“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller
Hi everyone! So you are here - the site of my blog which I will be using to chronicle my trip. Welcome! I am hoping as I am out on the road I will be able to update this at least every few days with pictures and tales about my travels. This way you can keep up with me or check on me (ahem - mother) to make sure I am still okay.
For those of you who do not know what is happening - I am taking a trip (obviously)! I will be leaving from Indianapolis on Sunday, September 26th. I am not really sure how long I will be out on the road, it just depends if I am happy traveling AND whether or not I run out of money. =) Tentatively, I figure I will be back around my birthday (December 15th) - but it could be sooner. I am still working on a Google MyMap to show you where I plan to go and update it with neat places while I am on the road. I will have it added on here before I take off.
For now, the itinerary involves stops in the following cities: Springfield (MO); Oklahoma City; Albuquerque; Mesa/Tempe/Phoenix; San Diego; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Eugene (OR); Seattle; Salt Lake City; Denver; Dallas; New Orleans; Atlanta; Washington D.C.; Boston*; various coastal cities in Maine*; Buffalo*; New York City*; Niagara Falls; Pittsburgh...and home!
* - cities marked with this will only be visited if there are not crazy blizzards happening all over the east coast by the time I get out that direction.
* - cities marked with this will only be visited if there are not crazy blizzards happening all over the east coast by the time I get out that direction.
As you can see, I want to visit a lot of places. How can I afford such a thing? Well, the whole trip is basically being made possible by the kindness of strangers. I am now a member of a traveling community called CouchSurfers. Feel free to check out the site and see what it is all about. In a nutshell it allows members to search for other members in pretty much every country all over the world, check out their profiles and decide if they would be interested in meeting someone like that. If it seems like it could be a good fit, you send them a request asking to stay on their couch (spare bed, hammock, futon, floor, etc...) while you are in town. They let you know yay or nay, and there you have it! In return for this you host people when you are not traveling and able to do so. It truly is an amazing program and I am really excited to have the opportunity to be a part of it. I think it is going to make this trip even more memorable than it would have been already.
So there you have it - the beginning. I hope you will all stick with me and follow along. I would love your comments and feedback as I go!
