There is probably a good bit of wisdom in the notion that if I really want this blog to tell the story of a journey that I need to share a little bit about the preparation of the journey and give it some context. Proof that it's wisdom is that someone mentioned the idea to me and that it wasn't my own;)
Who?
My quick analytical thinking answer is Chip and myself (Paul). One of my English teachers in High School use to get on my case about how often I used Yes and No and didn't elaborate on my thinking behind the answer, so what I'm going to try to do in the next couple months is fight with myself over being more elaborate and give better context to my answers. I may be pressed with time on how fast paced the trip will be, but I promise to do my best. Please feel free to call me out on this one as well, but if you would be so kind please try and make your criticisms constructive.
Chip and I are the two main players on this road trip cross country, but we're not the only ones. We met through a community we both belong to called Youth Apostles (YAs for short) and we interact together weekly in a ministry we're both currently involved in as moderators for the High School Boys-Catholic Life Community at St Mary of Sorrow's in Fairfax, VA or CLC for short. We both find ourselves in the midst of the same discernment of the Religious Lay Consecrated vocation within YAs even though we are at two different points in our life. I won't get to much into that now because I'm sure at different points along the journey we will share insights gained, excitements, concerns and all sorts of other stuff I don't even know about yet. Other players on this journey are those that have offered places to see and where to eat, the different folks we'll stop and see on the journey, and those that will be following along here and maybe even commenting on the trip.
What?
The journey we're embarking on is one of rest and relaxation; to see sights that we haven't seen and eat food we've only heard stories of / drooled about on TV (if you can't tell I'm really excited about the food). I think a cross country trip is pretty self explanatory; we aren't the first to do it and we won't be the last, but it is our journey and it's unique in its own right.
Why?
I think it is important to note that this isn't one of those last chance adventures to get in all the action we can get before diving into the religious life, but it is a good opportunity to see some sights as we transition from our jobs in the secular world to our first year of discernment and formation of the religious life. I think it's important to slow down before you make a transition.
Where?
I've narrated multiple times for people the places, people, and food I intend on seeing / eating and I've gotten pretty good at it, but I think the best way to answer this question is to tell you to go click on the Road Trip Map link to the right of this post. The idea is to get around to as many places as we can see that have come on to our radar since we starting planning out our conquest a few months ago.
When?
I'll be flying out from Baltimore on July 27th after celebrating with my family my parents 40th wedding anniversary! and Chip will be heading out during the first week of August after spending some time on the YAs beach trip. Currently we're projected to be back on the 4th of September, but then I'll be heading out with a couple of my brothers to see Virginia Tech Football whoop up on some elephants down in Atlanta, GA on the evening of the 5th.
How?
The first two weeks (aka The BBQ tour) I'll be embarking on my own by planes, trains, and automobiles (even a greyhound bus!). Chip has been generous enough to offer his Ford Escape to use during the trip so that will be the primary mode of transportation from Chicago, IL to Portland, OR and from San Francisco, CA back to McLean, VA. The best part about Chips SUV is that it is a hybrid and comes with an electrical outlet, which is important to note b/c we plan on making good use out of it so stay tuned in.
I guess the other thing I'll add to the "How?" is the moment when this idea gelled with the two of us. You see a few months ago when the economy bubble was popped my hours at work were reduced so I got to pick a day that became unpaid vacation time. What I ended up doing was taking off Wednesdays so I could stay one night a week at the YA house in McLean. Tuesday's are the night I would stay and then Wednesday morning I would get up and walk down the hall from my guest room to holy hour, mass, and then breakfast. How convenient is that! Then I would hangout with Eric, Brian, and Frs Mike and Jack in the office and sometimes goof off. Well one day I got an itch about wanting to do some traveling and knew in the back of my head about how Euro rail passes work from a woman I use to work with and decided that the US of A is much more innovative then Europe so we must have something of equal if not better quality! I get to talking with my pops that morning and he starts talking about Amtrak passes so off I go to the Amtrak sight and my imagination began to soar as to the possibilities of the places I could go and the food I could eat;) After extensive brain storming and trip routes (I think I planned out at least 3 different cross country trips before dinner that day) I left the YA house to go grab a bite to eat with Chip before CLC that night. While Chip and I are waiting for our food, and as he's probably noticed by now the excited look on my face that says I'm planning to take over the world, he calmly asks, "so what have you been up to today?" The rest of our conversation is a bit blurry as I'm sure the adrenaline took over once I began to whip out the Amtrak map of the US that shows all their possible train routes and their fare schedule. Later I came to find out as Chip chucked at me, like he tends to do when someone begins to act goofy or overly serious about something, that he too was wanting to do some traveling before our commitment in September.
(As Chip would say) And so the rest is history...
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