The MASTER PLAN (part 1)

As I'm sure most (if not all) of you have figured out by now, I am planning a cross-country road trip over the next couple months. In this post I will discuss my plans for the first leg of my trip. If, while you're reading, you think of a place I should go along the way, know someone I might want to stay with, or just have any general tips for the region, hit me in the comments! I want to make this trip as interesting as possible, and the best way to do that is through collaboration!

SO. Stop 1: Baltimore. I know, I know, when I tell people this they give me this funny look, like "have you been to Baltimore? What in god's name would make you want to go there?" Well, it just so happens I have been to Baltimore, and I enjoyed it thoroughly! In addition to this, I have a couple close friends in the area who I can't wait to see, so it's going to be fun. I'll be in Baltimore for the weekend of Friday, January 16th. If you're in the area, you should gimme a call and come visit (unless you're in DC, in which case keep reading).

Después de Baltimore is Stop 2: Washington, DC. Yes, I will be in DC for Inauguration Day. No, I will not be attending any of those official functions. Tickets are either too hard to come by or too expensive for poor ol' me, so I'll be partying it up with what I'm sure will be a great turnout of other poor bastards who wanted to be there but couldn't afford to "Be" there. Where will you be for Inauguration? Will you call me to find out what DC is like? I hope so!

Since parking is ridiculous in DC and it's going to be even more ridiculous on the days I'm in town, I'm just going to leave my car in B'more and take the MARC in. Apparently MARC is running their regular schedule on Monday (which is remarkable because that's MLK day and they usually don't run on national holidays), so it'll only cost $7 one-way. Can't beat that! So Wednesday or Thursday I will return via MARC and continue on my journey from there.

The next three major stops are as follows: Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin. It's quite a drive from B'more to Atlanta, so I've been asking around as to where I should stop in between, and right now the top pick is Asheville, NC. Not sure how great it is in the winter, but I've heard good things from friends and there are a lot of couchsurfers in the area, so I'm sure there's some reason to go there, right? If you have any thoughts on Asheville or really anywhere between Baltimore and Atlanta, let me know! Come to think of it, thoughts on stops between ATL and NO, or between NO and Austin are welcome too! I can do 8 hour drives, but I'd rather not, you know? I wanna take my time on this here road trip. No hurrying allowed!

From this point things are still hazy. All I know is I have to be in Austin by February 6th to catch the plane to Chicago for the NASCO Board Meeting. Since there's about 2 and a half weeks in between Inauguration Day and the 6th, I've got plenty of flex time and so I hope to use it to experience the Old South as fully as possible (preferably the culture and people more than the tourist attractions). Lemme know if you have any tips.

I'll be keeping this blog updated regularly during my travels, so if you want to know what's going on with me on this crazy road trip, keep on top of it! I'll also have my mom's DSLR camera with me, so will hopefully be posting some really pretty pictures along with my ramblings for you to stare at in awe and wonder.

That's it for the pre-trip update. See you all on the road!