"You guys have been dating five months? And you're going to live out of a car together for how long?" That was the reaction we usually got when we told people about our summer plans.
Staring out of opposite windows in Minnesota, it was starting to seem like a valid concern. My boyfriend Ethan and I were just two weeks into our romantic journey, but the honeymoon was definitely over.
We'd come up with the idea just a few months after we'd met: What if we took all summer to drive cross-country and collect America's first love stories? The idea was simple and lovesick, like our new, seemingly flawless relationship.
There was the woman in Seattle who'd been in love with two men at once, one of whom was a heroin addict. Then, there was the seemingly perky lady from Loveland who after half an hour revealed she'd often felt alone in her marriage.
Many times, people thanked us. They were grateful to unload these stories onto young people, people who still believed in love.