Zero hour on the rise

IRVINGTON, NY — Digital ain’t green, that’s for sure.

Right now I’m packing recharger chords for my laptop, iPod, two digital cameras, and cell phone. I wonder if there will be enough outlets for all these gadgets in some of the older mom and pop motels along Route 66. Back in the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s, when Route 66 was The road to take from Chicago to L.A., people hand-wound their cameras and used pay phones. Their cars may have guzzled more gas, but in other ways our forebears were greener than the Jolly Green Giant. And they weren’t quite as obsessed with keeping in touch as we are today.

In a few hours I’ll depart on my own journey along that legendary pathway. In the days to come you can check back here to read my dispatches and Tweets from the Mother Road as I follow it from Chicago down through Missouri and Oklahoma to the Texas Panhandle and then west through New Mexico, Arizona, and finally, California. Route 66 ends in L.A. (or, more specifically, Santa Monica), but my trip will continue north from there, up California’s coastal Highway 101 to the mountainous and almost perpetually green state of Oregon and ultimately the city of Eugene, home of Ducks football, Zen-trance-inducing bicycle paths and one mighty fine Italian restaurant, Beppe and Gianni’s.

Once in Eugene I’ll take a break from driving and writing and spend time with family there. Going home, it will be a straight shot across the northern U.S. on I-80. My older brother drove east coast to west coast on I-80 in a little over three days, and my goal will be to at least tie that time. Or so I say…

My car is a 2007 Mini S hardtop. I bought it new, and today it barely has 13,000 miles on the odometer. I’m confident that little buggy will voraciously eat up the road and wear its additional 7,500-plus miles with a smile.

So much for the stats. Why am I taking this trip? For one, I started my own business four years ago and haven’t had a real go-away vacation in that time. Business has been fairly slow this year (thanks a million, Congress and Wall Street!), so I figured the time was right. Personal issues are also involved, but when aren’t personal issues involved in a trip like this? We all have personal issues. For the purposes of this blog, let’s just pretend your issues are my issues and we’re all making this trip together for the same reasons. Just don’t ask to drive, ‘k?

Here’s a pic of yours truly taken earlier today by my friend Pete Forrest in Tarrytown:

So there you have the basics. Time for me to have at some sleep. Tomorrow it’s an early rise, a warm goodbye to my dog Ilsa, a handover of the house keys to Siobhan, a quick stop at Tarrytown’s Coffee Labs; and then the entrance ramp to Route 287, the Tappan Zee Bridge, and the wide-open road. I hope you’ll hang around for the ride. And, as always, your comments are welcome.