Strange stuff we saw

It turns out that in the middle of South Dakota there's a weird and awesome roadside attraction called Wall Drug. It's hard to describe for a variety of reasons, but as Doug and I were wandering through there we found an eight foot tall Jackalope, which I had to ride. It tried to buck me off, but I was victorious in the end.

How far did we drive?

When we were planning this trip, it wasn't clear exactly what route we'd take. But when you rent RVs you have to buy miles in a package, and if you go over you have to pay extra. So we took a guess and paid for 4,000 miles.

How many miles did we actually drive? See for yourself :-)

Travel's End

It's been another amazing trip. Spending time really getting to know these amazing people on the RV. All the great ideas for the future spreading around the conference. GWS is really an amazing group. To quote a great man, "We're websearch, bitches." I'll miss you guys.

Murphy's Law strikes again!

After 3000+ miles of driving, we dropped off the RVs and caught a bus from suburban NJ/NY into Manhattan proper. And wouldn't you know it, the bus broke down on the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, just a few miles from the end of the trip.

An irate New Jerseyan woman rushed the driver, demanding an explanation, harshing our Californian mellow. But East-Coast Type-A assertiveness proved its worth as the lady flagged down a passing bus also headed to the Port Authority, so we hopped onto a transit bus on the middle of the Lincoln Tunnel offramp.



So we made it to the Port Authority in, oh, two hours, then split up — some of us to a dinner, some of us to The Book of Mormon, and some of us walked down The High Line back to our hotel, where we showered for hours.

The Eagle has Landed

After much craziness, the RVs arrived in Tappan, NJ yesterday around 2 PM. We unloaded all our junk, rammed most of it into Grigory's van and he shuttled it to NY while the rest of us took Greyhound buses to the hotel. Miraculously, we got our full security deposit back on both RVs! I won't go into the details about how one of the buses broke down, etc - cause I wasn't on that bus :-) But I'm sure somebody will fill in the details there.

We're now at the GWS Summit which kicked off this morning and is awesome. Chris Henry took a ton of photos - we'll update the blog with more info about the trip as we settle in to our post-RV life.

A Wrong Turning

It's been days since I've had a proper night of sleep. My liver weeps softly. Last night, we rolled into our last KOA at about 1:30 a.m. By the time we had found our site and set-up, it was past two o'clock. What time are we to leave in the morning? On the road by 7.

Sure enough, almost no one was awake at seven -- leaving a skeleton crew to get the RVs ready for departure. Still in darkness, we try to find the exit. Instead we find a steadily narrowing trail through the woods. After getting ourselves well down the "Nature Trail", we realize our mistake. What ensues is an entertaining RV skill challenge: back up along a narrow muddy trail and then execute a three point turn ... while tired and sleep-deprived and operating on a skeleton crew.

Amazingly, both RVs made it out unscathed. We're on our way. We should be in Tappan around 3 p.m.

Late arrivals

Me: "I'm going to New York for the GWS summit this year."

Mom: "Oh, are you flying to New York?"

Me: "No, I'm flying to Detroit. Then I'll take a cab to Ann Arbor. So that I can get on an RV. To New York."

Mom: "....."

Anyway, this RV is fantastic! It smells way better than it should at this point. So pumped to jump in for the last leg.