NAT Home

Here’s the plan:  the plant where I worked (okay, “worked” is perhaps a stretch here.  Let’s say the plant that paid me for my continued attendance and leave it at that) is shutting down, and they started offering severance packages.  I got the hell out of Dodge.  One of the upsides of working for a big company is that they really take care of you when they put you out of work, so I was faced with a big chunk of time where I really didn’t have to do anything if I didn’t want to.  Rather than bank the proceeds and find another job right away (which was my mother’s brilliant plan.  Honestly, sometimes I wonder if I’m really related to her…), I decided to borrow the RV belonging to my sister Susie and brother-in-law Bill.  Heeding the ancient call of “Go West” (my SC home kinda dictated that “going East” would result in an odyssey less epic than the one I have in mind), I signed over a portion of my stash to AAA, who must have wiped out an acre or two of old growth forest to print all the maps they gave me.

There are a few stops that are set in stone (San Diego, August 10-18, for ComicCon International; Las Vegas, August 21-23, for World of Atari ’98), and the rest I’m making up as I go.  I’m taking my laptop and a list of local access numbers with me, so I hope to update the Tour pages as I go.  This also means that, theoretically at least, I can get email, so feel free to drop me an electronic line if you know of something I absolutely must see, hear, or drink on my trip (yes, I’m going to Newport.  Yes, I’m parking the RV at the Rogue brewery and filling the fresh water tank with Shakespeare Stout), particularly if you’re interested in meeting up with me for the festivities.

The tentative schedule looks like this, with notes on where I _actually_ was compared to the plan: (NOTE: as of 08/02/98, this has all gone to hell.  See update for 08/02/98 for more information).

July 25, 26 Atlanta, GA

July 25: Greenville, July 26: Atlanta

July 27 Nashville TN

July 27: Atlanta

July 28, 29 Memphis TN

July 28: Nashville, July  29: Memphis

July 30, 31 St. Louis, MO

July 30: Memphis, July 31: St. Louis

August 1 Lost in the prarie (okay, _you_ find something fun in Kansas…)

August 1: Salina, KS

August 2-4 Denver, CO

August 2: Salina, KS

August 5 Somewhere in or around Cortez, CO

August 6, 7 Grand Canyon Village, AZ

August 8 Lake Mead National Recreation Area, AZ

August 9-17 San Diego, CA

August 18, 19 Los Angeles/San Bernardino CA

August 20-23 Las Vegas, NV

August 24 Somewhere in or around Tonopah, NV

August 25 Reno, NV

August 26, 27 Klamath Falls, OR

August 28 Newport, OR

August 29-September 1 Portland, OR

Hopefully, below this blurb is an ever-growing list of dated articles created as the trip unfolds.  Have fun, I’m going to.

07/23/98