The Months After • Hope Returns

In the months following that dark night, things slowly started getting better. Day by day.

My Dome Crew brothers kept a close eye on me. And ever since that wild idea hit me in February, I finally had something to look forward to — something bigger than Kearney.

The spring semester ended. Kyle, Curt, and Doug graduated and moved on. We stayed in The Dome through the summer until August 31. Kyle was getting married the first weekend in September and moving to Omaha. Skratch had one more year of school left and was reluctantly moving back into a dorm.

As for me? I was getting more excited every single day. I was finally getting the hell out of Kearney.

May – June 1994 • Gathering Supplies

I knew almost nothing about backpacking, but I started figuring it out.

With my Kyle’s encouragement, I bought the biggest external-frame backpack they had at a camping store in Omaha, along with the largest sleeping bag. (The sleeping bag turned out to be way too big — but the backpack was perfect.)

This was my Canon
Camera Backpack

I already had been using it for a number of years, including my first trip to Europe to visit my sister Tracy in 1990. Tracy was a Rotary exchange student to Belgium and my family visited her for Christmas.

I also needed a guidebook. I purchased “Let’s Go - The Budget Guide to - Europe”, an 888 page encyclopedia of information about hostels and restaurants and museums, along with maps and U.S. Embassy locations and phone numbers, and began diving into the pages and imagining the places I would be seeing!

Did you know you can catch a rowboatful of Arctic cod, grill it under the midnight sun, and sleep in a cozy hostel in Stamsund, Norway, all for $12?

Did you know you can dine on pancakes and caviar and wash it down with some of the best beer in Europe in Riga, Latvia for under $3?

Or did you know you can visit the Villa in Prague where Mozart wrote Don Giovanni and then see the opera in the theater it was first performed, all for under $5?

After reading through the book, I decided to ditch my idea of sleeping in my tent in public parks (probably illegal anyway), and go with staying indoors at hostels when I couldn’t stay with friends.

A tent would be one less thing I needed to buy and take with me, and this new plan was much more safe.

This guide book would become my bible, and I felt much more confident that I could make this happen. I could not wait to get out of Kearney, Nebraska!

While looking at flight options, I discovered a company called Air Hitch. These were the days before Priceline or other discount traveling services existed.

Air Hitch was a “hitchhiking” type of service. I could choose between leaving from the West coast, Midwest, or East coast. I chose Midwest, and I chose September as my departure preference.

I sent them my money, I think around $250, and waited for a response. This was a one-way service, so while I could get to Europe, I had to come up with a plan to get home.

Then, in a strange twist of fate, in May I got rear-ended by a pizza delivery driver right in front of The Dome. My 1984 Toyota Celica Supra was totaled. The insurance settlement gave me almost $3,000 — suddenly more than enough money for the entire trip.

It felt like the universe was conspiring to give me ways to get out of Nebraska.

In June, Air Hitch came through. They sent me a letter telling me they had a one-way ticket from Chicago to Shannon, Ireland, leaving Monday, September 6.

I wrote back immediately confirming I wanted it.

I still get goosebumps thinking about how this lined up perfectly — I, along with the other Dome guys, were groomsmen in Kyle’s wedding on Saturday, September 4. Curt would drive me to Omaha on Sunday.

That night I stayed at Pam and John’s house - Kyle’s mom and stepdad. Pam and John’s home was a place I had come to think of as my second home. Pam and John had become adopted parents to all of us Dome guys throughout college, but they really stepped up in a huge way after my suicide attempt, always checking in, always supporting me. To this day — in 2026 — I still have “my room” at their house, and Pam and I still talk frequently.

Pam became a true mother figure to me, especially after my own mom Lynn passed in 2012. John was a father figure to me who sadly passed last year. Especially after my family’s home burned down in 2025, Pam’s home has remained a constant safe space in my life, stretching all the way back to those college days.

From Pam and John’s home in Omaha, Curt would drive me to the airport and I would begin the journey that would change everything.