(male #1) we're traveling the united states this summer getting advice from people we feel to be really influential. (female #1) i don't know how to get into a career when all you have are these mass amounts of interests. (female #2) there's a lot of pressure from my family to do well. (male #1) before i left it was about pleasing other people. (van) a lot of people wait too late to listen to their heart. listen to it while you can because you don't know when your show's going to be over. (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. (female 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. (female #1) right now the trip is this perfect balance of being happy and comfortable,

and then struggling through stuff and being uncomfortable. it's the only time i've had that really good balance. (aaron) before i lef, it was about pleasing other people. as this continues and as we see the next new city, and meet the next interesting person, i'm more skewed towards doing what feels right for me, rather than trying to make everybody happy. ♪ (autumn) [singing "georgia on my mind"] ♪ georgia on my mind (liz) sometimes it feels like you do so much with your day that each day is like four days; you feel like you've done so much.

(aaron) we're going to speak to kyle maynard, who owns no excuses and is a wrestler. (aaron) he does a lot of martial arts, he was a model for abercrombie & fitch... he's got a really impressive story of perseverance. (aaron) hey kyle, how's it going? good to meet you. hi, it's nice to meet you. hi, i'm autumn. nice to meet you. (aaron) we're all 24, right out of college or about to get out of college. where were you at that phase? and how did you get to where you are right now? i'm in the same boat as you guys. i'm 23 and just kind of finding my own path. ♪ (kyle) i started wrestling when i was 11 years old, basically because my dad got me into it. i went out and got my butt kicked by every other middle school kid i went up against, 35 times in a row.

my dad tricked me into coming back and continuing wrestling my seventh grade season, and said he didn't win a match his whole first year. it wasn't until i interviewed him for my book that i found out that had been a blatant lie, but he'd gotten me to stick with it. before i was capable of making decisions for myself, my parents had rooted in me that i needed to find a way to persevere in things that mattered most. whether it was figuring out how to feed myself or clothe myself... day-to-day activities. and then down to athletically: they wouldn't let me quit in the middle of the season. it just went a long way. they taught me not to give up so easily. i really gained confidence and progressed from there. i went to high school, wrestled on the top varsity team, was one match away from becoming a high school all-american myself. [crowd cheering] so with the gym and the path you're headed down now,

do you feel 100% that this is the right track for you? [laughs] not every day. i mean there areome days where i wake up and wonder: is what i'm doing right now going to be the right thing for me long-term? i ha no idea. my biggest complaint with the american system, and just graduating high school, going to college, and getting a job is that the common progression is to prepare you to be an employee...you don't have to. there's avenues to be able to go around and make something happen and build a business around something you love. i feel like that's been a big passion of what i've been able to do with the gym and other projects: i love working out and staying fit and being around people, so why don't i make a business around that? it's tough sometimes but the feedback from people is incredible. i mean, it's a blessing. the most common question i get is:

if i had the chance to meet god and change the way i was born, would i? and i think the honest answer is no. i never would have dreamed that as a middle school, high school wrestler i would've been doing anything other than just going out there to have fun on the mat, not realizing it would have the impact that it may have had on people down the road. "never give up on your dreams. no excuses. -kyle maynard" (liz) thinking of all the things kyle maynard has gone through... the disadvantage he was put at from the very beginning-- i almost feel guilty for not having done more. (kyle) have a safe trip. i'm jealous. have fun, guys. (whole team) thanks! (liz) what's my excuse for not doing that? and you really don't have one. we're going to get autumn to exercise!

if aaron bought me the biggest cinnabon at the cinnabon place in the mall, i said i would do turbo jawith him today for the full time. this is the outside, this is the inside... i ate the thing. (woman in video) a big smile and now you have it. you guys ready to party? (woman in video) now start off small, we just need you warmed up. (autumn) what are we doing? (woman in video) pump, pump, pump, and jab! (autumn) [laughing] i can't watch this! (woman in video) do a tight crunch from side to side. (aaron) this is liz's navigating move. (liz) yeah! (liz) great job guys! (liz) it's nice being away from the pressures of home, because home is a very nice thing, but there's going to be pressure coming from all sides: from friends, family, siblings, whatever.

i think when you're away from those pressures it gives you time to figure out things for yourself. (liz) i have six siblings. in my family there are four girls and three boys. i was the only one in my family to graduate from college, my parents included. so there's a lot of pressure from my family to do well. i got a degree in forensic anthropology and archeology, and a certificate in the forensic studies. it's quite a mouthful. so basically what i'm trained to do is tell you the approximate age, sex, ethnicity, trauma, and stuff that happened to a person before they died. it was a big switch going from premed to anthropology. i got a lot of flak from my family. my parents said i'm not going to make any money with anthropology, but that's what i found really interesting. [phone ringing]

(liz) this is bill bass! hello? hi, dr. bass. how are you? this is the perfect time for bill bass to call her back. (liz) the reason i was calling you earlier is to see if you're still available to meet with us. perfect! did you get the little letter i sent you? (liz) dr. bill bass...he's this forenmany awesome things.nd heo he started this research facility to study human decomposition, which had never been done before. he's just done so many things for the field of anthropology. he's someone i really want to talk to, so i'm really, really nervous. nice to meet you. it's nice to meet you. hi there, i'm aaron. (liz) i ended up taking an anthropology course and found it really interesting, but it wasn't untthey started the forensic aspect that i was just like... you got excited? yeah, i got excited about it. good for you. you're a good girl.

[laughter] ♪ (bill) i was an only child. i grew up in a family-- my mother and father both had college degrees, which is uncommon. i was born in 1928, so i'm 80. my mother was a home economics teacher, and my dad was a geologist. i went to the university of kentucky and got a master's, and met charlie snow. charlie snow was the head of the department; he was a forensic anthropologist. i was in the lab studying osteology...studying bones. and he came in one day and said, "i've got an id case this weekend, would you like to go?" i said, "yeah, sure, i've been reading about this..." so about six months before that, two trucks ran together one morning outside of frankfurt, kentucky. they burned, and when the fire was out there were

three people in the two trucks instead of just the two drivers. well, who was this third individual? we went out and he was able to make a positive vivification of the woman. and it was, "aha! that's what i want to do!" it was like you see in the cartoons, where the light flashes... [making explosion sound] all of the stuff i'd worked on all these years... and we go out...and it's the only case i ever threw up on. from then on i've never thrown up on a case, and there have been gruesome ones. and from that day, in that rural cemetery in eastern kentucky, when the light dawned, i switched everything towards the forensic area, and it's the best move i ever made. i mean, i never had a midlife crisis...i really didn't. i could be sitting here, i'd have a headache, it'd be a friday afternoon... the tennessee bureau would call and say, "we've got a dead body out here on the interstate, we need you to come." and before i got off campus:

adrenaline flowing, headache's gone. there was nothing better than a dead body to make my day. (liz) thank you for saying that! (liz) everyone makes me feel weird for that. [encouragingly] oh...no, no, no! if you know my background a little, you'll know i've lost two wives to cancer. i hate death, i hate mourning, and i hate funerals... i don't like that scene at all! but the interesting thing is: i never see a forensic case as a dead body; i see it as a challenge. do i have the ability to figure out who that individual is, and what happened to them? (liz) how do you personally define success? and do you feel that you've reached the point of success? that's a good question... well, success is not the amount of money you make. i think it's more of an intellectual-- (bill) in all honesty, if you gave me a pile of bones i could sit here all day and really enjoy it. (autumn) liz too...it's like christmas for liz.

(liz) i know, i feel like a kid in a candy store right now. (liz) i know how you feel becaue i could spend hous in the osteology lab studying.... (bill) well you ought to pursue that, really. (liz) thank you so much. i could just sit here and talk to you all day. well i've enjoyed this too. this has been fun. do i have your address? you do, yes. let me have that. okay, let me.... that's my home number. you can call me anytime you want, okay? aw, thank you! wow, i really appreciate that. (liz) it was really cool to be able to talk to someone who knew where i was coming from, because there's a lot of people that think i'm weird for what i like. (liz) after speaking with dr. bass, it made it a real mental possibility,

in that it's not going to be near impossible to go out and work in the mass graves, like i really need and want to do. i think it's going to be difficult to get up and leave the home environment, but i've felt ready to do that for a while. it's a scary notion, but i think this is the change that i need. ♪ (autumn) does anybody want to swim? (liz) you really want me to tell that... "hey, we're sneaking into a pool." (autumn) hey, this is editing room material.

[sneakers squeaking] (liz) shh! (liz) i think my favorite times are when we all have the downtime. when we're hanging out and enjoying a new city. i'm going to miss it! ♪ (autumn) we're at mammoth cave, kentucky! ♪ ♪ [laughter]

♪ ♪ (aaron) we're in cleveland now, and we're on our way to meet with van taylor monroe. (aaron) he was voted one of cleveland's most interesting people, and that's how we found him. he left a really high-paying job because he decided he wanted to paint shoes. hi van, i'm autumn. how are you doing, autumn? good, how are you? (autumn) nice to meet you. this is so cool. (van) i was born an artist. i was painting ever since i was two years old, and i always had art on the side. i've been doing this since 2003...painting tennis shoes.

i've been doing art all my life. ♪ i graduated from college, and knew i wanted to do something with business. i didn't know exactly what i was going to do. my psion wasn't there, but that's where the money was at. i'm thinking, "this is how i pay bills, "i'm gonna have a family... i'll just paint on the side." i went to be a broker, an account executive, for a logistics firm in cincinnati. but it got to the point where i couldn't work because i kept hearing, "i gotta pursue my dream as an artist." by the end of the week, i couldn't do any of my sales calls or follow up with any of my accounts. i was on a large account, and itade it so i had to leave. so i got up and i walked over to my manager and told him what i was going to do. he was like, "you can make $200,000 a year here. how are you going to leave to be an artist?"

i was like, "i don't know, it's my passion. "that's what i'm going to do... just gonna step out on faith and i'm gonna do it" and i left. so when you decided to quit your job as a broker, and tell your family: "i'm done doing this, i'm going to paint." how did you deal with that reaction? (van) i knew people were going to look at me sideways and say, "why did you do that?" because they didn't see my dream, but i never thought it'd get as worse as it got...as bad as it got. so december comes and i was still not able to pay my bills. still wondering, "am i supposed to paint murals?" because i was painting canvas, trying to sell it, and nothing was moving. january comes and i get an eviction notice on my door. i'm like, "i can't go home. i got younger brothers "and cousins who look up to me. i have to make my way out of this," because i wanted to show them that when things got tough i didn't give up. i fought through it. if i was homeless i was going to get back on my feet, and i was going to make this a success story.

and i remember praying, and just looking, like... "i had the perfect job! i was making money... "lord, what happened? you told me to leave and here i am about to be homeless!" so the eviction notice is on my door. this is january of 2008. i'm listening to barack obama's speeches. he's inspiring me, and a lot of things about obama that i was catching onto was the thought that i could achieve what i put my mind onto, no matter how hard it was. and in my dreams that obama shoe came to me, and i woke up at two o'clock in the morning and painted that shoe. and i normally don't paint shoes for myself, so i painted that shoe for myself. i took a picture and put it on my myspace. no big deal, didn't think nothing of it. next thing i know, people are calling me, like, "your shoe is on www.bet.com. your shoe is on this website." i was in the wall street journal... the wall street journal! [laughs]

...with a painted tennis shoe of barack obama. and then will.i.am wore my shoe to the bet awards. the shoe got on display at the dnc and the first big thing that happened was the smithsonian emailing me. and i thought it was a joke...i said no. i had to call the lady and say, "are you serious? "you want my shoe in the largest museum in the world? a painted tennis shoe that i did?" and she was like, "yes, we want it, it's beautiful." and i cried...i was almost homeless in january. had i quit a month before i made that shoe... had i quit an hour before i made that shoe, and decided, "i'm just going to forget about art..." this would never have happened. that's going to be submitted and be there forever, as long as this earth is here. i'll be long gone, and that shoe is still going to be there, all because i stuck to my guns. and i was sitting there like "wow, i could have quit!" i was about to be kicked out of my house,

and i didn't quit and look what happened! your heart is like a gps system. a gps system in your car will tell you which way to go, but it's not going to turn your car for you. it'll say, "turn left." you're going somewhere you don't know the directions to, so you're making a left, and you're like, "okay, i'm following this... hope it knows what it's talking about." and sometimes a gps system, it will re-calibrate and it will say, "alright, you didn't make that turn, but i'm still trying "to get you to your dream, your destiny... so now you gotta make a u-turn." so it will still try to help you. you might not listen, like i didn't at first. but it was still telling me, my heart was still speaking to me. like, "man, quit your job...quit your job! i'm going to tell you again tomorrow: quit your job!" you don't know where you're going, and that's the scary part about it. and i think a lot of people are afraid of pursuing their dream because they don't know what's behind the next door. they don't know what's around the corner. you can make a lot of wrong turns,

and it will continue to calibrate. but if you continue to go down the wrong path, just like if you were going to the movies, by the time you made it to that movie it was going to be over. and i think a lot of people wait too late to listen to their heart. so i say listen to it while you can, 'cause you don't know when your show's going to be over. listen to it and follow it. (autumn) the thing i found surprising about him was he didn't sound like he hated his job. it wasn't like, "i hated my job and i loved painting. that's why i gave it up." he was okay with his job. it was cool, he'd make lots of money. but painting was like...everything. (liz) so do you want to put van here? (autumn) perfect. (liz) aaron has yet to meet that person that can really help him, and i think that's gonna be

coming up in washington, d.c. i hope in a lot of ways, what liz experienced with bill bass...the same thing happens for me. and i probably shouldn't be putting it up on that type of pedestal and expecting that, but that's what i'm hoping to experience. (female announcer) roadtrip nation extends beyond the program you just watched. it's a movement that includes students creating their own roadtrip experiences. here's a quick snapshot of the movement in the classroom. i'm gloria. i'm leonel. and i'm kimberly. and this is our roadtrip. [laughter] you guys didn't say, "one, two, three." (all) and this is our roadtrip nation! i'm scared about what i want to do after high school. take 1,000. (gloria) we're starting college applications and under that tab that said "career" we didn't know what to put. (leonel) going into it i didn't know what i wanted to do.

it was fun working as a group to get the calls, and researching who we wanted to interview. (kimberly) i want to do something in medical school and we interviewed an anesthesiologist. (male #2) i thought i was going to be a family practice doctor or a pediatrician. very few people leave medical school doing what they said they were going to. things you thought were true about a particular field turn out not to be. no matter what you go into, make sure you have an open mind. a lot of people start with a very narrow thing they want to do, and miss all kinds of other things. (gloria) we went into roadtrip nation being scared, but after we came out of it, we just... i guess we all learned it doesn't matter what career you're in. (gloria) as long as you are happy, it's okay. (liz) we are in washington, d.c. (liz) it feels like i've been gone at least a month and a half. (barney) don't think that what you're now deciding

is what you have to do for the rest of your life. don't overload the decision's importance. (liz) i'd rather fail and do what i think is right for me than not do anything. (margaret) we're programmed as kids to be afraid of falling. (margaret) as soon as a child falls the parent snatches them up. (margaret) here, you better be within your comfort zone to fall. (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. (female 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.