Miami, FL

From 5.21.04

At 28, Andrew Harrison,

had it all. Then he gave it all

up to search for more

meaning in his life. Now

he’s on the road looking for

stories to inspire him. A

dreamer? Maybe, but…

BY ASHLEY FANTZ

afantz@herald.com

A few months ago, Andrew

Harrison had a profitable sales

job that allowed him to work

from home, a new SUV, a nice

apartment, a friendly boss, a

circle of loyal friends — and a

nagging feeling that it was all

wrong.

‘‘I just woke up one morning

and thought, ‘Is this it? Is

this all there is? Am I going to

do this for the next 30 years?’ ’’

he said.

For more than hour at a Las

Olas cafe, Harrison, a 28-yearold

from Charlotte, N.C., who

has a crew cut, a master’s in

advertising and buttoned-up

seriousness, spoke about his

decision two months ago to

quit his job. He tossed his

belongings into his SUV and,

rising gas prices be damned,

decided to drive across the

country, with occasional side

trips by plane. His first month

he divided between North

Carolina and Florida.

Where the road ends, he

has no idea.

The road’s end will come

whenever he achieves enlightenment,

or an empty bank

account. Using his savings and

a video and tape recorder, he’s

interviewing everyone from

janitors to bank CEOs who

love their job. Talking to

them, he thinks, may get him

closer to uncovering his own

purpose in life.

In the past month, he has

talked to dozens of people —

a music composer, maintenance

man, high school principal,

entrepreneur, reporter,

lawyer — even Sen. Elizabeth

Dole of North Carolina,

whom he cajoled into talking

after bumping into her at an

airport.

A note to skeptics here:

Harrison was not dreaming of

a big-bucks book deal or Winnebago

decorated with a

sponsor’s logo. The Herald

heard about him; he did not

contact the paper.

His website, www.iamontheroad.com,

chronicles his encounters in a diary

style that portrays him as

both refreshingly earnest and

naively inexperienced. At one

point, he marvels on a flight to

the Caribbean that he has

never before flown over a

large body of water.

But that doesn’t mean he’s

a shy rube. Before his journey,

he e-mailed Dallas Mavericks

owner Mark Cuban, whose

Internet companies made millions

in the 1990s, for financial

backing.

‘‘He said, ‘It’s a neat idea,

but do it yourself,’ ’’ said Harrison.

‘‘And he was right. It’s

better that way.’’

Teresita Wardlow, director

of guidance at Miami’s Monsignor

Edward Pace High

School, met with Harrison on

Wednesday. ‘‘I talk to so

many kids who go after the

money first,’’ she said. ‘‘The

kids who automatically say, ‘I

want to be a lawyer.’ Rarely

do any of us — no matter how

old — get to step back and

ask, ‘What’s the point? What

will make me happy?’ ’’

GENERATION X

But Wardlow, 40, suspects

Harrison’s project reflects a

grandiose, unrealistic sense of

entitlement that many people

in their 20s have — that they

deserve monetary success

and personal perks. The pressure

to achieve early is

immense. TV Reality shows

that celebrate unbridled

ambition (The Apprentice)

and glamorous match-ups

(The Bachelor) don’t help.

Harrison hung a lot of his

road trip idea on this year’s

bestseller, Quarterlife Crisis, a

book of testimonials with

chapters called ‘‘Anti-Depressants,’’

‘‘Apartments’’ and

‘‘Austin Powers.’’ Examining

the lives of mostly upper-middle-

class young adults suffering

from ‘‘affluenza,’’ postcollege

burnout seemed devastating

enough to spawn an

Oprah episode called ‘‘The

Turbulent 20s.’’

It was Quarterlife Crisis

that turned Harrison’s mother

selling security equipment,

which paid him upward of

$50,000.

JUST DO IT

But she also knew that

eventually his unhappiness

would catch up with him, and

it’s best to live one’s dreams

before one has a mortgage or

a spouse. Harrison’s father,

who has worked for the same

companies for decades, took

more persuading.

‘‘I just had to do it for them

to see that I was serious, and

then they came around,’’ he

said. His parents plan to meet

up with him somewhere during

his 70-plus city odyssey.

‘‘I think everyone realizes

things are different now in the

way young people live,’’ said

John Chandler, 85, of Boynton

Beach. ‘‘They have some pressures

we didn’t.’’

Harrison stayed with the

longtime family friend for

three days and interviewed

Chandler, a war veteran and

retired 35-year employee of

Bausch & Lomb.

‘‘I know he has some time,

and that’s all he wants — just

time to work it all out before

life goes by,’’ Chandler said.

‘‘He’s doing it his way. And

nobody can blame a kid for

that.’’