My Return from the Special World

Our initial Hero’s Journey ends where Lewis & Clark’s began

Five weeks traveling the country can feel simultaneously like a year and a blink of an eye. My final day of this pilot journey ended in greater St. Louis, Missouri, where the Lewis & Clark expedition to travel up the Missouri River began and ended.

I know it might sound egomaniacal but it felt like was I returning from the Special World portion of the Hero’s Journey (see The Hero's Journey according to Joseph Campbell ). But, I believe the Hero’s Journey resonates inside us all because we are each capable of experiencing Hero’s Journeys multiple times in our lives.

Tick Tock of the Final Day of Interviews

After a comfortable night sleep at producer Shane Reiser’s family home, I stopped at St. Charles, Missouri, which is where Lewis & Clark finished their last minute preparations before striking off up river. Then two years, this is where they returned triumphantly having only lost one member of the expedition and gathered significant amounts of research on the people, resources, and routes to the Pacific Ocean.

I then headed over to the St. Louis Children’s Hospital to interview Dr. Cadence Kuklinski, pediatric pulmonologist specializing in the lung transplants. Following this 36 and final interview of this season, I hit Ted Drewe’s frozen custard stand on the famous Route 66 and an Italian sausage sandwich from Joe Fassi’s in The Hill neighborhood.

To finish the day, I went downtown to shoot b-roll of some iconic scenes (City Museum and the Gateway Arch) then on to Bellefontaine Cemetery to pay respects at Willam Clark’s grave and then over to the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers to capture some drone footage.

Integrating and Growing

Now, I have made my way east and will reunite with my son on Sunday. This phase about the Hero’s Journey is returning from the Special World to find resolutions in the Ordinary World that lead to integration of the experience. I’ll be heads down in Blue Ridge at producer Kurt Ronn’s work studio until I finish episodes 2-6.

I’m excited to debut episode 1 on Sunday. You’re about to meet some amazing people adjusting and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic.

What part of the Hero’s Journey are you on now?