Today we’d like to introduce you to Tony Huang.
Hi Tony, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
It all started in the barracks while I was still in the Marine Corps and before the car even came out. It was Jones, Sgt Vang, and I just in Jone’s room masterminding this trip and sipping on some beers. I probably had about 2 months left before my active-duty contract was over and for some reason, I just wanted to travel the country after I got out and had some freedom again. We were talking about how much of my savings this trip was going to eat up, what I was going to pack, and what I’d do in each state. I have videos of us just crunching numbers so that I could afford this and then we went a little wild with it and thought about what type of capitalistic ventures can come of this LOL. The plan was to the vlog the whole thing which I partially did but didn’t and told myself I’d edit them once I got back.
Anyways, fast forward two months and I’m honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. Sweet sweet freedom finally. I moved to San Diego and found work as a door-to-door solar energy consultant. Astounded by the earning potential I dove right in and was grinding all summer. I made a few bucks here and there but nowhere near what I thought I was going to make. I looked into other options of making money, to include using my GI Bill and finding a fulfilling career. The entire time the idea of the trip was a constant itch in my consciousness, but I didn’t make any plans towards it. Then I was beaten down with some postpartum depression or whatever you want to call it after that summer.
So, I did what anyone would do when they’re lost in life. Make an incredibly expensive (for me at the time) purchase after your friend “no-balls” you. We were just sitting on the floor at a friend’s place when I asked my roommate if I should just buy this Tesla Model Y and go on this roadtrip that I briefly brought up once between us. He said, “no balls” and at that point in life, I was ready to send it just to feel anything again. So, boom, after months of turning the Tesla sales team away I told them I’d take delivery of the car that would take my dog and I, for 5 months, across America. It was the very last day of 2020 when I took delivery of that car and Elon Musk tweeted, as a promotion, anyone who took delivery the last two weeks of 2020 would receive free supercharging for a year. It was then and there I was like this trip is happening.
The first couple months of having my dream car was amazing. I had a nice little situation where enough money was flowing in to sustain living in San Diego. Life was good again. The pieces were coming together.
And then depression hits again. Doubt and fear had me wrapped up so tight I was on my bedroom floor just straight ugly crying. I couldn’t be alone with myself one more night and checked myself in the next morning. There I had time to chill out and find some ground. I checked out and continued drifting along. I think to myself maybe a dog will help so I scour Craigslist and send out all these emails. No replies for weeks and I’m pretty much over the idea of a dog.
Then out of the blue, “yes! We have one male left” and I had already forgotten what the pups looked like. She sent me a picture of the cutest Australian shepherd puppy and we arranged to meet a few days later. It was March 20, 2021, when I first saw Stimmy and knew we were gonna be bros for life. I drove 6 hours back to San Diego with little Stimmy, who pretty much slept the entire way back. I was now a dog dad and never having a dog before in my life, I went straight to YouTube university. I didn’t work for the first two months of having Stimmy and just worked with him every single day. He’s a great dog and I’ll always attribute his demeanor and temperament to those 2 months we just hung out with each other all the time.
In terms of this roadtrip, it now included a dog. I was also pushing it off because I wanted Stimmy to be trained first, and also every other excuse under the stars. Eventually, I got to a point of do or die. Not a single excuse left. Stimmy’s trained (enough), finances were enough to sustain a few months, and I couldn’t order anything else off Amazon.
With about 5 months left of free supercharging, I told myself this is going to be the biggest waste if I don’t go now and on August 4th, after pushing it off for 2 days prior, Stimmy and I took off in the evening for a long journey across America, living out of a Tesla. I didn’t even last a few hours before I entertained crashing at a friend’s place for the night in LA lol. But the next day, we spent our first night in the car in an undisclosed location right on the beaches of Malibu. That’s when reality hit, and I realized this was it. A little over a year after that barracks room chat, I was living the dream.
We started up the west coast, reaching as far as Forks, WA (Fun fact: that’s where Twilight was filmed), before traversing across the north all the way to Maine, down the east coast, and then zig zagging the south until made our way back to San Diego. I’ll be honest, I really wanted to hit all 48 states but after the first couple months, it’s not as cute anymore and I was maybe a couple more Planet Fitness showers from losing my mind. We managed to hit 40 out of 48 over 5 months and got back on Christmas Eve. It was pouring rain that week and “California” by Phantom didn’t hit like I expected to, but it was nonetheless a perfect song to end our adventure.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely not! Just two weeks into the trip, I lost my wallet in a water hole up in Big Sur and had to turn around to get everything situated because driving without a license was not going to be a good idea. What else? Not having a proper routine because every day was different. Sometimes you woke up with a bathroom, sometimes you didn’t. Things got very interesting out there. Then we experienced the anxiety of nearly killing the car battery and being stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Misplacing and losing things was a constant theme on this trip. Either I’m not very responsible or there was a kleptomaniac amongst us that I never noticed. Thank God for Amazon Lockers.
Then of course, at one point, the daily struggle to continue the trip and not just turn around because the glamour wore off and your life is now sleeping in Planet Fitness parking lots or campgrounds.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Aside from selling solar, you’ll find me posting my life away on Instagram. I love sharing on Stories and should probably move to Reels, but all my friends know me as Tony_Being_Tony on IG. My IG stories are fun for my followers, and I love that they get to be involved in my life from anywhere.
I’m most proud of setting a massive goal like this trip and completing it.
What sets me apart from others is that I’m unapologetically myself. The Tony you see on social media is the Tony you’ll get in real life. I’m a human being who has emotions and feelings and I’m not always the witty, funny dude and I think people appreciate it when I’m genuinely myself. I’ve tried and I can’t fake it.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My favorite childhood memory is not paying bills.
Just kidding. I’d say my favorite childhood memory is playing tennis all day in the summer. I loved the sport and the community I found myself in once I started playing every day.
It was my favorite sport growing up and probably the first passion of mine. So much so that I wanted to grow up to be a professional tennis player.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/t0nybeingt0ny/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvM6jRJczIGCG6nHLxvbJhQ
Image Credits
Tony Huang
