2006-09-02

the countdown continues

I will embark on my Whoa: Where Am I sojourn one week from today. That's the plan anyway. Between now and then I have to deliver a ton of mail (more than that, probably), write another article for the 422 Business Advisor and pack.

But, glory to God!, One piece of essential equipment arrived today. It's a.... well, I can't actually tell you. That would spoil the fun.

I can tell you about another essential traveling companion that should arrive by Wednesday. It's this. A great resource for the Insterstate traveller (though it's not as good as the exquisite and now denfunct Interstate Exit Authority -- when I got that book to use as a guide on a sr. high mission trip long ago, some of the kids laughed at me. During the trip however, the chief mocker was easily won over when he discovered he could find each and every Sonic between Cleveland and Rapid City with a few quick page turns).

Contrary to many travel writers, notably this one, but also this one, I like interstate highways. I love back roads too, especially in the midwest and west where many local highways make a straight ribbon all the way to the horizon. Interstates offer a decidedly different but, in my opinon, no less interesting travel experience. For a good paean to interstate travel, try Roads by Larry McMurtry or Uneasy Rider: The Interstate Way of Knowledge by Mike Bryan. I like them because they're so quintessentially American: big, brash, unapologetic, and absolutely fanatic about convenience. They're the great societal equalizer.. you meet all kinds and lots of them on the interstate.



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