1. I went back to AAA today, spoke with Edna again (she's seriously my hero; I'm going to send her postcards from every stop!), and got an updated itinerary. I also got a new map to put on my wall. On it, I've put the day-by-day route (not with roads yet, just general times) in green post it notes, where we're staying overnight in orange post it notes, names and addresses in yellow post it notes, and PICTURES because I am a HUGE VISUAL DORK.



2. My hero, my love, my awesome friend marnanel is working hard on making a section of my website exclusively for the trip. It's still rough, but it's ten kinds of sexy. The map on the right has markers that I can update. For example: click on "Washington, DC." I can put pictures and a link to the day's blog entry, mark any stops we make along the way, etc. Isn't that amazing? On the left side of the page, all of my entries the "The Next Great Adventure" tag will update automatically when I post to LJ.

3. I've created an LJ community, saleaway, for the purpose of selling my possessions. This weekend I will start posting with the books, DVDs, furniture, art, photographs, and other stuff that I'm going to be selling. When the time comes, I'll let you know.

4. I'll probably be talking more about this later, but I figure I should throw this out there now. If you're interested in donating to The Next Great Adventure 2008, I've put a "Donate" Paypal button in my profile. Donors will get all kinds of nifty stuff... which I haven't quite figured out yet (I'm thinking something like a hand-painted thank you card, a postcard along the way, an original print of a photo I take, etc.). But if you like my writing and photography and you want to read about the successful adventures of a strange twenty-one year old and her South American friend traveling across the wild and gorgeous United States, think about a donation (and if you want, mention this in your blog!). Every little bit helps. Your $20 could pay for a night at a hostel, 154 miles worth of gas, or a stop at The Boneyard.

5. Does anyone have any roadtrip-y or travel-y book recommendations?