we're on this roadtrip traveling across the country, speaking to people we find inspiring and who we think have a really great story to share about how they followed their passions and are able to do what they love. (male #1) i'm on this trip to awaken myselfd find a fo. (female #2) i'm nervous about taking a step into the unknown. (female #1) i'm scared to fail and put myself out there. (lo) my favorite phrase when was your age s "all i have to do is redefine succe" (female announcer) state farm has made it possible for this documentary series to be shared on public television stations across the country. roadtrip nation would like to sincerely thank our friends at state farm for helping a nation of young people define their own roads in life. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. (male announcer) roadtrip nation would also like to thank the college board for supporting this series.

the college board: connect to college success. (male announcer) roadtrip nation is also made possible by at&t: helping connect students to success in school, in the workforce, and in life. (female narrator) everywhere you turn, people try to tell you who to be and what to do. but what about deciding for yourself? roadtrip nation is a movement that empowers people to define their own roads in life. this past summer, teams of roadtrippers crossed the country hoping to gain insight into their lives. on the road, they met all kinds of interesting people to learn how they found their way. this is roadtrip nation. [laughter] (tina) this morning i was woken up by the laughter of vanessa and calvin, which was nice.

then i realized i wasn't in my room back at home, i was in an rv. i'm really excited. [laughs] i feel like i couldn't have been put with two better people. we're just really open to whatever experience gets thrown at us. (calvin) does it smell weird in here? (tina) that's what i thought. it's chili, right? it's like a chili, like-- (calvin) i thought it smelled like...poopie. it's pretty strong. (calvin) we got to experience dumping our waste. and it smelled horrible. i describe the smell as when you muck a barn, which is when you shovel out all of the manure that's accumulated in the barn over the winter or the season. voila.

♪ (vanessa) that one's coming out. he's going for it! [disappointedly] aw. (vanessa) probably what's pushed me the most out of my comfort zone on this trip is driving. it's seriously the hardest thing for me. stay calm, it's okay. (vanessa) since this trip is all about blocking out that noise, part of my personal noise is telling myself i can't do something. ♪ (calvin) san francisco here we come,

san francisco here we come. (calvin) well, our next interview is with aleks zavaleta. she's the executive director of loco bloco. (calvin) i was introduced to this program when i was in guatemala traveling. they traveled high schoolers all the way from san francisco to guatemala to perform. i loved their project. they work mostly with minorities and empowerment. (aleks) i'm here from this neighborhood. we grew up down the block. my mom moved and tried to take me out of the neighborhood 'cause the gangs were getting crazy. i ended up coming back and i got jumped into a gang and kind of did the whole street life. not coming home for a couple months at a time... fighting, drugs, alcohol. all that kind of stuff. all the crazy stuff. i never graduated middle school and i never went to high school.

because in school i feel like, especially before college, you're not being taught the things that you should be as far the world and humanity, and how the world functions, and how we should treat each other. we just get taught european culture, right? that's not my culture; that's not what i identify with. (aleks) when my mom came here-- i was born here but i didn't speak english for the first couple years of my life. and you get to school and don't know english. it's...they're mean. it's crazy. i was really lost. i was borderline. i was either going to end up pregnant or in jail or dead, or i was going to be able to change my life. all my sisters were in loco bloco. my sister, one day, she begged me and begged me. she goes, "come to this photography class they're having for the summer." and i'm like, "alright." i started with the photography class, and then went to a cooking class. then it went to the drum class, and then it was like, "okay, why don't you perform?"

then it was a theater class, then it was this class and-- next thing you know i didn't have time. i was so happy with what i was doing that i didn't have time to be miserable on the street, or miserable drinking, or miserable going in a downward spiral. like, i had purpose. ♪ drumming (aleks) they made me feel me being there was very significant, that if i wasn't here it was going to be different. you know, you see a little kid who's really off the hook and not listening and you're like, "wow, you're amazing. that's great." and they're like, "give me more, give me more." that's what i got with loco bloco. they filtered that energy that was very strong and put it into something positive. that group changed my life. after i started traveling with them, the first couple times, i started traveling on my own. at 18, 19, i was going to cuba by myself, i was going here by myself, i was going to hawaii. and something i never thought i would ever do on my own. i would just hustle, hustle, hustle...

save money, and bounce for two weeks. it was just like, they opened these different possibilities in your life. when i realized the power of elders organizing young people and giving them the tools to organize, and that i wanted to do that. i told myself at that age that one day i want to be the executive director. ♪ drumming at 25 i became the executive director, and i was just on cloud nine. then the reality hit me, like, "okay, this is a lot of work." [laughter] (aleks) so now, three years later, i feel proud of myself. even though i didn't finish school because i was trying to be a little off the hook kid, i've accomplished something good. but i didn't learn how to read and write. i didn't learn how to do things that i needed to. i struggle to this day, and this is why i push school to the kids. i say, "do what you gotta do so when you're ready to do what you want, you're able to."

because i struggle here. i have to write reports. i have to write grants. i have to work with the development director, and i struggle every day to get up and to write, especially with english as my second language-- i struggle. so i always use that experience and give that to the kids because i'm like, "you have to go to school. i know what you mean when "you say you don't want to deal with school. "but you gotta go to school. ready to go to college, you can learn whatever you want." if there's one thing i've regretted in my whole life it's not finishing school. (calvin) thank you so much. i really appreciate everything you guys do. (tina) it's so easy to fall through the cracks. she was still in the same community. it wasn't like she moved away. she had the same social circle, the same community, but still had the courage to transcend that and go to a place that gave her a more positive and fulfilling state. so i was incredibly impressed by her. bye! ♪

(calvin) that's the golden gate bridge ahead of us. [excitedly] oh my god! it's just so well known and it's so much a part of america. and we're driving over it right now. that's really special. ♪ ancient secrets hidden somewhere underground ♪ ♪ where they're never to be found ♪ [laughter] (calvin) can you reach? (vanessa) yeah i can reach! oop... [laughs] ♪

we're gonna go see jay shafer, who created tumbleweed tiny houses. (vanessa) they're very eco-conscious, which is a really good mix and something i'd want to incorporate with what i do in the future. (vanessa) tumbleweed! hey, i'm jay. i'm calvin. great meeting you. (jay) good to meet you, you guys wanna come on in? (jay) i've been living in this house for almost ten years now. not this house particularly, but houses of this size and smaller. i call it the great room out there, but it's the main room, in any case. if you wanna stick your heads up there. (tina) how beautiful. oh, how great. (vanessa) i graduated last year with a bachelor's in fine arts, painting.

but i have a lot of interests and i keep myself from pursuing any of them 'cause i'm scared of those obstacles, so i don't even try. so, i was just wondering: where were you when you were our age? like 21, 22, 23? around 21, 22, 23, i was terrified, driving out to new york city to go to grad school. i got my master's in fine arts, painting. and then i went straight into working in a health foods store as a grocery clerk for ten years after grad school. so, there was an intermission of sorts, but that's where i collected my thoughts. and i did a little of the fine arts thing-- the gallery, artsy-fartsy side of the art thing. it felt like i was wasting my potential to some degree, and i think that that's good. that's a good gnawing feeling to have,

and to follow that feeling. i had already, even in my arts, started slipping towards more architectural work. like, kind of shrine-like things. and you can only store so many chunks of sculpture before you start realizing you're running out of storage space. so i started building houses, designing and building houses, specifically my own house. (vanessa) when you decided to enter more of being an architect and designing these houses, how was that step for you? i'm so glad you asked that because i'd like to make the point that i don't think that this stuff came naturally to me. i think that talent gets overrated in our culture. even though i got a c in my high school architecture class, and never took another architecture class after that, i really love doing architecture. so i just started doing it at home,

almost secretly, like closeted architecture. and it didn't seem very productive because i would hide these designs away in a drawer for years. but that's what i loved to do. and through the passion, not through the talent, i came to design houses that actually worked. and then there seemed to be a lot of interest in the idea once i built my house. like, people were just fascinated by the idea of living simply. because in this culture it's hard to do that. (calvin) do you think it's a common dream for a lot of people? i think it's common for a lot of people. you know...tree houses, boat houses, tiny houses...all symbolize a simple existence. i think that's something that appeals to a lot of people. and i think there's a good reason for that. once you put aside all the mortgage stuff, you can focus on the things you truly love to do in life, your life, of course, changes.

my life has just been totally liberated. it's opened up the possibilities and it's focused my mind on what i love to do, because i don't have to focus on everything else. and yet, i can do pretty much anything i want now. (jay) "know what you need to be happy and get rid of the rest." it's always served me well. [laughter] (calvin) bye! [horn honking] ♪ (calvin) i don't think i've ever experienced that idea of, "i can't believe i'm here." when that question comes up it's when i'm on the road, when i can look outside and see

those things i never knew existed before. like rolling hills and land that goes forever. when i have that space to see what i never knew existed, that's when it hits me: "how did you get here?" ♪ ♪ (tina) both my parents were born in ethiopia but they both decided to kind of take a more conventional approach to living here. they truly believe they're living the american dream. they're very happy with what they have. but it's kind of shocking to them that i don't want what they have. i want to talk to people who are doing jobs that my parents would think are, like,

"they're just lucky", or stuff like that. i really want to go see for myself. (tina) today we're talking with lori pappas. she is a former businesswoman in the computer industry, and now she is working for an aid organization in ethiopia. (calvin) this is beautiful. (lori) thanks, well it's a little different than my home in ethiopia. (lori) women in my generation were supposed to be teachers, or work in the office, or not work. so i worked in an office, and every place i worked i'd end up computerizing. now, what that meant-- my first type of computerizing was service bureau, and then it was timeshare. and then i at one point sold great big mainframe computers, and ended up starting a company in manufacturing, because manufacturing was very, very difficult, and i liked really difficult things.

but i always, always knew that i was meant to do something to help other people. but frankly, i was such a workaholic. i was working 80 hours a week. i wasn't thinking a lot about a lot of other things. so i spent the first fifty years of my life helping myself and my family, and then i spent five years trying to be retired and failing, and now i'm doing what i really love doing. (calvin) what was it like when suddenly you were retired, and you said you failed at retirement? well, what happened is, i worked really hard, sold the business at the right time, when the tech stocks were high. so i tried volunteer work. i tried to learn to golf. we did a lot of travel. i'd been to africa

a number of times. i was in niger and there was a little girl that came up to me with flies on her face. and my little granddaughter was about her age, and i just felt that's intolerable. for one thing that could have been my granddaughter. because we did nothing to be born here. we did nothing to have these opportunities, to have the ability to go to school, any of that. it was just our birthright by being americans. and these little girls sitting there with flies on their faces, they did nothing to deserve a life where they didn't have water to drink, or food to eat, or hygiene or anything. how could i not do something? the decision was made right then. (television narrator) west ethiopia is a harsh and arid land, stony and infertile. (lori) where we work there's no electricity, no running water. everybody has ascaris, which is roundworm,

which is what causes those big tummies. and we have epidemic levels of trachoma, which is the one thing that really is just despicable to me. trachoma is a disease of the eye, spread by the flies that i saw on that little girl. it causes unnecessary blindness, and all we need to do is teach hygiene. and you can practice hygiene using sand and ashes, just like you can with water. see, i started this work by doing a two and a half month needs analysis, living in a tent with these people. and in doing that, they taught me to be, versus just be a doer. because here they're terribly poor. they don't have much to eat. they don't have anything, really, by our standards. but they have a wonderful sense of being. they're incredibly hospitable. they're very kind, very loving. so they gave me a huge gift. and i started thinking, what would one do?

what could one do to make it sustainable? to really go in and help people learn to help themselves? and i ended up starting my organization, an international charity. i really took the lessons that i had learned from growing a software company, and have applied it now into development work. so that first fifty years of my life was really all preparation for this half. (tina) and what was it like-- this huge transition from turning around companies and living your life here in the states to devoting your life, basically, to a completely different continent and a completely different set of variables? what was that like, deciding to do that? totally freeing. it was like shackles had come off of me. it was like, "oh my god, i'm the luckiest person in the world." here i'm able to use these skills i've developed

and really apply them where it makes life and death difference to people. (vanessa) what's the hardest thing about what you do? coming back to america. going to dinner with people that just really are stressed out because of their golf game, or because they can't decide which million dollar home to live in because one of them didn't sell. but i think i had to experience the traditional "american dream." you know, i started my business when i was a single mom with two little kids, on like $3,000. and now, this last half, i think that i have the opportunity to live what i think should be the american dream. and what i think should be the american dream is that we use these resources, we use these talents, to help those that didn't get that. one of the questions i have, 'cause i'm so scared of starting my own, like...anything, really.

were you ever scared of failure or were you someone who had an optimistic spirit about your business or yourself? you know, my favorite phrase when i was your age, and for the next twenty years, was "all i have to do is redefine success." all i have to do is redefine success. it's not that i fail, it's just that maybe i made a mistake in how i define success. (tina) she lived the american dream as an american, and that is the same dream that my parents came to this country for. it really highlighted to me-- really everyone is different. she was born in america and she found happiness in a tent in ethiopia. for my parents, who were born in ethiopia, they needed to go across the globe to find happiness in america. (lori) really what it's about is stepping beyond fear and embracing the new. that's what gives you joy.

it doesn't do you any good to sit around and say, "oh, that's too bad." no, it's really your job to get there. you know, i can share my story, but it's not my job. it's your job. (lori) thank you. (lori) thank you, good luck to you. (vanessa) i'll be talking to you. (lori) step beyond that fear. (lori) okay, thank you. (calvin) thank you so much. (lori) you've got a lot going on up there. (tina) she instilled in us this call to arms. we can't turn back now. we have to take this information we've been getting from these interviews and take it to the nth level, and really explore our potential. ♪ (male announcer) roadtrip nation extends beyond the program you just watched. it's a movement that empowers others to create their own roadtrip experiences.

here's a quick snapshot into that movement. day one: massive ec summer journey road tr. from roadtrip nation: enjoy this experience and take in as much as possible. (stirling) did you always know it was music for you? i never thought i was going to be a dj at first. (stirling) look who we found! the roadtrip nation crew. [cheering] yaaay! the green rv. we saw it and made them stop. (calvin) so is your trip based around music? (stirling and denell) yeah. (male #2) i welcome you ladies to the applegate lodge. this is where we do our indoor concerts. if you live on expectations and they come true, you're not truly thankful. but if you're a dreamer and your dreams come true, you're truly thankful. (stirling) being in so many new and unexpected places... it's really enlightening in getting to know oneself. i just can't wait to see what the next few weeks have in store. (calvin) every time i'm sitting

in the driver's seat, i think "what do you want?" and i don't know but i keep going forward. (heather) you never know where you're going to go, or what you're going to do. your life just keeps getting taken in these different directions. (grant) i had no idea what was in store for me. i had a highway map and $500, and a pack full of food. i was really facing my fear. (female announcer) to watch more interviews from the road and listen to the music that keeps us driving, visit www.roadtripnation.com. online you can learn more about the movement and how to bring the experience into your classroom.

(female announcer) state farm has made it possible for this documentary series to be shared on public television stations across the country. roadtrip nation would like to sincerely thank our friends at state farm for helping a nation of young people define their own roads in life. like a good neighbor, state farm is there. (male announcer) roadtrip nation would also like to thank the college board for supporting this series. the college board: connect to college success. (male announcer) roadtrip nation is also made possible by at&t: helping connect students to success in school, in the workforce, and in life.