The Itinerary

I had only a vague inclination of where I was going to travel up until the last few weeks of May, or so.  I was planning to "wing it", and that applies to hotels, attractions, rental car, gas, rest stops, food...even some of the people I wanted to see didn't know about the road trip at this time.  But I had Faith, a Tom Tom, and a Burning Desire to not have to do observations or write papers all summer.


Call it irresponsible (I probably would), but I'd had a rough month and wasn't even really feeling the trip anymore.  Until I saw The Map.  


The Map was a simple, flimsy thing, lying on the dining room table.  I was watching River Monsters and don't know how it even caught my eye.  I picked it up and unfolded a double-sided map of the continental U.S., one side topography, the other just roads and normal "map" things.  Then the Finger of God touched my brain, right there, during River Monsters.  I should make an itinerary.  


So, I went to the computer, sat down, and wrote a three-page itinerary using Google Maps.  In green and purple ink, I planned each day's location, route, rest stop, and travel time.  I was thinking, "I should have started this sooner...I could have made every hotel reservation, planned dozens of haunted attractions, state parks, and restaurants."  It's true, and I could've done that in a nice three-ring binder, and then kept it as a scrap book with all my ticket stubs and photos and blahblah.  But that's ridiculous.  If I'd known how much all this food and hotel business was going to cost, I would've freaked out, canceled the trip, and reapplied for my job immediately.  You can't plan everything.


~A


P.S. It would perhaps have been nice to plan out some Planet Fitness trips, but no, I rolled back into NY looking like Violet Beauregarde in the chocolate factory.


Here's some nice pics from the South:

...got lots of these meandering, unplanned, BTW.  Have a nice day, y'all.