The Far Green Country 2: At Road’s End

The Far Green Country 2: At Road’s End
Looking back at a family’s year-long, cross-country road trip to intentionally grieve.
By: Eli & Kelly Pyke

Exactly one year ago, we shared our first article here on GoLife about our initial journeys through the national parks in our Winnebago Adventurer 29B.  The world had not yet been hit with Covid-19 and our travels felt safe and free. That coach proved to be a solid “adventure” vehicle and took us a total of 18,000 miles through 15 national parks.

A Story of Loss and Redemption

The catalyst of that trip began two years ago, when I lost my father to pancreatic cancer.  In a quest to intentionally grieve, my wife and I took our children on a year-long, cross-country road trip. My goal was to visit a few places from my early days with my dad in order to enter into old memories, with the hope of feeling connected to him, even in his absence.  

^{Eli and his father.}

We all have a story of loss.  Pain we have endured, trauma we have experienced, or simply disappointments that have been crushing. Whether presently or in the past, we must name the fact that grief is a part of all of our lives. What are you grieving right now?  

From what I have found, there is no universal roadmap to grieving, to overcoming and moving on from the pain of loss; but we must take the first step to ask that question, “What am I grieving, and how can I do it more intentionally?” 

Grief can masquerade as many negative emotions (apathy, numbness, anger, fear, anxiety, etc.) and it is all too easy to think that it is just something wrong with me.  But there is much more going on beneath the surface, more that needs to be pressed into and tended to with kindness and mercy.  We want to recognize the grief of the losses that COVID and 2020 brought all of us, because, as we say in the film, “Our losses matter.” 

Our film, subtitled “At Road’s End,” is a 90-minute journey through our grief process. It includes a handful of authentic and gripping interviews with others on their own grief journeys, paired with unrelenting beauty from around all our country and priceless moments with our family in the intimate setting of a small motorhome.  We invite you to take this journey with us by watching The Far Green Country 2: At Road’s End.  Because every road eventually comes to an end and we must ask: “Are we prepared for that inevitable day?”

The Adventure Continues

While most of the shooting of this film took place during our year in the Adventurer, the bulk of the editing took place after we returned Winnebago’s Adventurer to their headquarters in Forest City, IA.  As viewers will see in our upcoming third documentary, we said farewell to our beloved Adventurer and replaced it with a 2008 Winnebago Itasca Class C. 

Our Winnebago Itasca is working great as our new, full-time home on wheels – we are currently heading south to spend the winter working and enjoying the warmer weather of the southern United States. We will end up in the Colorado Rockies for the summer, where we plan to edit the third documentary film while working as Wilderness Directors at a camp.  

We would love to stay in touch, so please find us on Instagram and Facebook for the latest updates on our productions and travels, or sign up for our newsletter at thefargreencountry.com.

May our story inspire you to pursue hope, healing, and life-giving adventures both near and far.