Riding a dream from sea to sea

Andrew Fu had a dream. He wanted to explore all 48 continental states.

To do so, he quit his high-paying software engineering job, sold all his possessions and set out across America from California.

Three months and 10,000 miles later, he made a stop in Manassas on Tuesday.

"I wanted to cut back the clutter in my life. This trip will show that only the bare necessities are needed to sustain myself and discover that the best things in life are free," said the 25-year-old Milpitas, Calif., na-tive.

In the current economic crisis, where people are struggling to keep their jobs or desperate to find one, most people would think that what Fu is doing is risky; but to Fu, he is truly "seizing the day."

Fu has lived out of his Honda Element SUV, eating meager meals of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and canned beans and fruit, and going wherever the road takes him.

While most of his trip has been filled with exciting and unique experiences, his journey from Huntington, W.Va., to his planned stop in Manassas turned out to be rather disastrous.

While on Interstate 79 near Gassaway, W.Va., he ran off the road, overcompensated to get back on and lost control. He flipped and rolled his car several times, totaling it. Luckily he escaped with only a sprained wrist and several bruises and bumps. He is now in the process of buying another car before continuing his odyssey.

So far he has traveled through 21 states on his way to the planned 48.

He has never had to pay for lodging, sleeping in his SUV or being welcomed by strangers to spend a night with them. He spent five days in Kansas on a farm and four days in a firehouse in Huntington.

Fu said each day of his trip thus far has been unique. His experiences go beyond the typical road trip escapades. In New Orleans, for example, he became a street musician for a day.

When he was in Little Rock he passed by a "Light the Night" walk hosted by the Leukemia and Lym-phoma Society, and decided to start fundraising two hours before the event started. Within the hour, he had raised his portion from perfect strangers. He went rock climbing along the New River Gorge in West Virginia with a few expert climbers from Pennsylvania who were generous enough to let him use their climbing equipment.

Fu has no set schedule.

"If I find something special in a place—such as Zion National Park in Utah—I stay for a couple of extra days to take in all of the beauty of the land," he said.

Fu insists that leaving his job was a tough decision. "Leaving your comfort zone is never an easy thing," he said. "I understand that not everyone has the opportunity to do what I am do-ing."

To help others at least get a sense of his experiences, Fu has set up a live-feed on his Web site so that visitors can see pictures and track his road progress in real time. In addition, he keeps a log about his journey. "I hope my travels inspire others to follow their own dreams," he said.

At the end of his four-month journey,  Fu will enroll in business graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a program surrounded by those pursing their dreams of entrepreneurial success.

For Fu, however, his dream will have achieved—exploring and experiencing America in a way that few people can begin to fathom.

In the meantime, he still has 27 states to visit—mostly in the Eastern United States.

"I know none of them will be as big as Texas, where it seems like I drove forever to cross the state," he said. He expects to travel an additional 15,000 miles before completing his journey. His major expense has been gasoline.

How did his parents, Patrick and Barbara Fu of Riverside, Calif., feel about their son and his dream to leave the security of his job and make the trip ?

"They were a little hesitant at first, but seeing how much I was enjoying myself, they felt blessed," he said. He assures them he uses caution and "common sense" when picking a spot to park for the night.

Fu has experienced the vast differences in the makeup of the country—from the bare and tree-less Rocky Mountains of the west to the vast, lush forests that paint the landscape of the rolling Appalachian and Allegheny mountains of West Virginia. He has also had the opportunity to interact with different cultures—musicians, blue collar workers, farmers, firefighters and homeless in his travels.

"The different experiences help me get out of my comfort zone and see things from another perspective. It's been a great journey," he concluded.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.