is a blog by Brendan
Still alive. Typing slowly after losing three fingers to frostbite. Have taken shelter with kind Susanna and John in Provo, Utah.
Stayed a night at Days Inn, Sidney, Nebraska. Crossed the border at 0900. Wyoming was very bad. Windy. Snow in the pass. Got desperate. Ate Leonard. Still feel cold, so deep in bones. The cold. The wind.
Tomorrow: Vegas.
We have reached Lawrence, Kansas, and have been fed a delicious and restorative meal by Alyson and Dave themselves. This has soothed our battered spirits, aggravated by a day spent mostly slap-fighting over the XM radio. Leonard has some advantage, in that he can attempt to swipe other cars on the passenger side to jar my grip. I, meanwhile, have two free hands and thus twice the slap potential. It’s a very close match; tomorrow, I plan to fill my pockets with sand to throw in his eyes. I’ve seen him eyeing the PASNGR EJCT button, and there’s no way I’m getting rocketed out into Kansas before we reach Cheyenne.
Leonard just called to tell me he’s leaving Little Rock for Louisville, putting him at my apartment some time late tonight. When he leaves on the next leg of his road trip back to San Francisco, I’ll be riding with him, skipping out of work and school for a week to hit Far Points West and fly home a week from today.
As linked in the link above (metalinked?), Leonard has titled this expedition “As Long As I’m Here,” but for me personally it’s Captain Spacedork’s “Conquer the Rest of America” Adventure (I was going to make it “Actually Goes West of the Mississippi,” but then I’d just be lying). I get to meet several luminaries from the NewsBruiser User Galaxy of Stars, including Sumana the Cogent, Frances the Bold, and even the famous Atticus Matkin. I also get to do some recon work in anticipation of my return trip this summer.
I’m really looking forward to the trip, and I’m glad Leonard extended me the invitation, especially in light of the fact that he’s still going to have to do all the driving. I’m sure we’ll both be updating from the road when we can. And Mom, don’t worry, I’m packing all clean underpants.
A mystery begins today. Or does it? Well, it seems like it probably does.
I’m unabashedly stealing a story from Sumana today–I can’t give her credit there, so I might as well do so here. If you’re clever, you might even figure out where it is.
Update 1343 hrs: Also, while checking something for said story, I managed to get Yahoo! Maps to produce a set of directions that concluded with “19: Arrive at the center of OHIO.“
Sumana sent me pretty cool article.
“Louisville Christians are demonstrating that the Church is indeed one. Predominately black Forest Baptist Church has joined predominately white Highland Baptist Church in commemorating those killed by violence in the Louisville area during the past year. Church members drive white crosses into the ground outside their churches equal to the number killed during the past twelve months….”
Times like this, I like to remember my city’s motto.
Louisville: Hey, we’re not Cincinnati.
I experienced a surreal and Sumanaesque moment upon the sudden realization, tonight, that I have a LiveJournal! No, wait. I knew that. Stephen gave it to me. What was surreal was planning to set up another account, with the aim of syndicating NFD, and then discovering that a certain kind somebody had already done so!
LiveJournal: A neverending font of generosity. If you’re Brendan.