For a friend.

words and photographs by SAM SCUDDER

Cayden Himes lost his life to a car accident in March 2020 while driving from Oregon to his home in Arizona. Near the one-year anniversary of Cayden’s death, a group of his friends and I retraced his final drive. As his father, Tony, put it, we served as a “bridge” between Cayden’s college and family life, recalling painful and beautiful memories of what he meant to us.

Cayden was an art history major at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. When I was at Willamette for my first year of college, he was the first person I met. Within a few hours of our introductory con- versation, Cayden and I decided to form a band. The plan led us to a third-place finish in Willamette’s battle of the bands: a hotly contest- ed competition that had never seen our level of “spirit.” The last time we spoke, we talked about forming another band. I can’t help but com- pare how our time together began and ended in such similar fashion: centered on ambition and what we shared in common.

Spending time with him felt like being accepted. He would match my humor and make it even better. He was honest about bad ideas, but not brutally. Wise beyond his 21 years, he always understood my true self and helped me through dark times, whether he knew it or not. I miss him but will always feel lucky to call him a close friend.

To this very moment, Cayden’s death lingers in my mind. In the days following the accident I wondered what road he took on that fateful day, and if I ever passed it on one of my many trips across the state. Filled with an urge to conquer the road that took our friend, I got in contact with two of Cayden’s close friends, Henry Vietenhans and Larson Stalder. A few days later, we did just that: from Oregon to Ari- zona and back.

There were moments during the drive when I felt irritated. I thought to myself, “We shouldn’t be doing this drive. This was his drive to make.” But as Cayden once wrote, “Good, then bad, then realize, then accept.” And that’s how this trip went.