Backpack, Jacket, Surfboard

In 1980, Graham Broyd made a bold decision: he sold his scholarship ticket to Washington, DC, bought a one-way flight to Los Angeles, and set off to hitchhike across America with just a red backpack, a jacket, and a surfboard. Throughout that journey, he relied on the kindness of strangers, endured risky and humorous encounters, and encountered moments of profound beauty and hardship. His route took him through deserts, cities, highways, and remote stretches, with each mile delivering stories of adventure, discovery, and self-reliance.

Forty years later, Broyd returns to retrace parts of that route — revisiting places, faces, and memories that shaped his youth. As he confronts the changes wrought by time, he also asks: what stays inside us? How does distance, age, and reflection alter our recollection of who we were and what we hoped to become? The contrast between past and present becomes a lens through which he explores identity, memory, and the enduring pull of a life lived on the road.

“Backpack, Jacket, Surfboard” is part memoir, part travelogue, and part meditation on risk, nostalgia, and the mysterious power of stepping off the map. It’s an unfiltered reminder that great stories are born out of bold decisions, and that the roads we take (and sometimes abandon) stay with us longer than we expect.