The sunlight from the dawning sun peeked over the horizon, blessing the land below with its glorious rays and telling all touched by it that a new day has come. And yet, Marcel could only feel regret as he stood in front of his house with his bicycle, watching that orange orb float up into the atmosphere.
 
His father, whom he had moved in with not too long before, was still asleep, and would be for another hour at the least. He had no clue what his only son was contemplating.
 
For Marcel, it had been nothing but a downward slope since he had graduated from college. The economy had continued to be at its lowest point in decades, so even with a degree, finding a job had proven to be a difficult endeavor. The money he had leftover from financial aid had nearly depleted, and he couldn’t even afford a hamburger at the local fast food joint. The plans that he had wanted to put into motion - a career, his own apartment, finding a relationship, and making a decent living – had all blown up in his face. Meanwhile, everyone else he knew was miraculously experiencing success in these troublesome times, and fulfilling their own dreams and desires.
 
It’s not that he hadn’t been trying, as he had been sending e-mails, resumes, and applications anywhere and everywhere. Yet not a single business he applied to, not a single office job he looked at, and not even a single restaurant, high and low profile, would accept him. Everything he tried fell through, and he was now completely out of options.
 
That is why he is standing in front of his house, at the crack of dawn, next to his bike, and with a sizable duffle bag slung over his shoulder.
 
Marcel had never traveled much outside of his own city. He wanted to be able to see the world, explore the cities, and see the sights. He wanted to do all of this when he had amassed a sizeable amount of money to support such a trip. Now that he didn’t have those funds, he has decided that he was going to do it the way the early settlers did; no planes, no cars, just themselves and the open road. If he was going to be able to see the world as he had planned, then he would have to do it with nothing but a small number of provisions, and his bike.
 
He would travel across the entire state of California, from SoCal to NorCal, from Orange County to the border to Oregon, and everywhere in between. The road would be his only traveling companion, his bunkmate, and his friend. Marcel planned to take whatever odd jobs he could find along the way to help finance his journey. He didn’t care if he ended up dying in a ditch somewhere. He’d rather expire in an unknown part of the country that he had been exploring, than waste away in his father’s home, leeching off of his family’s support.
 
Marcel’s father wasn’t a bad person. In fact, Marcel loved his father, and he is especially grateful that he allowed him to move in with him while he was facing financial difficulties. But he couldn’t bear to tell him that he had been contemplating such plans, much less the fact that he was about to carry them out. No doubt everyone would be worried about him. Marcel’s father would call his cell phone sometime after he had realized he was no longer in his room. That will be the time when he would explain everything. It would have been too hard to go through with it in person, as silly things such as emotions would end up getting in the way. He could only hope that his family would understand, and not come searching for him, though he admitted to himself that the chances of that happening were slim.
 
The sun was finally coming up over the neighborhood houses. It was time.
 
Taking one last look around, he propped himself onto his bike, making sure his bag was securely strapped across him. One foot was placed onto the pedal, then the other. And just like that, he rode off into the great unknown. What awaited him on his journey of self-discovery?