The Outdoor Shoppe, Meeting St., Charleston, SC
I was in the bicycle shop on Meeting St. picking up brake pads for my brother in India who had been given a mountain bike by a Belgian gentleman when I heard a British accent and spotted lowcountry blogger Geoff. Geoff is preparing for a nationwide adventure and invites us all to tag along....online.
Geoff's plan is to visit places in the US that share a name with a place on the London subway system map. I know, I know, who hasn't done that? Well, no one I reckon. I have a soft spot in my heart for wacky adventurers.
So....the plan:
Is to leave Charleston on June 15th 2009 and head up to the state of Maine. There is a tiny town there called Epping, which matches up with the tube station in London with the same name. I quite like the fact that Epping, Maine is located in the top right of the USA and that Epping, London is located in the top right of the tube map. A perfect way to start.
I’ve then found the name of a place in all of the mainland/contiguous 48 states of USA that shares a name with a place on the tube map (using the fantastic placenames.com) - and I’ll be driving to all of them to see what’s there. I’ll also obviously take in some of the more traditional ‘things to see’ in the USA on my way round, as well as some offbeat quirky things to.
I’m not going to announce in advance the names of the towns I’m traveling too - you’ll have to follow along and see which ones they are as I make my journey. I’ll also be having various companions coming along with me for different legs of the trip, and similarly you’ll find out who they are and what part of the trip they’re joining me for as and when they do.
Follow along on the blog or Geoff's Facebook discussion page. Offer him a place to sleep. Buy him dinner. Geoff is not bicycling across the country. I happened to run into him in the bike shop. Safe travels Geoff. I'd recommend a paypal button for beer donations. That worked when my son's friends rode their motorcycles around the world.
7 comments:
Mad dogs and Englishmen...
i'm sorry but this is the saddest and craziest thing i have ever heard of. I mean ...... WHY? seriously Why?
is it for a cancer cause, or another health fund raiser of sorts????
nothing personal, but totally a waste of time.
.....and your posting about this as though it is some Big News? .......again.....i'm sorry, but i really don't get it. also i seriously doubt he will get any true recognition from this! (sorry)
I am not trying to be rude, but your blog used to be interesting until you started writing sentences that were hyperlinked to something that you just should have tried to explain in your own words. Are we getting lazy here?
There is nothing more irritating that to start reading something that started out interesting then to have it stopped in mid sentence and have to go to another page, and then come back to finish the paragraph! (i'm talking over and over and over again) It's turning me away from you otherwise wonderful blog. WHY so many LINKS????
Blog posts should be readable without clicking on the links. Most of us who read blogs have limited time and won't bother returning to a blogger who uses this style too often. If I'm really interested in the topic, then I'll click the links. But 9 times out of 10 I won't!
Too many hyperlinks often don't get clicked on, and thus aren't used. Waste… slop! They could be, but let's look at the practical essentials, and summarize that they most likely won't: the time you put into making them — even if that's just a few seconds for each one, retrieving it, then copying-and-pasting — all add up. Hyperlinks can be distracting when you're focused on writing the meat of a blog post...
I hate to say it because you seem like an awesome person, but I believe all the links are negatively impacting your blog.
I'll be back when the links in your daily entry are gone! they are pain!
Good luck to him!
Anonymous must have missed its morning coffee by discharging both barrels before 0700. Yes, the endless walks and bicycling for endless causes are quite tiresome. In this case a young fellow who has been a member of the local (Charleston) blogger community, a Low Country Blogger, is off on a lark. The lad's a bit balmy in his undertaking, but that's just part of being young and, we presume, having no bloody job.
Those with color monitors can see that the links are highlighted in blue and may, therefore, be clicked upon to access rather than having to be cut and pasted. We are thankful for links because they cut down on the size of entries. They are like footnotes stored in an appendix which allow the reader to avoid bogging in the blogs.
We're all free to read what we wish so if this isn't one's cup of tea then have a nice day and don't let the door bump you on the way out.
How wonderful! I stirred up a hornest nest... cool. Let me expand some:
Windviel - I'm so thrilled you think I'm young! Must me Joan's handy camerawork that captured me nicely... i bet i am older then you think I am in that photo.
You also sum it up nicely.. (thx) that if this isn't your cup of team then that's it... no one is forcing anyone to follow my journey or click through on my website.
As it is.. our rather anonymous poster (name: Sissy), not only left me a negative comment here, but went onto my site and left me a negative comment their too... which... is just pointless.
I'm paying for this out of my own pocket, am not harming anyone, i'm just providing entertainment and the opportunity to live vacariusly if you do want to follow me along.
Part of the reason for me wanting to do this trip, is to get out there and explore the weird, wonderful and fascinating country that is the USA to meet some lovely people and see what's out there.
except... what it seems we have in Charleston already is someone who is perhaps jealous, short sightet, and prone to leaving unecessary negatimve comments when it would have been better to say nothing in the first place.
When i got home to England after this trip, and people ask me what America is like, I'll be able to say that most people are wonderful, but there are unfortunately some really mean people out there.
Have a great day Anonymous/Sissy.
The mistake is in thinking that I ever specialized in "big" news. I live enough big news (cancer, heart disease, sadness) at work in a hospital. My blog celebrates quirky. If it makes me smile, it's good enough to post.
Folks on wacky adventures make me smile. Geoff makes me grin. Windviel makes me happy parking his car in front of buildings all over SC and writing a story about them. Doing something for the joy of it is exactly the reason to do it.
Links? Love 'em. Access to more information opens up the whole world for me. Life without google would be a sorry step back.
Luckily there are plenty of blogs to go around and something to suit every taste. Big news and no links would be called a Newspaper.
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