Day 2 Begins

Entertainment Score

I've got three words for you: books on tape. Actually, I think they're called audiobooks these days. At any rate, they're great! ..I think. Never listened to one, but my Dad swears by them.

This evening, as I was pulling together our packing checklist, Matt mentioned getting a couple audiobooks. (I did not take this lightly because Matt talking about audiobooks is like me asking him if we can play video games. I would be crazy not to jump on it!) But here's the rub... audioboooks cost more on iTunes than I care to spend. Solution care of Matt: PUBLIC LIBRARY!

Not only are we lucky enough to live three blocks from a fabulous park but we also live ONE block from an equally fabulous public library. In fact, we're pretty sure my Grandpa built the original structure. Nothing better than American bricklayers.

Long story short – we now have three, free audiobooks. Two suspense books I've never heard of before (one that takes place in the Southwest) and one Western. A collection of plots I thought Matt would love because it's loosely historical and geographically relevant to part of our road trip. All I got in response was a "huh?" 

I try, I really do. :-)

There's this site, aubible.com, where you can download audiobooks for about $8. Thinking about ordering Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Have you read the book? Worth listening to??

Kris, if you're reading this, let me know what's available to borrow.

So Which Is ‘Dem 11 States?

I got a great question today from my friend Barb in Dallas, “Can't wait to read all your adventures. What states are you traveling through?”
 
Minor oversight to the blog about the 11 states we’re traversing – listing the actual states. I’ll first note that by design we’ll narrowly avoid setting foot into both Kansas and Nebraska (a “hats off” to all you Mizzou Tigers fans).
 
Let’s see, we’ll start by bisecting our state – beginning in eastern “Missouri” and ending in a foreign land known as “Missoura.” From there we’ll head north until we reach the western edge of Iowa. And boy, we’ll be within a stone’s throw of Nebraska for hundreds of miles. Next comes the great… err… grand… well, very vast and mostly empty state of South Dakota.
 
I could go on, but you get the picture.  Based on Barb’s question, I took the liberty of creating this interactive Google map of our journey. Might even update it along the way with some of our favorite sites and eats – we’ll see.
 

View Foodie Road Trip - Maiden Voyage! in a larger map
 
On an unrelated note, I had the privilege of grabbing a drink after work with a truly fascinating woman. She’s an executive coach today, but she spent more than 20 years as a ballerina at The Met and discovered opera along the way. She’s headed to Athens next week and I was stuck by the comment she made as her eyes lit up in anticipation of the journey, “I am transposed by antiquity.”
 
Now that’s a way of seeing (and being) I could rally behind! In other news, I need to pack, but I really, really don’t care to.

A Week and We'll Be Road Tripping

Morning, road crew! In one week from this morning, Matt and I will be embarking on our epic journey. It's getting so close I can almost taste the road dust.

An update from yesterday's blog, I received a top-notch idea from my Dad, currently in London, that audio books were a must! He even suggested I hit up a family friend for a few of his copies. Will definitely be sending him the blog URL this morning. (Thanks in advance, Kris!)

In other news, I added several gadgets/widgets to the right-hand column of the blog. Interested in your reactions.

On the topic of family and friends... I'm not assuming you're wowed or even minorly fascinated by our road blog – but if you are, feel free to share it with friends. Just do me a favor and don't tell them were we live. Housesitter or not, I am a tiny bit paranoid about advertising our out-of-town status.