My trip's itinerary - phase two (Trip part 6)

The reasons for heading back to WA on the 11th of April have as much to do with Bri's wedding as they do with taking a break from the trip. By the time I leave Corvallis I figure to be able to have put around 4000 miles on the van, taking the rig back up to Seattle allows me the opportunity to restock and add or subtract anything that the previous three weeks showed I had neglected or over-prepared for. Seattle also brings with it the comfort of home and plan to spend a little time with my mom and friends.

After a couple of days in the Seattle area I will then have to decide if I want to head directly East (this is perhaps more dependent upon whether or not I am able to make it into Montana) or make my way back down south to Corvallis for some more social time with missed friends - a month of van living will surely remind me how lovely it would be to spend some time in my own bed, especially if I time my return right.

Either way East is my chosen direction, my course veering sharply from the West coast and towards, albeit slowly and in a zigzagging fashion, to a coast I am not familiar with, it's Atlantic currents vastly different than the Pacific's. I plan to touch the Midwest ever so slightly as I have seen my fair share of endless land and corn while taking my buddy, Ben, to John Hopkins. I do have an ulterior motive in skipping much of the Midwest, the fear of reliving another moment of postponed death near the University of Illinois - though Ben will argue to this day that it was on the Beltway in DC - haunting my dreams. I figure it may be safer though as this time I will not be driving a loaded down Toyota pick-up with faulty brakes at breakneck speeds around blind corners (one definite advantage of having only 67 horsepower I guess).

The purpose of this trip, from a real, qualitative standpoint, is to see and learn about a country I realize I know very little about. In these travels I definitely want to go to the South, an area of the country I have never seen but one that will elicit a love it or hate it opinion quickly, according to all I have talked to. In thinking about it I guess this has to do more with where in the south I go, certain areas are sure to test how tolerant of racism I can be, though I hear the bigotry of ignorance is offset by unequaled beauty of landscape and people.

Leaving the history and slower pace of the South, it is my goal to make it up the East Coast to New York where I have some great friends - one is an old soccer buddy, Morten from PLU who, through his Norwegian charm, found love in Thailand, love that brought with it the wealth of New York old money; another is an ex-player, Kaleigh, who is studying at NYU as the school's academic rigors are well suited to her intelligent mind (though, sadly, it turns out she will probably be studying abroad); and the last good friend is my best friend since Middle school, Mark, with whom my relationship has weathered every type of storm, years giving way to familiarity almost instantaneously.

I plan on hitting the farthest Northeast tip of Maine, as much for the ability to hit six states in one weekend as to witness the beauty of a true early NE spring. From the cold of the Atlantic it is a trip back, hitting everything I may have missed along the way. My plan being to hit as many of the 48 states I care to muster, seeing sights touristy and local along the way, my only real goal of the second phase is to find the country's largest ball of twine so I can buy a T-shirt.