NEW YORK — Starting from his parent's driveway with a $250 check and half-hearted parental endorsements, Daniel Seddiqui took off on an ambitious and interesting journey of the 50 states, trying to work a job each week that typified that particular state and people.
With basically nothing but his wits, his trusty Jeep, his cell phone and his computer, Seddiqui defied the odds and found the work he wanted in nearly every circumstance. In all but five, he got a week's paycheck, enough to keep him fed and on the road.
When he didn't, he fell to Plan B, slept in the back of his Jeep, went a little hungry and got creative.
He was a racing car pit-crew member, a deep-down-under coal miner, a story character up on stilts, a cheese maker and a rodeo announcer. He tried making syrup and frying seafood. He made maps, harvested soybeans, sold real estate in Idaho and clerked at the general store in Montana. He worked in piles of peanuts (discovering he is allergic to peanuts) and mentored inner-city kids in New Jersey. (In Utah, this Muslim man worked for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Humanitarian Services packing hygiene kits for victims of Hurricane Gustav).
Wherever he went, he pushed his inner limits, trying jobs and tasks that would undo most of us.
He headed out to sea at 3 a.m. to harvest lobster in choppy sea waters. He delivered a baby horse.
He tended bar during the New Orleans Mardi Gras. He worked as a model in North Carolina.
He felled trees in Oregon and coordinated weddings in Las Vegas.
He bailed hay with the Amish, patrolled the Mexican border in Arizona and helped slaughter cows as a meat packer in Kansas.
He reported the weather on the air in Ohio.
Everywhere Seddiqui went, he put himself out there, physically and mentally, depending on the kindness and hospitality of his hosts to not only hire him, but to see that he has a place to sleep and food to eat as well.
He traveled for miles and saw amazing and unique sights all over America.
This book is enjoyable, an easy read.
As Seddiqui meets the people in the 50 states, so do the readers, and it's a fascinating journey.
The only flaw lies in the brevity. This could be fleshed out to make longer and more detailed little stories with less grainy photographs.
But Seddiqui makes it clear he's on less than a shoestring budget and he's figuring this out as he goes, making hundreds of phone calls and sending thousands of e-mails to line up his jobs and connections as he winds through the country.
He's courageous and honest and that makes for a very nice read, despite some concerns along the way about his health, his car and Sasha — his on-and-off, flaky girlfriend.
Sometimes sleeping in $1,000-a-night accommodations, but more often wondering where he'd be spending his nights when it was freezing, meeting new people every week, facing tornadoes and change, he stared down his greatest fears.
At the end of his journey and at the start of an ambitious book tour, he said he wouldn't trade the experience of traveling the country, meeting a host of strangers and trying his hand at just about everything for anything.
"I would rather have done this than anything," he told The Deseret News in a phone interview. "Everything I went through was definitely worth it."
Seddiqui said his favorite of all the jobs was being a dietitian in the Mississippi Delta and he'd like to do another "social experiment" on foods, diets and the effects of various cultures on American obesity.
He's busy right now riding the wave of his success, lecturing, touring and appearing on television show like The Today Show but he intends to move ahead, perhaps creating a college semester program that provides a sampling of job opportunities to students who can't decide on their careers.
"It was interesting (during the 50 weeks) to see what people choose to do and I realized it is a choice. People choose what they do to make a living even if they think they don't," he said.
Seddiqui will be in Utah next week speaking at University of Utah Alumni House, Skyline High School, Sandy Senior Center and Harman Senior center.
IF YOU GO ...
What: Daniel Seddiqui speaking
When: Wednesday, March 23, 3-5 p.m.
Where: University of Utah Alumni House, Tanner Dining Room
Web: www.alumni.utah.edu/career
Sharon Haddock is a professional freelance writer with 30 years experience, 17 of those at the Deseret News.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com