Step 2) Check it twice.

Things I love:

1. Lists.
2. Adding things to lists.
3. Crossing things off of lists.
4. Making lists about lists.

In plotting out this trip, I’ve largely been focusing on the Big Picture aspects. (If you know me offline and have asked where I’m going, when I’ll get there, or when I’ll be back, you’re familiar by now with my “I… eh… I d’unno…” response.)

Unfortunately, this approach makes it reeeeally easy for me to get behind the wheel and just keep on driving, so I miss great opportunities to get out and do the sorts of things that make traveling itself so memorable and enjoyable.

Drat.

To fuel my desire to do more along my route than just clock miles, I’ve been adding some “Hey I bet that’d be fun” ideas as they come to mind to my Needlessly Detailed Master Outline.

Most of the ideas I’ve recorded so far fit somewhere into the following list:

– Support the local arts scene! Shop local artists, see a play at a community theatre, attend a performance from a local band/musician, etc.
– Learn something new – a new song, a new skill, a new recipe, etc.
– Share something in a classroom setting.
– Ride a horse.
– Drive a Dodge Charger LX. (They just look so cool and rumbly.)
– Enjoy a meal with strangers.
– Visit churches and schools and see if somebody on the staff will show me around, give me a little of their history, their vision, stories about their community…
– Check out local museums. Art museums, history museums, science, tech, local famous figures, regional industry displays…
– Help someone with a project.

How about you? What’d make your “Hey I bet that’d be fun” cross-country road-trip list?

ETA…

– Pet an owl.
– And a bunch of dogs. A BUNCH.