transcontinental winterlude, part i: the itinerary

so, the other day i says to facebook, i says: “over the course of the next month i am going to drive over 5,000 miles.” i will now take the opportunity to elaborate on this announcement a bit, for the sake of the curious, and to supplement my own future memory.

on thursday of this coming week, i am going to pack up my car and go to san jose for the night, where i will have the pleasure of staying with two friends who moved out here recently from bloomington (where they had come for school, from portland), which will be really fun, because i haven’t seen them in a very long time, and i like them, so that is sad.

on friday, i am going to get up early and drive to ogden, UT, where i will have the pleasure of seeing three friends from burning man, and i will also enjoy the chance to sleep somewhere other than in the backseat of my car, which i have done many times over the course of the past few years while driving between CA and CO, and it is starting to get old, particularly in the winter.

on saturday i will make my way to boulder, where i will visit the ever-hospitable bourlands, and work with matthew on moving my kwerk prototype to the next level. we will also probably cook some tasty foods, and prepare ourselves mentally and materially for the trek that we will both be undertaking in the week to follow.

sometime late in the day on monday, according to my current best predictions, i will resume driving eastward, probably pushing through to chicagoland with one powernap stop somewhere in iowa, once the sun is up on tuesday. i don’t know where i will stop in chicagoland yet, but i hope it involves pizza.

on wednesday i will continue east to pittsburgh, where i will meet up with friends, sleep until thursday, and then make a large amount of stew, to be stored in ziploc bags until sunday night, when it will be consumed by hungry people who are camping in the snow.

from friday through monday i will be here, along with roughly 30 of my favorite people from across the midwest, and somewhere on the order of 150 strangers, many of whom are doing awesome things like constructing a giant flaming simon game, which i will definitely play. i <3 simon. on tuesday i will pivot and return west, this time on a slightly more southerly route, which will take me through bloomington, where i will sort through and purge/reclaim a middling amount of stuff that a very lovely friend has been storing for me now for over a year, and, through the graces of the fates, have the chance to hear malcolm dalglish and co. perform the third iteration of ‘the welcome table‘, as well as celebrate the 40th birthday of one of my favorite former professors, whom i am now fortunate enough to count as a friend.

i will also see kevin and talk about games and robots, and hopefully see many other people whom i love and have not seen for a while. and eat esan thai and aver’s. and go contra dancing. and generally give bloomington a big hug.

then i will go back to colorado and see my dad and some other friends in the vicinity of colorado springs.

then i will come back to california, where i will dive fully into the final preparations for the MAPS conference i am assisting with in san jose in mid-april. i am so excited about this event that i have not yet been able to put my thoughts into blog-ready words. i predict this will change in march.

and that is as far into the future as i am currently inclined to outline here.

i will post adjustments and photographic annotations as the story unfolds, as well as muse on other things that are in the works, like kwerk and my novel and work options for the summer, as opportunity and inspiration permit.

now that you know my itinerary, if you’re going to stalk me, you must bring your own mug and sunglasses, and gas money would go a long way towards earning my trust. games and snacks would get you bonus points, but if they are lame games, or poison snacks, you’ll be disqualified, so choose wisely, like indiana jones when he had to pick out the holy grail.

here’s a hint: i am not a carpenter, but my uncle is, and i am still rarely impressed by bling.

One Response to “transcontinental winterlude, part i: the itinerary”

  1. The K-log Says:

    […] drafts « transcontinental winterlude, part i: the itinerary […]

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