"I was stuck. ... I was making money, but I wasn't who I wanted to be," said Swafford, the man with a scraggly beard and a tightly built body who was facing a crisis of identity and purpose.
But looking around the Arizona factory where he assembled emergency slides for Boeing 737s, Swafford knew something had to change.
So Swafford quit his job, pocketed some cash and jumped on his longboard in an adventure that would lead him from the scorching sands of the Mojave Desert to the foggy reaches of Monterey Bay, and eventually -- hundreds of miles away -- to the Vallejo home of the Baumgardner family.
Judi Baumgardner, a former Vallejo school board candidate, knew about Swafford from a friend of a friend of a friend and so on, learning of the Tempe, Ariz., native's exploits from his Facebook account.
'Longboard Tramper'
In May, Swafford began seriously considering taking a trip up the West Coast to see his best friend in Portland, Ore. But he wanted to do so on his longboard, which is an elongated skateboard.
"I always just wanted to break away a little bit," he said, adding that there was always something holding him back.
By chance, Swafford won a longboard through a Facebook competition from Deville Skateboards. The company promptly offered to outfit him with any gear he might need -- extra wheels and the like -- if he chose to travel thousands of miles on his board.that's exactly what Swafford proceeded to do.
With the full blessings and support of his parents, Swafford saved $1,500, packed a 40-pound backpack and left Arizona behind him, chronicling his adventures as "Longboard Tramper" on Facebook.
With a tiny video camera mounted on his helmet, Swafford began after midnight Aug. 12, in Parker, Ariz., to avoid the worst of the blistering desert heat. In just one night, Swafford managed to make it to Twentynine Palms, Calif. -- 100 miles away -- and 1,200 miles from Portland.
"I was out of water," recalled Swafford, who planned to camp and CouchSurf his way across the West.
CouchSurfing is when people host travelers, usually for free. Swafford was fortunate that his first CouchSurfing host in Twentynine Palms also happened to be heading out to Ventura for a vacation.
Swafford got a ride to the ocean, 400 miles from Vallejo where fate would have one Judy Baumgardner waiting for him, sandwiches in hand.
Northbound
For two weeks, Swafford the Longboard Tramper pointed his toes northward to Portland.
His plan was to go 30 to 40 miles a day, camping where he could as the splendor of the Pacific Ocean and the California coast forever changed the way he saw himself and his life.
"You just come up a hill, and it all opens up," said Swafford, recounting his tales in a spare room at Baumgardner's house.
There were the woods that would envelop Swafford and his small tent, or the salty spray of the sea as he took a break from his journey to lie in the sand and enjoy the views.
"It's amazing. You don't see things in this way. I never have," Swafford said.
And then there were the dead ends, and the police officers and, on a brighter note, the people.
Following Google Maps can be hard, especially when it leads you to roads that don't exist or you're not allowed on, Swafford said. Occasionally, he would find himself sneaking onto a freeway in the middle of the night.
"I got kicked off twice by the police," Swafford said.
Still, little by little, back road by back road, Swafford made his way north, occasionally following historic Highway 1 or Highway 101.
And if he were lucky -- and Swafford always seemed to get lucky -- he would meet a pair of bicyclists or a camper or a person who would share the road with him for a little while, easing some of the loneliness of traveling by himself. Though he would get offers to stay in a home, Swafford would often politely refuse, preferring instead to stay in the wild.
"It gets rough. It gets so rough on you," Swafford said, adding that he usually felt like he had made a mistake every night he pitched his tent.
But journeys of self-discovery aren't about quitting, of giving up and going home. So Swafford pressed on northward, with Arizona and an unwanted life farther behind him with every push of his foot.
Vallejo respite
By the time Swafford reached Monterey Bay, he had worn through his first pair of shoes and had to buy a new one.
Baumgardner, who had followed Swafford's journey on Facebook, decided to open her Vallejo home to him. The two agreed to meet in Half Moon Bay on Wednesday.
So near the coast and so far from cities, Swafford had no reception on his cell phone and was unable to connect with the Baumgardners as he made his way to Half Moon Bay from Butano State Park, north of Monterey. They had set neither an exact place nor time to meet.
Swafford finally got reception in Half Moon Bay and, as he stood by the side of the road, listening to a voicemail from the searching Baumgardners, he heard his name in the wind.
"Chuck!" Baumgardner remembered screaming, arms wide open as she jumped out of the van.
The Baumgardners picked up his stuff, threw it in their van, and put Swafford in the front seat. And, because Baumgardner is a mother of a 17-year-old son herself, she made sure she had sandwiches waiting for him.
"I love these guys. I know I'm going to know them for a long time," said Swafford, of the Baumgardners, who include Judi, her husband Tom and their son, Conner.
Baumgardner quickly set to not only feeding Swafford -- whom she felt was a bit too skinny to finish his trip -- but also making sure his clothes were clean. Near his bed, Baumgardner placed a basket full of trail food with the words "Welcome home, Chuck" on a purple note.
"It was like my son coming home," Baumgardner recalled of their initial meeting.
For four days, the Baumgardners hosted Swafford, taking him to the wine country and on his first trip to San Francisco, where he skated across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Onward
But as nice as it was to sleep in a bed, to get good food and pleasant companionship, Swafford was on a journey.
The Baumgardners drove him to the beaches of Marin County on Saturday, where Swafford resumed his adventure northward.
"We all pray for him that God protects him and sends him his angels," said Baumgardner of her family and the extended family Swafford developed since he began his trip weeks ago.
Swafford, who can be found on Facebook by searching "Longboard Tramper," said he expects to complete the trip to Portland in about three more weeks. He doesn't know what he'll do when he meets up with his high school best friend in Oregon. Indeed, staying in Portland is not out of the option.
"I don't know what I'm going to do when I get back," said Swafford, who left $500 of the $1,500 he saved back in Tempe.
He has become a different person from the sullen factory worker he once was, he said, though he as of yet been unable to process the man he's become with hundreds of miles, new people and new experiences ahead.
"I'm so happy," he said, both of his journey and of his experiences with the Baumgardners.
Swafford had never heard of Vallejo before he left Arizona; now he will never forget it.
Contact staff writer Lanz Christian Bañes at (707) 553-6833 or lbanes@timesheraldonline.com
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