Matt Is Doing A U.S. Road Trip And Wants To Meet YOU!

Started by matt35mm, June 12, 2009, 09:20:12 PM

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Stefen

Quote from: pete on June 13, 2009, 02:37:22 PM
I met up with stefen once.
lets just say I wish I could say "I'm no longer a virgin" with some semblance of pride.

The first time is always bad, though.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

squints

avoid oklahoma at all costs. there's mexicans here.
"The myth by no means finds its adequate objectification in the spoken word. The structure of the scenes and the visible imagery reveal a deeper wisdom than the poet himself is able to put into words and concepts" – Friedrich Nietzsche

Gold Trumpet

Quote from: matt35mm on June 13, 2009, 10:58:48 AM
I might do.  Michigan isn't on this rough draft only because I've been to Michigan before, but really I've only been to the Kalamazoo area and the Lake Michigan bit, so I'm sure there's a lot more to it than what I've seen.  So it's a maybe, and as I work out the details enough to see whether or not there will be time to spend a few days in Michigan, I will let you know.  If I do get to Michigan, then I'll make the effort to come and meet up with you.

Yea, I was just putting it out there. I don't expect anything. My part of Michigan is a lot different than Kalamazoo, but my part is also 8 hours north of Kalamazoo so it's a big hike. I live in the northern region of the Upper Peninsula and it's as rural as you can get in this country. No major highways and no significant cities. Just a lot of wilderness and a population so small that the entire Upper Peninsula only has one congressmen. Thrindle compared the UP to the northern regions of Canada where civilization just dies off. The reason I am still around is because in the middle of this wasteland, there is a decent university with some excellent scholars acting as professors. When I'm done with that then I'm hopefully gone for good.

To give you more deterrance from coming up, it gets very cold up here very fast. People say Detroit has shitty weather, but that's a resort town compared to our normal climate. It's a crazy place to live, but the cool thing is that I live right on Lake Superior. It's the largest lake in the world as far as surface area goes. The look and feel of it is close to a major sea. There are other cultural knick knacks I take pride in with living here, but those things are meant to be experienced instead of spoken about.

RegularKarate

I am married so I don't really have a place for you to crash, but if you come through Austin, definitely let me know and we can meet up! 

Great idea!

matt35mm

Yeesh, GT.  I think you've successfully deterred me from going there.  I'm not even sure it's possible on the bus, which is the transportation that I'm taking, if it's as out of the way as you make it sound.  And if it is possible, then it will still probably take something like 20 hours on a Greyhound from Detroit.  Thanks very much for the offer, though.

RK, I will definitely be coming to Austin.  I've been there once before for a few days and I loved it.  It's one of the places that I'm seriously considering moving to next year.  Let's definitely meet up!

cine

matt, your trip was ruined before it began when you kept it exclusively american and refused to visit Toronto.

matt35mm

But Toronto is so faaaarrrr.  Oh I'll think about it.

... in which case maybe it would make more sense to fly from London to Toronto, then just start heading southward.

I'll think about it.

Neil

Let me know if you make it to illinois, i'm on the southern tip, I have a spare room. i live about 10 min from stl...best of luck to you sir
it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

matt35mm

Thanks, Neil.  I'll probably be taking you up on that.  I'm assuming that "stl" means St. Louis?

Here's the new and improved plan.  I've been crunching the numbers and seeing what I can afford/have time to do.  I've had to streamline the trip to make it more, I dunno, efficient.  Some things that were too far out of the way (such as Miami and New Orleans) had to be done away with.  I still hope to go to those places, but this trip is just not the time.

I had to limit it to about 30 places, over about 75 days (avg. 2.5 days per place, but some places I'll want to stay more than that and some places less than that).  This is still packing quite a bit into the trip, so I'll be pretty damned busy.  Here's a list of the places that I'm planning to visit.



boston, MA (couchsurfing or maybe staying with a friend of a friend)
somewhere in CT (staying with a friend)
new york city + nearby jersey (staying with several friends)
philadelphia, PA (couchsurfing)
richmond, VA (couchsurfing)
raleigh, NC (couchsurfing)
asheville, NC (couchsurfing)
athens, GA (couchsurfing)
atlanta, GA (couchsurfing)
columbus, GA (staying with perenium falcon)
nashville, TN (couchsurfing)
bowling green, KY (staying with i love a magician)
indianapolis, IL (hanging with jefferson, couchsurfing if i can't stay over)
chicago, IL (hanging with walrus, couchsurfing if i can't stay over)
bloomington, IN (couchsurfing)
st. louis, MO (staying with neil)
springfield, MO (have family here, trying to time to be here around Thanksgiving)
denton, TX (staying with a friend)
fort worth/dallas, TX (hanging with Ravi and another friend, might have to couchsurf)
austin, TX (hanging with RK, couchsurfing)
san antonio, TX (staying with a friend)
santa fe, NM (couchsurfing)
albuquerque, NM (hanging with stefan, couchsurfing if he can't house me)
seattle, WA (hanging with polkablues, staying over at a friends')
olympia, WA (staying with a friend)
portland, OR (staying with a few friends)
eugene, OR (couchsurfing)
san francisco/oakland, CA (pete! xerxes maybe? staying with friends or family)
santa barbara, CA (staying with friends)
los angeles, CA (foursome with Mac, kal, and silas, possibly ghostboy and others)

Traveling via Greyhounds, Megabuses, Amtrak sometimes, and flying from Albuquerque to Seattle.  Transport budget is $1500, which is an average of $50 per journey (that should be about right, as the bus fares average around $25, and the trains and plane will obviously be more.  Food budget: $750 (average of $10 a day, which should be a piece of cake considering that I currently eat for about $3 a day).  Another $500 budgeted for "thanks for letting me stay/hang out with you, i love you" meals or drinks or whatever.  Another $750 for entertainment/hopefully very rare nights of having to get a motel room/misc.  Total budget: $3500.  Am I forgetting anything?  I should have around an additional $1000 that I don't plan on spending but can serve as some sort of emergency fund.  Hoping to not have to pay for lodging by staying with friends/family/couchsurfing.  I'm more likely to rough it than pay for a room.

I THINK that I've budgeted to make this comfortably affordable for me, such that there is plenty of room for error built into the budget.

I will try to set off in early October and make it home by Christmas or New Years.  Much of this is still up for change, so suggestions are welcome!

Stefen

That sounds like a lot of fun. When you find out, let me know when you'll be in NM. I live in a studio so my place is pretty small, but I can most likely arrange for you to crash at a friends place (they're all cool). We can hang in Abq or Santa Fe. They're about 45 mins apart. I live in Abq, but I grew up in Santa Fe so I know my way around. If you can, try and make it for a weekend since I work long hours Monday-Friday.
Falling in love is the greatest joy in life. Followed closely by sneaking into a gated community late at night and firing a gun into the air.

ono

Duuuude.  This is what you call a documentary, especially if you veer off the Xixaxian path and go to all the dives and ratholes you can.

You can possibly come to Charlotte if you want, too.  Big city, lots to see here, I'm sure.  Make it Raleigh -> Charlotte -> Asheville, and it's pretty much the same distance, I think.  Depending on what I'm up to that weekend, a ride MAY be possible (a big ass MAYBE may).  And that would save you a bit of bus fare.

Gamblour.

What a great idea. By the way, enjoy your time in England. That place forever has my heart, it's beyond wonderful.

Since Atlanta's already on your itinerary, we can definitely try and meet up. Don't have a couch to crash on, though.
WWPTAD?

Reinhold

buy travel insurance or have $500 on hand... you might get hurt or something and just want to head straight home.
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.

Neil

yes it means st louis, and it's all under control. all systems go.  This definitely has docu written all over it.
it's not the wrench, it's the plumber.

Reinhold

don't forget to spend a night in the grand canyon.
Quote from: Pas Rap on April 23, 2010, 07:29:06 AM
Obviously what you are doing right now is called (in my upcoming book of psychology at least) validation. I think it's a normal thing to do. People will reply, say anything, and then you're gonna do what you were subconsciently thinking of doing all along.