(female narrator #3) 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.

Every summer, we bring together three people from different backgrounds.

Together, they explore the country, interviewing inspiring individuals from all walks of life.

They hit the road in search of wisdom and guidance, to find what it actually takes to build a life around doing what you love.

This is what they found.

This is Roadtrip Nation.

(Ed) Um, yeah, so we had a pretty serious problem over the last couple weeks.

And it was one that we couldn't find a solution to straight away, but uh‚ we ran out of milk for the tea.

Old milk will turn into cheese in the fridge.

Uh, and when you pour it into your tea, it was pretty lumpy.

We kind of tried to stay strong, but it was clear we couldn't go on too long.

Ah, so we had to find a remedy for that.

So we've gone for a powdered creamer and French vanilla creamer, uh, which are both controversial.

Powder is horrible, and uh, French vanilla is the worst thing I've ever tasted.

(cameraman) Oh, come on!

[laughing] Um, yeah, so for the Americans who enjoy vanilla-flavored hot drinks, um, you're wrong.

Man, that's not tea!

(Tele'jon) So we're halfway, um, in the trip.

We just reached our halfway point.

(Olivia) You hit that peak.

It's like so slow going up the peak--maybe a life lesson, so slow going up the peak--and then you hit the peak and you plummet back down like a roller coaster.

Um, yeah!

♪ [Ed] So, D.C., I guess all I knew was, um, the White House was there.

And even then, I wasn't entirely sure, actually.

Those monuments were actually bigger than I thought: the Washington Monument was a lot bigger than I expected, Abe Lincoln was a lot bigger than I expected.

Um, the only thing that wasn't was the White House, which was a bit disappointing in size.

I could barely see it between the trees.

Um, we had an interview with Brittan Heller, who is a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, and she had a couple of really good analogies that she shared with us, like this idea of two types of people in life.

(Brittan) Someone told me this analogy once, that there are two ways to think about your career.

One is a paint-by-numbers approach.

You go about it systematically, like, "All right, I need to paint the ones red and the twos yellow and the threes blue."

And you know what the picture is gonna be and you're just kind of going at it.

That's-that's kind of the path of least resistance.

(Ed) So like they've got the picture in front of them, they know what colors they need, they know the tools they need, and they know what the picture's gonna be at the end.

I kind of like the other way, the connect-the-dots approach, where you start off with one idea or conviction-- something that really grabs you-- and then you take the next logical step.

The connect-the-dots person is faced kind of with just a field of dots.

Doesn't know what the picture's gonna be, and then kind of by chance, eventually a picture will emerge.

(Brittan) You're not sure what the picture's gonna look like when you're in the beginning phases, but as you proceed at the end, you gain speed and you see suddenly it's like the circus seal with the ball, but uh-- (Tele'jon) Do you believe that there's an endpoint, where you can actually look back at the picture and be like, "Dope"?

The picture's, the picture's there and it was beautiful, you know?

Or is it always gonna be developing?

(Brittan) I feel like when you're working for justice, it's um, it's a process not a product.

So in that case, the picture is continually developing.

Right now, I'm very happy where I am.

It's kind of like the nose of the little seal.

If at the end of your day, you can sit down and fee-feel at peace with the decisions that you've made that day and what you've done and where your life is going, I think that's a nice indicator that you're in a good place.

(Ed) That was good talking to her.

Like, that's something I can kind of sympathize with 'cause you're shaping yourself.

Every experience is shaping you, every experience is getting you closer to where you wanna be, even if you don't know it at the time.

[Son of Dov singing "Let It   Love"] ♪ It' a radio coming alive on a highway travelling along ♪ ♪ I can hear the heartstrings collide ♪ ♪ I can feel the aching bones ♪ ♪ To the West Coast back to the east-- ♪♪ (Tele'jon) Some of these places, in my head, I feel like I'm never gonna be back to again.

Um, which is a weird way of thinking, 'cause even though like a lot of these places I've never thought that I'd be to in the first place.

Like I just slept at this place, I just met somebody really amazing at this place, now I have to leave and then adapt to this new place and meet somebody else really amazing.

This is Observation Log #1.

This can be like a montage too, dude.

We could do Observation Logs along the way.

Psh, I need so many montages.

Um, one thing that I have observed and noticed on our adventures this summer is that every time we pull into an RV park, they all look the same.

They're all pretty much painted alike, so I'm wondering why every single RV in America is painted the same way--except for one.

And green's not my favorite color, but I think it looks a lot better than these.

There's just some things that some people don't even think of when they think of like going on a roadtrip, and like having limited water for whatever reason didn't occur to me.

Um, and so like, you have a water tank that once it's gone, you have to refill it.

Um, so that means you have to go to a dumping station and like dump the nasty water and refill it with good water, and I'd really rather not talk about how that's been going.

(Olivia) Yeah, you guys ready?

Yeah, let's do this.

(cameraman) That was a new one Pretty fun.

[laughs] That was not cool.

That was not cool at all.

(cameraman) What happened back there?

I'm not talking about it.

(Ed) [laughing] He's not talking about it.

(cameraman) We can montage it.

[Tele'jon laughs] Ahh, it's gettin' on my hands!

This is disgusting!

Ugh, smell it dude?

We had a spillage!

It went everywhere.

I've learned my lesson.

[Ed laughing] (Tele'jon) think that's great?

When you travel, time progresses in a different way because it's almost like you're living faster, you're getting more experiences than somebody who's just being stagnant in their tiny community.

This collection of like different experiences in such a short amount of time has made it feel like it's been way longer than it actually is.

(Ed) I've heard of Philly cheesesteaks, and I didn't really know what they were.

Like, I kind of imagined it's just a steak with cheese on.

And I was like, "Yeah, okay, whatever."

We are trying a Philly cheesesteak sandwich.

(Olivia) Um, well, they probably just call it a cheesesteak because we're in Philly and it's a sandwich.

[Ed in low voice, American accent] Philly cheesesteak.

(Olivia) Your accent's coming along beautifully.

(Ed) I'm looking forward to it.

(Tele'jon) It kinda melts in your mouth.

(Ed) Bread, cheese, and steak, which are like my three favorite things pretty much, all combined.

Can't really go wrong with it.

It's my new favorite American food.

We are about to go to Philadelphia Motorsports to do our interview this morning.

And we're about to go and check out the F1000 car as well, which may or may not be faster than the RV.

We don't know.

So we're gonna interview Sal Donato, uh, who's the guy who builds these cars.

(Sal) This is the racecar.

(Ed) Mhm.

(Sal) Um, we could start it if you'd like.

[engine revs loudly] (Sal) Smell that?

That's what excites me.

Smell o' race fuel.

It has a-a sweetness to it.

You know, I'm a hands-on guy.

Um, I could never be a good boss because I can't sit at a desk and manage.

I'd hire someone to manage, and I'd rather work on the cars.

I mean, ever since I was five, I was working with my hands with my father.

You know, he's a cabinet-maker.

I mean, I did every job under the sun when I was in high school.

I worked at restaurants, I was a bartender.

Volunteered as a mechanic, just cleaning parts when they were changing engines.

(Olivia) Why did you volunteer in the first place?

I had no automotive experience whatsoever.

(Olivia) But you knew that's was what you wanted to do.

(Sal) No, I didn't, I didn't.

I always tried tinkering with cars.

I guess I should back up a little bit because I grew up in the Poconos, which is right by Pocono International Raceway.

Um, and Mario Andretti was a half-hour away from us.

Well, being Italian and he's Italian, Mario Andretti would be on on a Sunday, and I mean, that's, probably was the first thing that‚ sparked my interest towards racing.

And then, you know, time went by and next thing you know, got a job at an auto repair shop.

And they said uh, "Why don't you take that engine out?"

And I'm like, "I don't know how."

He's like, "Just start unboltin' it.

We'll take care of it.

You know, we'll help you along, and next thing you know, 25 years later.

(Ed) So you're making money as a mechanic working for other people, basically.

Mhm.

(Ed) How did you come to work for yourself?

(Sal) I called a friend, and he had a-a converted chassis for a Corvette, and I said, "Why are you doing that?

That's like a generation old.

I mean the C5 Corvette is what's 'out there' now."

He's like, "No one builds it."

"I'll build it."

And that's that car.

I cut, shrunk it, made everything fit.

And it handles great.

These cars let me be creative every day.

They said it can't be done.

I mean, don't tell me that, 'cause to prove someone wrong that it can be done, it-it's, it drives me.

It really does.

So, we started producing them, and they all made magazines.

(Olivia) Did you have any uh, hesitation making that switch?

It was scary.

I borrowed every ounce of money I could to build a prototype.

I don't have the big financial backing like some of these other people that made the money then got into racecars.

I was just a working man that wanted to be in the racecars.

You know, why?

I don't know, I just, because I enjoy doing it.

You know, I just, I love‚ love workin' on cars.

I love nuts and bolts.

(Tele'jon) How far do you look ahead?

Like, do you have like goals set for yourself now?

If so, what are they?

(Sal) I'm not setting a goal, as far as "I wanna be a millionaire by the time I'm 50."

Nah.

I just wanna be happy.

(Ed) You work all through the weekend?

Um, I'm not working this weekend.

But I am going to help a friend with his car.

So I guess I am working.

[roadtrippers laughing] And even, we played a lottery here.

And everyone says how they're gonna quit their job.

If-if I got a call right now that said, "You won the lottery," I guarantee you I'd still go up and help my friend, and I'd still be here Monday morning.

There's a clock there.

Doesn't even work.

Don't even put batteries in it.

'Cause I don't look at it.

I don't watch the clock.

(Olivia) And to you, that's happiness?

Not-not-not the not watching the clock.

It's‚ liking what I do so much that I don't care how long I'm here.

That's, that's how I know I'm happy.

(Olivia) It's so practical.

There's no showmanship.

"I wanted to do this, I volunteered, and I worked around it until I did exactly what I wanted."

What I'm noticing in the interviews is staying closer to your passions is staying closer to happiness, staying closer to happiness brings you closer to your passions.

Staying true to your gut and like keep refining, like, where things resonate with you.

But that can look a thousand different ways.

And it's also not thinking too hard about it, honestly, so I'm trying not to think too hard.

[The Speedbumps playing   "Cabin Song"] ♪ I am looking for that mountaintop ♪ ♪ When I find it, I'm gonna climb ♪ ♪ And if you follow my trail up, together we can lift the sky ♪ ♪ Don't be fooled by that valley warmth ♪ ♪ It's the devil in disguise ♪ ♪ So keep your bearings facing north ♪ ♪ to where the shephard of peace lies ♪ ♪ 'Cause everybody needs a place to find themselves ♪ ♪ We found it on this hallowed ground ♪♪ [upbeat trumpet and drums] (Tele'jon) So we are headed to go meet Stacey and Christine.

(leader #3) Hi, how are you?

Welcome.

(Olivia) Hi, Olivia.

(leader #3) Hi, Christine, It's nice to meet you.

(Olivia) Hi, Christine.

Tele'jon.

(Christine) So this is our school.

(Tele'jon) The reason why we're talking to both these ladies, and the reason why this school is so special is because it was known to be one of the more dangerous schools in the area.

They went from that to like completely transforming the school's work ethic and like, and all that stuff, and made it like "a good school" by essentially doing the complete opposite of what most people would do.

And so to make the school more safe, what they did was they took out like the metal detectors, they took out the security cameras and all those kinds of things.

And even with all the protest from the, um, local police department, they still went through with it and uh, and proved them wrong.

But there's still a lot of schools in Oakland who do have that kind of stuff, and they are being criminalized and dehumanized.

Um, so I mean, like I said, if I can learn something from this woman, that'd be great.

That'd be great, bring something back.

(Christine) Ok, so Memphis Street Academy was one of the lowest performing middle schools in the school district of Philadelphia, and it had the highest number of violent incidents, weapons, drugs, um, sexual offenses, assault--on teachers or-or students.

[Stacey] It wasn't working having armed security guards.

It wasn't working having the bars on the windows.

It wasn't working having you know, a, uh, prison-like atmosphere.

[Christine] The goal was to change all that and to make this a place that was bright and-and healthy.

[Stacey] My philosophy is that the adults make the experience for students in a school, whether it's the custodian, whether it's the principal.

The adults are responsible for maintaining the culture and establishing the culture and the expectations.

[Christine] It was really just the culture shift of "We care about you."

That's what this whole year was about.

[Stacey] I felt that my job was for you to know, as strict as I was, that I still cared about you.

And I cared about your achievement and I cared about you as a human being.

[Christine] I don't care which side of the bridge they come from, I don't care which side of the neighborhood they come from, I don't care what they look like, what kind of education their parents have.

We care about you.

And um, you know, you started to see really happy kids.

It was heartwarming to watch kids who were so tough in the beginning, um, just like hug you and like just say like, "Thank you," and I mean real tears, not that fake "Thanks, gotta go, you know?

I mean like, I mean students clinging to you.

For me, it was like, "We did it.

We did it.

We did a great job."

(Olivia) Um, start us off with your own background.

(Christine) So, um, I grew up here in-in Philadelphia, um, pretty much this area.

Walking distance from the school.

You grew up being tough.

You needed to be tough.

You needed to, um, defend all the time.

It was not uncommon to get jumped for a pair of sneakers.

It wasn't until I went to college that I ever even realized that we didn't even have money or that I was, you know, in lower socioeconomic status.

I never would've known that because everybody was just like me.

(Ed) Did you ever face moments like that in your own high school?

(Stacey) So, um, I faced moments that were- were different, you know.

Being, in most of my classes, the only black student in my class, um, I was invisible.

I was totally invisible.

You know, even though I grew up much different than the children here, it's still very much the same, you know.

If you are disenfranchised and poor, then you're invisible.

You don't matter, you don't count, you know, you just make sure your paperwork is turned in and that's it.

And the reason that I needed to be a teacher was because I knew that that's what I needed to do, to make sure that more kids had a chance to have a good education and to love school.

(Olivia) You work with um, such a diverse, I mean you've seen hundreds of children through your career.

From so many diverse backgrounds, what is your definition of what happiness is on a general level?

(Stacey) Well, I'm gonna use the school setting because that's been my life, pretty much.

You know, as I see little girls walking, if I see ponytails moving and bouncing up and down, that means there's a pep in their step.

That means they're happy.

I call it the ponytail test.

To me, that means the child feels free, happy.

So the ponytail test is my measurement of happiness.

(Olivia) Would you say that you're past the ponytail test?

(Stacey) [laughs] I have.

I have passed the ponytail test.

(Christine) If you find passion, follow it, fight for it‚ run after it, and in the end, it will work out because you're never gonna think of it as work.

I never say, "I'm goin' to work today."

I say, "I'm goin' to school today."

(Stacey) Whatever you decide, the three of you decide to do in your lives, it has to be something that it becomes your life work.

Because in the long run, that's what it's all about anyway.

(Olivia) What cool women.

They're looking at the social element and it's changing things and it's working.

(Tele'jon) One thing that really stood out for me, when she said, "There was nothing wrong with the kids.

"We didn't have to fix the kids, we have to fix ourselves."

And that's huge, 'cause I feel like a lot of people don't understand that.

And I'm glad that they did because now they're doing something great.

Like right now, I feel like so full already.

I feel like I have way more than I expected to come out with already.

Um, and just the idea that we have so much to go, it's kinda crazy to think about.

So many interviews that I'm excited about, so many people that I know that I'm just gonna learn so much from, that I can't even, I can't fathom like what I'm gonna come with.

Like I said earlier, like when I'm done, dude, I'm seriously gonna be levitating.

(Ed) We're about to drive into New York.

(Olivia) Seeing the skyline and everything, you could just feel that New York bursting at the seams.

(Ed) We're interviewing Staceyann Chin, who is a spoken word artist and activist.

(Staceyann) It was empowering to-to roar.

And from the first time I got up on the stage, people responded.

You know, I knew that I had found my voice.

(Ed) We got the Atlantic Ocean right there, and I kinda figured I should swim in it.

(female narrator #3) Roadtrip Nation extends beyond the program you just watched.

Online you will find an extensive archive with even more stories from the road.

Here's a quick snapshot of an interview from a past roadtrip.

(leader #4) My whole life, I wanted to be on a sitcom.

Like I just think being on TV was just like it.

When I got Arrested Development, I remember experiencing a little bit like‚ I mean, it was so fantastic and it was so fun, but it didn't satisfy the way I thought it was gonna satisfy.

And what it taught me is I think there's always that thing in life that everybody's like, "If I have that, then I'm gonna be done."

And in actuality, I think contentment is a discipline.

And where you guys are at now?

I think it's really important to practice contentment because if you don't practice that now, then when you get where you think you wanna be, you're still not gonna be content.

(roadtripper #4) That's so good.

(leader #4) Because when you get to that point, you're still gonna be going, "Oh, there's this."

(roadtripper #4) Does that cause us to sacrifice some ambition?

Sure, that's a great question.

I mean, the extreme wrong of that is to get lazy and complacent.

The very easy default is to always bash ourselves and to always bash where we're at and to always look at greener grass.

That's why I think contentment is a discipline.

It's not something that one day you wake up and like, "I'm content.

Fairies are all around me."

But um, no, I think the more you practice like the simple things of like contentment today, when you get it you're gonna enjoy it.

(girl #1) No matter what you do (boy #1) Or where you come from (boy #2) You've got wisdom to pass down (male narrator #1) Help young people find their way by sharing the lessons you've learned.

Take fifteen minutes to tell us what you love to do (boy #1) The door's open (boy #2) We're all ears (girl #1) Become a leader at ShareYourRoad.com ♪