Have couch, Will Travel

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For Cole Guidry, life doesn’t happen sitting at home on the couch, and that’s why he’s hit the road and taken the couch with him.
Guidry, a native of Church Point, said, “Life is not going to walk into your living room. Get off the couch and do the things that you keep making up excuses for why you can’t do them. Get off the couch and give it a try.”
While this way of thinking is part of the basis of Guidry’s web site and Facebook page, “Have Couch, Will Travel,” his story of adventure began right here in Church Point with the roots of his family tree.
Guidry, who currently lives in Detroit, Michigan, is the son of the late Thomas “Tommy” Guidry and late Charmaine Olivier Guidry, who were also natives of Church Point. Guidry attended school here in Church Point, and after his sophomore year at Church Point High School, his family moved to Texas. Guidry’s father passed away in 2015, and following his death, the family moved to Michigan. Two years and a few days after the anniversary of his father’s passing, Guidry’s mother passed away in June of 2017.
Following his mother’s death, Guidry came across a note she had written to him for his 21st birthday, but she had never mailed the letter.
“It was a three page letter of a mother telling her son all the reasons why she loves him,” Guidry said as he traveled home to Michigan on Oct. 30 following a family reunion in Gulf Shores, Alabama. “In the letter, she told me ‘Through your humor, your art and your writing, never stop trying to change the world or at least the way people view it.’
“That’s when the seed was planted, what got me going. My parents died young, and they didn’t get around to doing all the things they wanted to do. I kept putting off a trip to Alaska trip, a trip I had wanted to take since I was in my teens, and I finally decided to take it in my 30s.”
Guidry said he chose to document the trip on social media for family and friends who wanted to follow along with his travels as well as make sure he was safe on the road.
The idea behind the name and theme he chose for his social media account and web site were inspired by a road trip that occurred around the same time Guidry’s mother wrote him the letter.
“I was 21 and working for a marketing company,” Guidry said. “Our work truck broke down on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah. The tow truck was going to be a while, so we started pulling stuff out of the truck to take pictures with, including a couch. I have the original picture hanging in house, and I thought, ‘What if I recreate that picture everywhere I go on the road trip?’”
Guidry said one of his friends, who is in the photography business, gave him a weekend crash course on how to take photographs and which editing software to use before he skipped town.
Inspired by his late parents, Guidry hit the road on June 8, the anniversary of his father’s passing. As he made his way west, Guidry made several stops, including a visit to the baseball field from the movie “Field of Dreams” near Dyersville, Iowa as well as taking in the views of Nebraska. Next, he picked up his sister, Mitzi Alyce Guidry, at the airport in Denver, Colorado. From there, the siblings drove to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to spread their parent’s ashes. His sister flew home after the journey to the park, and Guidry traveled on to Utah, back to the Bonneville Salt Flats, to recreate his first sofa photograph with his own traveling sofa, which is waterproof and can be taken apart. After that, Guidry made his way through Oregon, Washington and Canada before finally arriving in Alaska.
While on the road, Guidry said he started getting phone calls, texts and emails from friends he hadn’t seen in a long time who had found out about his excursion.
“I had inspired them to do things that they had been putting off or they were cheering me on,” he said. “I made quite a few new friends on the road. They were all very encouraging, telling me not to stop, that there is something very magical about what I am doing.”
When shooting photos with his couch, Guidry says he avoids touristy spots and intruding on the space of others who may also be visiting in the same area.
“I learned on the trip that a full-sized, red couch — I take up a lot of space and can be a big distraction,” he said, laughing. “I try to be discreet, go unnoticed.”
Guidry traveled in Alaska for three weeks before making his way back to Michigan. Through his journey, writings and photographs, Guidry said he wants to encourage people to do things they may have been putting off in their lives.
“When I left for Alaska, it was just going to be that trip, but I plan to continue (the journey) and just make things up as I go along,” he said. “As long as people want to see more pictures, I’ll keep taking them.”
Guidry was in Church Point for a few days the week of Oct. 21, and he spent some time taking photos with his couch about the town, including photos in front of Le Vieux Presbytere. From Church Point, he traveled on to meet family members in Alabama, and while there, he took photos of his nieces floating on the sofa in the Gulf of Mexico.
“I like to put the sofa in unique places, like in between cracks in mountains,” Guidry said. “I try to put the couch in places you would not expect a couch to be.”
A glance at the photographs posted on his web site and social media account show the couch on a bridge, on an airport runway, on the shore of a lake and on the grounds of a resort in Alaska.
Guidry said he will be traveling for work again soon, and he’ll be brainstorming for his next journey while on the road.
“I’m open to suggestions,” he added.
Guidry left the marketing industry to take his “Have Couch, Will Travel” trip, and in January 2019, he will start school at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit to earn an advertising degree.
“I realized my passion for art and photography on the trip, and I used my ‘Have Couch, Will Travel’ photographs for my portfolio when I applied to school,” he said.
As he earns his degree, Guidry said ideally he will continue to document his trips as a pastime on weekends.
“I don’t want to stop,” he said. “Any free chance I get, I will take pictures. School knows about project, so hopefully they let me use it in the classroom.”
Guidry said that in addition to people enjoying the travel aspect of his writing and photographs, readers also enjoy seeing the escapades of his travel companion, Mr. Bear, a gift from his coworkers at going his going away party.
“My coworkers didn’t want me to travel alone, so that’s how we (he and Mr. Bear) met,” Guidry said, laughing. “He has been an absolute hit. Everybody loves his posts of the trip.”
Guidry said his Facebook post from his visit in Church Point, which included photos of Mr. Bear, was shared 14 times.
“That floored me,” he said. “Church Point has enjoyed the post. That’s the most times a ‘Have Couch, Will Travel’ post has been shared.”
Guidry’s Facebook page has more than 450 followers.
Guidry said many people he has met during his travels have asked him if he will write a book about the experience, and Guidry said he is not ruling out the possibility.
“I want to see where the adventure ends, and I am documenting everything,” he said. “If a book would be something people would enjoy, but I’m not doing this to write a book.”
He continued, “This (trip) started off as a sad moment, born of tragedy. In the beginning, (the trip) was very sad for me, and it turned it into a bright, happy thing that has helped me in my life. I can take chances and do something fun and unique and not settle for a job that is not serving me. I hope that I continue this and set myself on a path to a more enjoyable life and career. If I can do this and sustain myself and people are entertained and inspired — that is the ultimate goal.”