In the desert surrounding a mercury mining ghost town, an ambitious band of misfits have built homes and cultivated a modern wild west. It’s a group brothers Noah and Tim Hussin felt drawn to during their two-year bicycle journey across America.

For over a year, photographer McNair Evans has ridden Amtrak lines across the United States on 15-day passes to capture stories of where people are going, what they hope to find and what they left behind. The stories sucked him in almost instantly.

Whenever photographer Paul McDonough had enough time and money to get out of the city in the ’70s and ’80s, the New Yorker would pack his camera bag and drive. He’d have Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road” in his back pocket and wander until his money ran out, he said.

Right before photographer Theron Humphrey started a 50-state photo-project road trip, he made a stop in a Marietta, Georgia, animal shelter and adopted a puppy, Maddie. She accompanied him across 65,000 miles, quickly becoming what Humphrey describes as his best friend.

Photography student Michael Anthony Schmidt takes the Staten Island Ferry at least three times a week to get to school. At first he was just people-watching, but about three months ago he started taking pictures of his fellow passengers. “It’s pretty wild,” he said. “The diversity is just incredible.”