02 September 2009

You. Tell me what to name my next blog.

I just had a load of pancakes for breakfast. I don't know what I was thinking. It's ten a.m., and all I can think about is taking a nap.

I'm getting progressively ready for my soon-coming Great American Road Trip. I've checked out Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent from the library, and reading it so far I can say that I'm not only getting excited about all the bad diner food in my future, but I've also managed to strike through Mark Twain's house as a potential stopping point. So that feels pretty good. I'm also coming to the conclusion that the really Big Stuff, the national parks and whatnot, are all out west, which I will be hitting somewhere near...December or January. Peak season. So I've planned that well. Not that a little snow or 'closed' sign has ever stopped me before. But what I really want to see--just as much as giant crater lakes nestled inside of majestic mountain ranges--is rural American living at its finest. I want to go to church potlucks in Alabama and pumpkin festivals in North Carolina and see maple syrup being pulled in Vermont and eat a freshly caught lobster in Maine...you know, the good stuff. (That said, let me know if your church is having a potluck on the week I happen to be passing through. Because I will SO be there.)

It's just occurred to me that much of my to-do list appears to be centered around food. I wish I could say with a clear conscience that I was also interested in hiking and trekking, but...let's be honest.

It also just occurred to me that after two months of nothing but driving and eating (occasionally getting out of my car for a photograph or two), I will no doubt gain about twenty pounds. Awesome. By the time I get near the end of my journey, it will be like, 'Hey, where's the geyser in this picture?' 'I think it's somewhere behind Sharona's rear.' 'Is that a corn dog in her hand?' 'I think so.'

Naturally, I'll be shooting and blogging from the road so that you will (be forced to) feel like you are journeying with me. You will endure endless photos of New England in the Fall, you'll get to see what a highway in Illinois looks like, and you'll have to hear all about where I stopped for lunch. It will be GREAT. Plus I figure if I maintain my blog as I go, you'll know where to go search for my car if there are too many consecutive days of silence*.

But before I can hit the road, I once again need help coming up with my new blog name! The Great American Road Trip has already been taken (by someone who drove to ALASKA, so I begrudgingly admit he earned it), and so has On the Road, by some * hmph * who is totally wasting it. Especially since I would've loved to continue naming my blogs from Beat themes. I've also considered 'The American Road Trip,' but that's really just because I think it'd be funny to have a blog named TART, not because of any great affinity toward the name. So as you can tell, I'm not making it real far in this particular stage of the creative process. I need you. If you have any good road trip blog names up your sleeve, PLEASE let me know.

Also, any tips on the best road atlas to get?

*I will of course be ALIVE, just slightly dazed and confused. You are MORBID. But you should be forewarned that I am a TERRIBLE driver. Really appalling. I hit pretty much every stationary object I see, and the only reason I've never hit a car is because they're moving too fast. In fact, much of my blog may be spent lamenting the death of trees, mail boxes, light poles, or fences. You will probably be able to trace my path across America by the trail of destruction alone. Anybody who joins me for a leg of the journey, feel free to take the wheel, notably if you feel your life may be in danger. But rest assured that I probably won't kill you, just concuss you.

6 comments:

Alissa - the Big Sis said...

I don't really have a suggestion for you because I haven't had my coffee yet and that means I'm not actually awake either. oh, but I am. Shoot! Catch ya in a couple cups...

sunny said...

Congratulations on using the word "stationary" correctly and with the proper spelling.

I'll mull over a new blog name for ya. It's in my brain somewhere... might need some m&m's and some coffee to pull the name out for ya.

ignore how odd that sounded.

Lizzie said...

Per atlases, get a BIG ONE with all of the side roads on it, especially if you're road tripping. You won't want to stay on the highways all the time. I think it's Rand McNally that puts out a yearly backroads map. You want that one.

deee said...

Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.

- Jack Kerouac

the road is life?

or after a great roadtrip song, Carwheels on a Gravel Road, by Lucinda Williams (so good)

btw, you are going to need some music for your roadtrip!!

Anonymous said...

The Rand McNally map is the way to definitely the way to go.
How about...Look out, here I come! HAHA
or you can get snotty...Been there, done that!
Um..maybe not such good ideas..let me jump on that coffee bandwagon also...Yippee, here I come!

MezzoCO said...

yup, i'm late to the game on this one, but how about:
"America! F*ck Yeah!" (which, is, if you haven't seen it, from Team America. Highly recommend it. But that phrase might be trademarked. crap).

hahaha