Looking East

So we're going to take a little trip, Sandy and I. And we'd like to bring you all along, but that doesn't seem practical. So we're doing the next best thing: blogging about it. This way, you don't have to listen to us singing show tunes in the car.

The Plan

We'll be taking four weeks, starting next Monday, to drive across the country. Roughly speaking, we'll spend the first week driving to the east coast, the second week in Washington DC, the third week in New York City, and the fourth week driving back. We'll post a more specific itinerary when we have developed, ummm, a more specific itinerary.

Logistics

We're taking the Civic Hybrid. We should get great mileage, and Sandy assures me it will make it up the mountains. It's a small car, which is good because that will force us to pack efficiently. We don't want to carry much more stuff than will fit into the tiny tiny trunk of our car.

We are, however, bringing an iPod, a Zune, a smartphone that can stream Pandora, USB drives that we can fill up with tunes, and a good car radio that can take inputs from any of the above. We'll run out of road before we run out of music.

In order to support our blog-hungry public (and if you're reading this, this means you), we'll be taking some pictures. These should include the typical touristy stuff like "Welcome to Kansas" signs. But I'm hoping to provide you with some other, more interesting stuff as well. Based on the amount of money I've spent on camera equipment, and the number of pictures I expect to shoot, each photograph will have an overhead of approximately $50. OK, I'm exaggerating. But not much.

Ground Rules

As with any society of civilized people, we have some rules. Since you won't actually be there, you don't have to follow them, but you might want to know what they are:

1. We'll switch drivers every 3 hours or so--there's no need for one person to do all the hard work--unless the other person is too tired or unwell to drive.
   
2. We'll avoid chain restaurants unless there's no other choice. Exceptions will be made if we're really jonesing for a Frostie.
3. The driver picks the music.
4. The driver picks the climate control settings.
5. Don't plan too much.  When we're driving across the country, this means driving until we're ready to rest for the night, and making detours when we feel like it. When we're in DC or NY, this means deliberately leaving gaps in our planning, so we can fill them in based on whim or random chance.
6. The ground rules are subject to change.
   

Miscellany

I've always wanted to use that word.

Disclaimer

We're new at this. I am NOT a professional blogger. Nor a dedicated one--in fact, I've written one blog post in my life prior to this one--I'm learning as I go. Like the song says, if you don't expect to much from me, you might not be let down. But I do welcome your feedback. This blog is open to comment, but we're moderating comments. Just in case you get out of line.

You can find my other blog at http://rewritingtheconstitution.blogspot.com. I originally intended to start maintaining that one in earnest back in January but circumstances beyond my control require that I wait at least until May before diving into that.

Anyway, we're really excited about our trip. Can't wait to tell you all about it!