The term “Adventurer” provokes a particular image tied to a specific kind of lifestyle. It’s the job of the explorers of the past who sought out new, exciting lands for wealth and wonder.
Or it evokes the old century pathfinders who explored ancient ruins and discovered proof of lost civilizations.
The idea of an Adventurer in our world seems to be more and more of a lost profession, something like a cross between a scientist and a field reporter. But there are adventures even in the modern-day.
Chris McCandless was a self-labeled “Adventurer,” a man who spent his later years living nowhere and exploring the unbeaten pathways through the American roadways.
His short but highly punctuated life made it clear the many benefits and dangers of self-propelled solo exploration. He had no real reason for it.
He wasn’t seeking treasure or old artifacts or a hidden ancient ghost town from the old west expansion. He was just a man without roots, led to wander until he couldn’t walk any further and died on an Adventure of his own.
10 /10 Western Born
Christopher was born in El Segundo, California, to Walter McCandless and Wilhelmina Johnson. Along with his sister Carine, they were part of their father’s evil and alcohol-fueled double life.
They were his illegitimate children at the time, and their mother “Billie” was his secretary. He had six children with another woman, all of whom were Christopher’s half-siblings, which he didn’t meet for many years.
9 /10 Two Families, Still No Home
Chris grew up in this broken atmosphere and suffered abuse at the hand of his father, who would go from being an attentive fly-by-night dad to an abusive, angry drunk that would strike his children well into their teens.
Their mother Billie tended to be non-committal and flippant, often disregarding their trauma or siding with the father in his outbursts.
Eventually, Walt left his first family to be with Chris, and they moved out to Virginia, across the country, thereby distancing Chris from the life he used to know.