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alexandluke.comIf someone had told me a year ago that I was about to take an eight-month road trip through every state, province and territory in the United States and Canada, with no planned route -- or even that I'd be using Twitter on a daily basis -- I would have let out a hearty guffaw and carried on my way (which was probably to the nearest library). I'd been working toward a career as an art dealer or curator somewhere in Europe for most of my 26 years, and none of the above was on my life's to-do list.

Let's start and the beginning: 2008 was a hell of a year. It started with a classic tale of boy breaks up with girl, girl moves in with parents in an attempt to regroup. What followed, however, was not so classic. Four months after I left London, where I'd been a student at Christie's Education, my parents' house burned to the ground. A furnace fire destroyed the entire building and within minutes, all of our material possessions (including my beloved budgie bird, Percy) were gone. It was right before Christmas, and I literally had nothing but the flannel shirt on my back.

To make matters worse, I had just earned my master's in art history. (I did my dissertation on representations of facial hair in Renaissance art, in case you're wondering.) In These Economic Times, that's not exactly a ticket to employment, especially in Toronto, where the museums are great, but few and far between. Finally, after months of looking for work, I got some good news: A major art auction house in Toronto offered me a position. Exciting!

But wait. On the eve of my first day, I got a phone call telling me that the office was closing. No job for me.

All of the above happened within a period of 12 months.

alexandluke.comIt seemed that every time I turned around, life was forcing me to throw out my expectations, face disappointment, think on my toes and start from scratch. I spent a good deal of time feeling sorry for myself, asking questions that had no answers: Why is this all happening to me? Why can't someone just tell me what I should be doing with my life? Why can't I seem to hold on to happiness?

But at the end of all the wallowing in frustration and self-pity, I knew this quarter-life crisis I was facing would be there with or without the breakup, the fire and the unemployment. I realized it was up to me to learn whatever lessons there were to be learned and start carving out my own existence.



About six months after the fire, some hope arrived in the form of an insurance check. Instead of using it to replace all of my destroyed possessions, I put it aside for a trip. I had begun the application process for a PhD program, so a few months back in Europe would be a great way to focus my mind and figure out a topic to study, while also giving me the chance to work on my foreign language skills. It made perfect sense on paper, only not in my heart.

For whatever reason, even though it would be a complete 180 from my "life plan," I had this underlying desire to explore the continent I called home. But I didn't even own my own car.

alexandluke.comEnter Luke.

Luke is my best friend (a best friend who also happens to have a car). Until very recently, Luke was working as a successful consultant for a very big company -- he had the type of job that most people dream about but never get. But like me, he didn't feel inspired in his position and didn't want to settle.

Then one morning, at the end of last summer, Luke texted me: "I don't like my job." Half jokingly, I replied: "You should quit and come on a trip with me." And he did! We started devising an extensive exploration of North America, north of the Mexican border, which at the same time, would be an equally extensive exploration of social media. Since September 2009, we've been busy planning the unplanned.

Almost everything we see and do will be determined by the suggestions and votes of our followers -- you guys -- via our Web site Alex and Luke, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Gowalla. Our followers picked our uniforms, named our car (he's called Burt Reynolds), suggested we learn to cook on Burt's engine, and that's just the beginning. We're crowd-sourcing our adventure, which means we'll be experiencing North America in an entirely new way. We'll be doing lots of updating from the road -- including a weekly travel program and a show aimed at kids starring some puppets I picked up in Europe -- and all the while, we'll have constant interaction with our followers. You guys are the real drivers of this trip.

I have a lot to learn, from how to do my hair in a rest stop bathroom and which cities have the best food, to whether this whole crazy experiment is even possible. My life this year might not be turning out exactly how I had originally planned, but something tells me the Alex and Luke experiment is going to yield more knowledge and experience than I could have found within the walls of a museum. I cannot wait to see what North America has in store for me.

So, Lemondroppers, talk to me! I'll be checking in with Lemondrop regularly and need your help to decide what to talk about. What do you want to know? Do you have questions about a certain way of life in a specific part of the country? Do you have tips for taking a long road trip you can share? Are you curious about the differences in guys I noticed in different cities? Send all your thoughts to me at @alexandluke with the #LDAlex hashtag.

Alex and Luke started their adventure this past Saturday, March 20. Followers voted on where they should start their trip and sent Alex and Luke north toward Collingwood, Wasaga Beach and North Beach, Ontario, where Alex conquered her fear of the chairlift and tried snowboarding for the first time (click through to watch her first run). Below, check out a video the pair made explaining their trip and what they hope to accomplish.