08/10/2012 508am Knoxville, TN

Chapter 1 

You know you are in Virginia if..

..there is chicken and a crushed can of bud light on the floor of a gas station off the high way. You also know you are out of your zone of comfort when you are in a car for 15 hours for 900+ miles in the first of 8 days in an attempt to reach San Francisco.

David, Ben & myself started from Providence, RI, my home for the past 4 years and also home of what I perceived as 'Murica. Space and time today and the following days are not going to be the same as relativity is sinking in. Travelling does wonders to the soul and defines luck as the wheels go.

We had a fruitful first day and zoomed by Connecticut and New Jersey within a heartbeat and a full motion fist pump respectively. Port Clinton, Pennsylvania was the first pit stop and by a stroke of luck we ended up in this quaint rural part of the country. Today was marked by a cultural gastronomic experience as I had my first PA cheesesteak sandwhich at Borans Port Clinton Hotel. I found myself asking why do restaurants in the 21st century have a hard time finely grinding steak meat like they do in Pennsylvania? 

While I still ponder this quintessential question, I shall have to rest for our arrival to New Orleans tomorrow. Where shall this journey take me? Am I to meet an eccentric figure like Ignatius J. Reilly of "A confederacy of dunces"? Am I to have a deep fried chicken contest with the local 10 year old reigning champ? Or am I to start a parade down the French Quarter? Place your bets and we'll meet again at the next wifi hot spot. or television. or radio station.