Land o' the Free

"When the mercury rises, it's all about freedom—to hit the road, float a lazy river, down a cold one in a mountain saloon, climb a crag or two, munch some local grub, cast for lunkers, watch the sunset from a seaside lodge."

I recently came across a July 2003 issue of Outside Magazine featuring descriptions of ten different summer road trips across the United States. Each road trip profiles the route, including "Adventure Stops", "Top Digs" (motels), "Best Eats", other "Don't Miss" opportunities, as well as recommendations for road tunes "On the Stereo"

Unfortunately, with the price of gas in 2008, I will content myself with the article illustrations by Zohar Lazar. Each article includes an illustrated map, designed to look like one of the old "Wish You Were Here" postcards.

These aren't postcards, but they should be!


#232

Evan Crossing the US

In March of this year, Evan, twenty-three years old, left his home in Northern California and began his walk across the United States. Monday this week we had the pleasure of hosting him for a night here in Dayton, Ohio.

He had many interesting stories to share, and good conversation. We could have gone late into the night, if most of us didn't have to go to work the next day... Some of his adventures are chronicled in his blog: Evans crazy ass adventures crossing the US ect. Unfortunately, his Flagr map stopped working about halfway through Missouri:



From Dayton, he will continue across Ohio to Pennsylvania. His goal is to make it to Massachusetts by the end of the summer.

Ms. Cartophiliac connected with Evan via the Couch Surfing Project, a "worldwide network for making connections between travelers and the local communities they visit." These connections provide opportunities for individuals to find a free "couch" to stay the night while traveling, and maybe make a few new friends along the way.

Each dot on this map shows locations where couch surfers might be able to find a friendly sofa:



Evan has used this network to connect with Couch-Hosts from Europe to China. After he is done with this trip, he says he's off to Japan. Good luck on your trek, Evan. May your feet find soft highways...


#208

Bloggers Read Blogs

I checked my stats and found that several more blogs have linked to, or commented about Cartophilia.com. As always, thanks for the plug. And now to return the favor:

I been getting lots of visitors recently from Gadling.com Not a "map blog" but a blog about travel (and travelers, must by necessity, appreciate maps!). However, we also have something else in common. One of the blog writers is named "Jamie" and s/he loves The Amazing Race as much as I do!

Contours is the Official Blog of National Geographic Maps, publishers of reference maps, outdoor recreation maps and mapping software, and professional mapping applications.

Recently they took a look at Our Dumb World: The Onion's Atlas of the Planet Earth, 73rd Edition, and they say the entry on Afghanistan made them cry. Can't say I blame them (but it is still funny, in a macabre way...).

Postcards from Bloggerville is published by a psychologist and writer who has a poetic apreciation of maps.

WHAT IS THE CENTER AND LAYOUT OF YOUR MENTAL GPS SYSTEM?

Do you carry an inner map of the world? Of your life? Of your body?

How do you or don't you use maps in your life?

What is your map of your yourself?

He She writes about many kinds of maps, of places... or persons...

Phillipe Boukobza takes a different tack with his Visual Mapping. He is interested in how ideas are mapped.

A mindmap sketch from John Clapp.

There's a Map on my Lap!

There's a Map on My Lap!: All About Maps, by Tish Rabe, from the Cat in the Hat's Learning Library

"I'm the Cat in the Hat and I'm happy to say there's a map on my lap-let's get on our way!..."

As a kid, one of my favorite books was Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. If this book had been around then, it probably would have become my favorite book. As long as I can remember, I have loved maps. When we would travel, I would usually have a map in my lap, as I followed along on our route.

I remember one summer, probably when I was about 12-years-old, we were on our way home from visiting family in South Carolina. I talked my Dad into taking a "short cut". On the map it looked shorter anyway... Dad often induged me in my map fetish, and we weren't in a hurry, so he agreed to go "overland", off the expressways.

Today, I can only guess at the route, perhaps U.S. Route 25. Probably somwhere around Tazewell, Tennessee, or perhaps Middlesboro, Kentucky, our axle broke.


View Larger Map

Fortunately, we were just down the hill from a farm house. I sat in the car holding down the brake, while Dad and my brother Walt walked up to the house and called for assistance. We were towed to the nearest town, and amazingly they had the part we needed. The car was fixed and we were on our way within a few hours.

I liked to imagine that if the axle broke on the expressway, the car would have careened into a gully and we all would have died. It was my suggestion that saved us all!

I had a pretty good imagination.

You may have noticed that I have "monetized" the site (see Google ad above, and Amazon ad to the right). I don't imagine that I am going to make big bucks off of this little hobby by adding advertising, but if I get a few cents to help pay for my costs, all the better. Another side benefit, is that I become aware of new books. The amazon widget looks at keywords on my page and selects relevant books to include in the box. This morning I checked in and saw the Map on My Lap book. I had never seen it before. But I'm pretty certain I am going to have to get it now.