road Trip

Speaker A: Welcome to Steel Stories by US Steel. In this podcast, we go beyond the headlines, bringing you insights, ideas and stories shaping how steel is made, used, and reimagined. Through conversations with industry leaders and innovators, we explore what it takes to keep forging the future of America.

Speaker B: M welcome to Steel Stories by US Steel. I am your host, Bernie Swanson. I am the general manager of our engineering team here at the Automotive center in Troy, Michigan. I'm hosting a special episode today that takes us outside of the mill and onto the open road. Last year, we launched a docu series called what Makes Us Go that. You can find the episodes at uss across the usa.com the series retraces a cross country journey first taken more than a century ago. In 1903, Dr. Horatio Jackson and his mechanic, Sewell Crocker drove from San Francisco to New York City at a time when the roads were rough, vehicles were very experimental, and America was still learning how to move safely. And they did it with their companion, a, uh, bulldog. Revisiting that journey today matters because we're asking the same fundamental questions. How do we travel safely? What do we rely on without thinking? And what enables progress? Today, we'll be joined by Court and Nate, who are modern van life travelers who live on the road. And they too have a canine companion, Tompkins. So, Kate, Courtney, welcome to the show. Welcome to Steel Stories. I'm glad you're here. Tell us a little bit about yourselves before we get started here.

Speaker C: Yeah. So I'm Courtney and, uh, we are based in California. I'm from Northern California. Nate's from Southern California. We met doing valet parking at a restaurant. Actually, we both did that for quite a while.

Speaker D: Ten years, probably both of us. Right?

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: And that's how we met. And I became her boss for a little bit there. But after we've moved in, lived together for a while, we decided to do van life. We bought this van's Ram Promaster and we decided to build it out to travel in it and actually live in it.

Speaker C: Mm.

Speaker B: Okay. So let's just jump into it. Tell me about van life. What is van life? How did you get interested in it and why?

Speaker C: Yeah, so van life is basically what it sounds like, just living your life out of a van. There's lots of different vans you can live in, so it doesn't have to be like ours. It could be smaller, it could be bigger. And I think for us, we were just looking for a, uh, different way of life.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: Ah, definitely gave us a lot of freedom, like financially for sure. I Mean, we stopped paying rent. We took a loan out for the van, but it was easy to keep up with that. And, yeah, uh, it just gave us freedom to travel.

Speaker B: Was there one of you that had the idea first or how did it all come up?

Speaker D: We'd seen some other people doing it, and we love to travel anyway, so that was kind of a, uh, something to get us in the door. And we were just kicking around ideas, and it seemed pretty crazy at the time to just move right into a van, but we just made it happen. And, I mean, we were both on

Speaker C: board with it from the start, I'd say.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker D: Okay.

Speaker B: So how many years now have you guys been doing van life?

Speaker C: It's been about seven years now.

Speaker B: Oh, wow. Wow. And as far as traveling around, how much traveling around have you done? Are you basically indigenous to one area?

Speaker C: Everyone does van life differently. There's no one right way to do it. We had stationary jobs, so we couldn't just go off the grid and travel indefinitely. Like, I think there's this idea that that's just what van life is about, driving away and never coming back. And we wanted an in between to where we could keep our jobs that we had to go to, but still had a little bit more financial freedom on our days off to go places. And we started mainly based out of Orange county, and so we would just on the weekends go on local trips, or when we had the day off, we'd go all up the coast of California and to Joshua Tree and just places more local on our days off. And then in 2020, when we got laid off, we built different careers from there. Social media and Nate started building vans, and that gave us more opportunity to travel more places, and we started to be able to go more out west. So we've done pretty much all of the west.

Speaker B: Wow. Uh, that's amazing. So seven years, right? So you would say you guys are. You have mastered this van life. Do you feel that that's where you're at? Like, you're a mastery of it?

Speaker C: There's always more to learn, I would say. But we've had a lot of different types of experiences, whether it be traveling, whether it be staying around, working different types of vans. For the first eight months that we lived in the van, we didn't have any of the amenities that we do now. So it was very bare bones. It was really just an empty cargo van when we first moved in. So that gave us a lot of perspective and, yeah, just a lot of different life seasons. I would say we've been through since we started in terms of finances and everything. So yeah, we have a pretty well rounded experience on the whole thing, I'd say.

Speaker B: Right, right. So when somebody comes to you and says, okay, hey, we want to retrace a 1903 road trip and talk about steel, what are you guys thinking?

Speaker D: I thought it was really interesting. I kind of laughed at the beginning. I was like, why would they pick us? That's kind of a wild notion to like just up and go across the country, have somebody follow us, do the whole thing. And it was definitely a big surprise.

Speaker C: Yeah, I think at uh, first we were like, how is it really relevant to us? And then we certainly learned very quickly like how it is very relevant to us, especially not just the road trip portion of it, but learning about steel deal and how it really is a big part of why we can do what we can do and something we certainly had overlooked before we got this opportunity. So we definitely learned very quickly that it was super relevant to us. And being able to retrace the first road trip that felt very in alignment. Because road tripping, that's kind of what we do. So getting to do that, the first cross country road trip, like that's pretty cool. And yeah, it was really cool to be able to showcase that.

Speaker B: So this was your first cross country road trip?

Speaker C: Yeah.

Speaker B: So it starts in California, you move on to Wyoming, you go to Iowa, then over to Chicago, then my favorite place on your stop, Detroit, come to the Motor City here and then you end up in New York City and you do this tracing Jackson and Crockery. And when you think about 1903, this is two years after USD was formed in 1901. Right. So we're talking 1903, the route that you're going to go on, there's less than 200 miles of paved road. You're going to travel 3,800 total miles. Right. So 1903, less than 200 miles of paved road. You're going to travel 3, 800 miles. Now you're going to do this thing today. Did following their route change how you thought about modern travel?

Speaker C: Yeah, well, learning about what the conditions were like back then, it's hard to even fathom how they even did that because we like to reflect on how challenging it is to live this lifestyle. The small space, finding places to park and keeping up with the day to day in the van. But when you realize what was possible back then and what they did to make it across the country, it really puts things into perspective.

Speaker D: Yeah, I mean it's fun to go off and explore and find those back roads, especially when you're looking for places to camp. But like traveling cross country is like unimaginable in that same sense to where it's. There's no highways established really. I mean there's dirt roads, but getting across rivers and so many different types of landscapes without infrastructure is just pretty mind boggling, honestly.

Speaker C: But yeah, we feel inconvenienced when we have to go down a 10 mile dirt road and it's washboards and potholes and it's a whole thing. But these guys, that's pretty much all they did. So yeah, it's definitely humbling.

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. And when you think about what you guys are worried about on your trip versus what they were worried about on their trip, probably significantly different. Right. Like you're like, okay, I gotta find a place to stop, a place to hook up. Right. These guys are just wondering if when they go through this patch of a two track, is there going to be a big log in the road? Right. Is there going to be some event that it just completely stops them and they got to completely retrack which direction that they're headed? Pretty amazing, right?

Speaker C: Yeah. I mean nowadays you just go online and figure out exactly what's going to happen and what it's going to look like and where you're going to go. And I can imagine that it would be equally as thrilling, as terrifying to not have any idea of what's ahead. But I feel like that probably made it that much more rewarding for them to make it. But yeah, for us it's like we know exactly where we're going. We plan the whole thing out and it makes it a lot easier.

Speaker B: And I was doing a little bit of research. So basically 1903, there's no suspension on this vehicle, there's no refrigeration. Right. This is an open air car, doesn't have a windshield. Right. There's no gps. Obviously. If these folks were here today and you could give them a modern technology, what would you give them to do this trek?

Speaker C: I would say more shelter.

Speaker D: I think I was going to say the basics. I mean having a windshield would be uh, pretty nice. Especially experiencing the weather and everything like that. And obviously pulling over somewhere to camp is one thing, finding shelter that way, but actually traveling cross country, doing the drive like shelter is definitely necessity.

Speaker B: Yeah, I completely agree. That had to be brutal. Goggles. Right. Scarf. To get there. So let's talk a little bit about the trip. What was your most memorable stop?

Speaker C: Well, I mean, I kind of have two, I would say, going through Iowa and going to the world's largest truck stop. I thought that was really cool. Just as Van Lifers, we go to a lot of different places, and it was very cool to be somewhere that really accommodates the traveler. And you just felt right at home because sometimes it's hard to find places where you feel you're wanted when you're traveling. There aren't always places that accommodate people like us. And so it felt really nice to be somewhere that that's what it's there for. So that was a highlight for me. And then New York, just going to the city.

Speaker D: I would say, yeah, New York was real nice, for sure. And like, I think for me, just interacting with the people and stuff on our route and, and at, uh, the stops, like meeting you guys in Detroit and checking all that stuff out there and just kind of those interactions. And I guess maybe in Chicago too, or outside Chicago, we met with the Bombers at the car club there. And just talking with them, checking out their passion and the families, talking to them, it was just a nice experience on our trip. Instead of just driving from A to B. Having those personal interactions was really nice.

Speaker B: Okay, so Jackson and Crocker, I know, Nate, you already mentioned this. You guys, you just set out and it's like, wow, there's bridges. Maybe they were there there in 1903, maybe they weren't, right? There's roads. We definitely know they weren't there. There's this big word of infrastructure, right? Buildings, everything that certainly weren't there then that are there now. What resonated with you guys both with respect to just the idea of what you saw versus what those folks may have experienced?

Speaker D: I think for me, like, driving some of those really long stretches without seeing anything, and then coming up on these centers of commerce and whole towns built around, for example, Cheyenne was built around the train depot there. It was interesting to see how things came up back in those days. Built around infrastructure, basically. So you had these wide open spaces, but then you have these big towns that were surrounding those areas of commerce where the roads and the railways would bring travelers. And seeing those kind of stops on the way was. Was interesting for sure.

Speaker B: They say that U.S. steel is the company that built America, right? And, uh, clearly you guys saw, uh, what that means, right? That basically means access, cities, towns, everything, right? Steel is everywhere. It's everywhere that you went. And you could see how, uh, from 1903 until today, it's just we are going faster in life, right? The Distance didn't change, but everything is going faster, and I think that's a good segue. So you show up in Detroit and what do you learn at the automotive center here?

Speaker C: I think it gave us a new appreciation for just all the intricacies of our van. The big cool thing is the build the interior, how we build the cabinets and the kitchen and all of that. And that stuff gets all the praise and recognition. And we don't really think so much about the van itself. And it was really cool to learn about the steel and how it's reinforced in certain areas to make it more safe. And it just gave us a new kind of appreciation for how it's all put together.

Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. And it's kind of like when you go to buy a car you're interested in, hey, uh, is it safe? Right. But safety means maybe a little bit different for everyone. Right now that you've been to the automotive center, what is safety to you?

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, it's. That's really everything to us. Our whole life is in here. Our pets, first and foremost, we're always so concerned about them. And it definitely gives us peace of mind knowing just all the intentionality that goes into making it safe. And it really is. When we close the door, we're in our little world. It feels like we're in our home. It doesn't feel like we're in a vehicle, but it's really everything. Because without the safety of it, we'd be in trouble.

Speaker D: Yeah. Uh, and just traveling with our home and everything, it's like, it's easy to think about seat belts and airbags for safety, but actually, the way that steel is engineered, put together and everything really, like, could save our lives or save our livelihood and our home in here, if we were to run into any kind of trouble on the road, God forbid, a collision or anything like that, we'd have some peace of mind knowing that this is built for safety. So.

Speaker B: And even court, you brought up when you close the door. Right. A, uh, good sounding car. When you close the door, you get a nice thud noise. Right. You don't get the tinny type of noise. And it goes back to, like, you mentioned, Nate, using the right steels and the right parts of the vehicle. And, yeah, it's what keeps, you know, us safe in our cars. So what was different about this trip versus the other trips that you guys have been on?

Speaker C: I think this was the first time we really had a timeline, first of all, and an exact route and destination to get to. Typically, we travel A little slower. We, uh, spend time in each place a little longer with the pets. We usually don't drive more than maybe six hours. So on this one we were definitely driving longer than we normally do and maybe spending a little bit less time in each destination. But there was just so much to see. So we really packed a lot into that short amount of time. And I think we went a lot of places that maybe we wouldn't have thought to go otherwise, which ended up being really cool because we were able to see and discover some of the really cool little hidden gems that we probably wouldn't have otherwise.

Speaker D: Yeah, definitely a lot more to do with the journey. Like we were certainly had our timeline and places to be. But like she said, it's like we wouldn't have really gone through those places. So it kind of opened her eyes to like what is just on the road seemingly just maybe not boring, but you're just traveling across country, nothing there. But you get a little bit more

Speaker C: appreciation for lesser known attractions, I would say.

Speaker B: And also, how did it feel to make this documentary?

Speaker C: It was really cool. We've never done anything like this before.

Speaker D: It was definitely a new experience for us and unique, but it was pretty cool. Like just working with the crew and being a part of a story that we weren't really necessarily narrating on our own. It was something we were learning about on the way and it was a special thing to be a part of outside of our typical thing that we do.

Speaker C: Yeah, we learned a lot from the crew. It was really cool to work with them and have them be leading everything, because that's typically what I feel like I have to do when I'm making content. So it's nice to let them take over and just tell us what to do. And yeah, we learned a lot from them and it was really valuable experience for us too.

Speaker B: So the documentary was called what makes us Go? What does it mean to you now after being a part of this whole experience?

Speaker C: Yeah, I think really we take for granted all the little things that make us go. The van, the roads, the gas stations, the parts, everything that's required. It's 20, 26 and it's really easy to forget that we didn't always have all of these things. So I think that it just gave us more of an appreciation for where we are now. And I think what makes us go really encompasses all of those things.

Speaker D: All, uh, of the people that make things happen, like mechanics, engineers, behind the scenes, before this van is even built, all those things. And then you said like, faster life these days. You're crossing the bridge instead of fording rivers or going all the way around. Like, you can really get places so much faster. And everything's so much more convenient now. That steel has made us, I don't know, just life easier, I guess.

Speaker B: And if Jackson and Crocker were here today, what do you think that they'd say about the van that you have and the trip that you made? What do you think their thoughts would be?

Speaker D: They'd probably think we're softies.

Speaker C: Yeah, I wouldn't blame them for making fun of us, honestly. They're probably like, what do you need with all of that? And that would be fair because it's a lot different than what they had, and they were able to do the exact same trip.

Speaker B: One steel insight that you can give me that will stay with you long after this trip.

Speaker C: I love the sustainability part about it, that it can be recycled over and over again. I think that that's something that's super important nowadays, and it's really nice to be able to have. Have a material you can fully get behind. And we're big sustainability people. So that was something that I really loved.

Speaker D: Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. I mean, there's so many different things. Like, when you look at our van, we have, like, a lot of wood in here and things like that and different parts, plastics, all this different stuff. But just to know that the steel will stick around. I mean, after maybe m we sell this van, or even after then, who

Speaker C: knows what it can turn into after we're done with it? So that's cool to think about.

Speaker B: And how do you guys see van life evolving?

Speaker C: For me, it's made me completely rethink what a home is, because we've been happily living here for the past seven years. Like, this is our home. This is where we live, and it's been completely sustainable for us. And of course, there's different factors that have made it easier and possible for us, but I think that it's only going to continue for the people who want an alternative to traditional housing. And I hope that in the future it can become more widely accepted and there can be more infrastructure and things to make it easier for people who want to live this way. Because I think that, yeah, it's an amazing way to see the country, but it's also an amazing way to live just a little bit more simply.

Speaker B: So, Courtney, thank you so much for joining the show today. Uh, we learned a lot about van life. Uh, we learned a lot about safety, uh, traveling, uh, with respect to, you know, what is it that we rely on without thinking. There are so many things, uh, and we talked about progress. So thank you so much, and I hope you have a great day.

Speaker A: Steel Stories is produced by US Steel. The views expressed by our guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect, reflect those of US Steel. To learn more about, uh, our people, our capabilities, and where Steel is headed next, visit US steel dot com. You can find Steel Stories on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. And be sure to subscribe so you don't miss what's ahead. Thanks for listening.