The thing that makes the big trip the BIG TRIP is that we’re going to visit all 50 States and Canada. The original idea was to visit all 50 States in a year. Based on some initial google maps routing, it looks like the entire route will be as long as 35,000 (not including the flight or cruise to Hawaii).
We want to visit companies and universities throughout the country that are doing innovative research that we can feature on GeekBrief.TV.
I’m inclined to plan the whole route ahead of time. Neal prefers to plan as we go. I learned on our month-long road trip in August 2007 that spontaneity isn’t such a bad thing. I also think we should look at waterfront real estate just for fun. I want to compare the differentiating architectural styles from different parts of the country. Of course this would dependent upon our route and may turn out to be a bust.
A friend suggested we check out car accident attorneys offices and take pics of them, comparing their different architectural styles. There are sure to be lots of law offices scattered in the small and large towns we are planning to travel through. Hopefully we won’t ever need a car accident attorney. Because if we did that means one of us is seriously injured with possible long-term consequences that would impact complete recovery and the bus is totaled. What a big mess that would be. It would totally set us back big time regarding our BIG TRIP. Sorry about the usage of all the “bigs,” but I couldn’t help myself.
A relevant aside: From our previous trips, we noticed that our trips share something in common with some of the other travelers, especially the big rigs. The long haulers include everything from independent truckers, to local Baltimore movers affiliated with national brand moving companies. Whether hauling a family’s household furniture, or groceries, or electronic products for a big box store, these are fellow travelers that are part of the adventure you’ve chosen to undertake.
If we did plan the route ahead of time, it would probably look something like this:
These are all the Apple stores in the US, from FreeMacBlog.com. 🙂
I will have a list of the locations we’re planning on visiting soon, including places like Sweetwater in Indianapolis, Microsoft in Redmond, Apple in Cupertino, etc. There will be a map with our journey as we move along, so expect that once we’re on the road.
Also depending on when we actually score the bus, we may do some mini trips before the BIG Trip.
** Update **
To those of you who care it is better to consider a basic route when planning a big trip it the general consensus. If you plan the rough sketch at least you can begin to work on timelines & when dealing with production that is not a bad thing. Also logistics of where your destinations are located. We wanted to visit all of the Universities to gather new details on tech projects they have been working on but it helps if you show up when someone will be available to give you a tour & discuss such matters. Also if you are hoping to set up camp somewhere near a given destination & you have not looked into the matter, you are likely to find absolutely nowhere you can get some rest before a big meeting or interview. If there is no planning what so ever there are bound to be some issues that arise. Luckily we had worked in plenty of budget & we expected a few problems so we made it through the trip just fine. On the other hand since we did not plan the trip in detail we came across some of the most fabulous things. We took small roads we would have never have thought about any other way & we ended up in some places that I will never forget for the rest of my life…