what do other people think? well, i'll tell ya....

I've decided the third draft of the itinerary is the final draft. It cuts a few sites from the original two drafts, but there are many pros. I have more time at each site, only two days are scheduled for more than one site, I have plenty of time to check in and set up at each campground, and my last day is flexible: I can spend as little or as much time at Gettysburg as I please, which means I can get home to Phila as early or late as I feel like. And anyway, I've reserved all my campsites. Four state parks and two national. Two mountain ranges. Five states in six nights. Not bad.

I'm getting a wide variety of reactions from people when I tell them about this trip. My dad, the only person on earth I thought would think it was the greatest idea ever, well he doesn't seem to be much into it at all. Last spring I told him I thought I might take a trip to Istanbul, an idea to which he was vehemently opposed. When I told him about this trip, he said, "Can't you do something safer? Maybe you could go to Turkey." At least three people so far asked if they can come with, and one guy at work asked if he could film it (a drunken notion, therefore not quite a serious one). A woman I work with from the Pennsylvania Department of Tourism told me to take notes and seemed disappointed when I told her only one stop would be here in our fine state. Another woman at work, a younger woman, told me I'd better take a man along because she couldn't figure any other reason I'd go camping in the mountains for a week. The South Philly broads took some rather bawdy bets on whether I'd shack up for a night with a Southern gentleman, and Jack predicts I'll fall in love with a reenactor (he has a whole backstory for this scenario but it's just too much to go into here).

The best, though, are the two reactions I got from friends I didn't tell about it, friends who found it here on Blogger or maybe on Facebook. Tom Alberty said it was exactly the kind of trip he'd take if he had the "time, logistical wherewithal, and general camping savvy... say, didn't he command a Confederate army in Tennessee? General Camping Savvy? Hmmm? Look into that." (Sorry Tom, if you didn't want to be quoted, you shouldn't have put corny jokes in writing.) And Justin Fox linked to this blog on his own blog, Earth Minds Are Weak (check it out, it's pretty damn good, if you like bizarre and graphic independent comics), and titled the link "Bern At War."

So yeah, like I said, keep the feedback coming. I love it. I'm gearing up and I'm excited as hell.

Next steps: supply shopping and packing logistics.


xo