Well, if you'd been reading the preface, you would know that it was basically because I chickened out of the original plan, which was pretty much to drive off into the sunrise and See What Happens. This is still kind of like that, only with an itinerary and catering -- while it reduces the chaos and fun potential considerably, Mike the Husband will be able to sleep nights as I'm less likely to be randomly mugged and left for dead, so it works out.
I'm going to be getting on an Amtrak train, the Coast Starlight, at 9:30 AM in Oakland, California, and then proceed widdershins around the country, ending back where I began. I'll be chronicling the trip with my trusty iBook, my Palm Pilot, and my digital camera.
Other than that, what happens is in the lap of my friends, acquaintances, and the gods. Except insofar as is necessary to keep me fed and warm, I'm trying to take this as an exercise in deliberate lack of control of my surroundings.
Update: So, if I'm throwing my fate into Their laps, best I do a little of Their work while I'm out, right? One of my other hats is that of Nerd-Dis (more familiarly, "Director of Internet Operations") for the Troth, which less pretentiously means "I keep their website up," and I casually mentioned on the e-mail list for my local group that I was taking this trip, and would anyone like me to send them anything?
Diana Paxson, Fearless Leader, happens to run both these organizations (so that's "Steerswoman" and "Gythia," respectively, or "President" and "High Priestess" for the less Norse-inclined), and pointed out that as long as I was going, could I please arrange a chat with this kindred along the way, take a few flyers, and generally represent? "Do what you already do, dear: just be friendly and chatty." Most of my gracious hosts are also my happily heathen net.friends, so, "Could you see if So-and-So wants a seiðr workshop out that way?"
That's why I love her. Always such reasonable requests. Of course, they always sound so reasonable at the time, in part because as a professional writer, words are her most favorite and shiniest toys. This is a lady who can make, "Drink the purple Kool-Aid," sound like an eminently reasonable notion. Besides, I could hardly complain, given that her typical travel schedule has her out in some far-flung corner of the world about one to four days in the average month, compared to which this was such small potatoes as to be bite-sized, really.
So now I have a few fliers. I promise not to hand you flowers in the train station. Really.
As a matter of fact, I do. The green line is my projected route. Blue stars are places I'll be stopping, although a few of those are just train changes. As I go along my trip, I'll be putting up updated maps as I relate the journal entry for where I am. At least, that's the theory.
I want that, too. It's coming. Update: I found that Adobe's ImageReady product can crank out imagemaps of some sort, so I was tinkering with that the other day. The trouble's not making the imagemap per se, it's finding out the exact pixels where things are. Big pain in the arse, which is why having a program for it is Nice.
News Flash: Check out the front page for a working imagemap. You know, these used to be a lot harder to do.
Dear LORD no. Never. I pride myself on accessibility of identical content in any browser, and moreover it's too much like work. I'd hate to have to bill me.
Having seen all this, Gentle Reader, why not sidle along to a page describing the modest collection of toys I'll have along? I like to call them my gadgets.
