My Rte 66 Trip

I have always had a dream to drive Rte. 66. I think it's because I've heard the Chuck Berry song way too many times. To me, Rte 66 always seemed like that little piece of old-fashioned Americana that has been dying out with the invention of bigger and better things (i.e. I-40). I used google maps to create a map that pinpoints all the major cities that Rte. 66 goes through.


View Maureen's Route 66 Trip in a larger map

I marked some general feelings I have when hearing the city names and my sort of plans for each major city. Since I haven't been to many of the cities, I would have to do research to figure out exactly what I want to do (I'm a sucker for tourist traps like "The World's Largest Ball of Twine").

One thing that I really liked about marking my trip down in google maps is the ability to turn on photos, videos, webcams, and wikipedia articles for my map. So simply by clicking "More" at the top of the map, I can choose these things. This is nice to get a sense of what people felt was worth a photo. Plus, after my trip, I would be able to add in my own Rte. 66 trip photos.

I have never played with this part of google maps before, so this was very interesting to me. I have a Garmin gps device that I never leave home without, but it only gives bland directions and shows roads. If google maps could combine with my gps, I could have photos of what I am looking for, satellite pictures, wikipedia pages that might recommend some of my tourist traps. This would be a far cry from the vacations I took with my family as a kid, where we had a paper map that could never get folded the same way again. I think that this newer technology would make it very difficult to get lost or to remain lost for too long. This is where I see cell phones taking over the gps market since it doesn't make sense to have a bland gps unit when a cell phone can do all that and more!

Hang 10

http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/ / CC BY 2.0

I remember hearing about couchsurfing a couple of years ago when I was listening to NPR. The people on the program were talking about some of the pro's and con's that were associated with sites like couchsurfing and one other site that allowed you to exchange houses with another person/family. I thought the idea was neat but not necessarily for me.

I come from a family that seems to have a constant flux of people from all around the world that visit (right now, my mom's best friend, a German named Uwe, is staying at my parents' house for the next two weeks). My mom goes over to Germany for several weeks each year and ends up staying with people that she just met, only speak German (of which my mom can basically say "The airplane is dead") , and then inviting them to stay with her in the US. This is the sort of ability that I envy since she is very comfortable staying with people she barely knows if it means she is having an adventure. I can't do that.

In setting up a couchsurfing account, I can see how it would be useful to someone like my mom or even college students who are looking to save money and still have fun, but for someone like me, I just don't know. As I'm getting ready to plan a trip for my husband and I to visit the New England area, I'm almost halfway tempted to throw in one night of couchsurfing just for the experience, but I think there is still that hesitation that we could end up in a bad situation. I definitely wouldn't do it by myself, but with my husband, there is a little more security. So we'll see about that.

I like that you can look at other people's profiles in couchsurfing and read some of the comments that people have made. I looked through a lot of profiles though and didn't see any negative comments. It seems sort of impossible that out of all the people who do couchsurfing that there are no negative comments. It even seems like couchsurfing discourages negative comments since you have to message the couchsurfing honchos to process a negative experience. So does this mean that couchsurfing is just that awesome or does it mean that only the positives are being highlighted?

I set my profile up to have coffee since I live in a house with virtually no room for someone to spend the night. We had a guest room at one point, but it was converted into another office. I joined a few local groups, and I was able to see how people could just throw out a "hey I'm going to be in the area these dates- who can help me out?" I actually answered a question that one woman had on trying to plan a western NC trip since I knew that one of the roads she wanted to travel on was closed for construction. Couchsurfing is one of those communities where it seems like everyone is really nice, so much so that I keep thinking there has got to be some catch to it all. Some dark underbelly that isn't being revealed.

After writing a few references for classmates, it seems that you could really just get anyone to write something nice about you. I don't even know in-person some of the people I gave a reference for, for all I know, they could have a collection of severed heads in their basements (I seriously doubt it, but you never know).

Couchsurfing seems like the sort of site that you go to for specific reasons, but not necessarily to hang out like some of the other social networking sites (i.e. facebook). There aren't games to play or the like, but what makes couchsurfing so different is that a lot of your interactions on couchsurfing could result in possibly meeting the person or people that you talk to on a message board or get in contact with to meet up or stay with. This is something that makes couchsurfing a whole different beast than other social media. The other social medias allow you to display yourself for others to look at. Couchsurfing seems more like a place to put yourself out there to actually meet people and make real interactions- not just comments on a blog or wall.

After going through my meetup meeting, I'm not as hesitant about couchsurfing as I might have been when I first started putting my profile together. So maybe, just maybe, this will be something I'll be using when putting my trip together.