All right. I’ll be shoving off in about a half hour for a day of politicking in Eastern Pennsylvania. I’m checking out three Congressional races in the Philadelphia and Allentown areas, including two seats now held by Democrats: the fight for Joe Sestak’s old seat and Iraq war vet Patrick Murphy’s seat. I’ll also be checking in with Democratic challenger John Callahan, in Allentown. Here are some trip particulars:
Vehicle–a white Ford Flex SUV, sadly not a hybrid (my car of choice at home). One of the uber-bosses said it looks like a Refrigerator, which is absolutely correct and so the trip name for the vehicle is…the Fridge. Meanwhile, I’m fascinated by the aerobic nature of the model name. Is this the beginning of a new aerobic product line: the Ford Crunch, the Ford Pushup, the Ford Pilates? It is capacious, however, plenty of room for my things and traveling companions.
Things–I’m bringing my ipod, with 3500 songs, ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to LCD Soundsystem. I’m bringing 5 books (about which more as I travel). I’m bringing sneakers, on the off chance I engage in some sort of workout. The car is equipped with Sirius/XM, which would be good for listening to my beloved Mets, if that hadn’t become so painful in recent weeks, and also to XMU, my favorite indy music station. (Not necessary today since, we’ve got two of my favorite actual radio stations within range: WFUV in New York and WXPN in Philly).
Traveling Companions–It’s Labor Day, so why not bring along some guests who have spent their lives actually putting people to work? Peter Cove and Lee Bowes are the founder America Works, a very successful for-profit, welfare-to-work program. In recent years, they’ve expanded their efforts to prison-to-work and military-to-work. It’ll be interesting to hear how they do this in a down economy.
And finally, I’m still in the market for interesting people to meet along the road. The first week is pretty well booked up, but I’d be interested in meeting some people you know and admire out west–in Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and California. And so, I go…
Traveling
Update: Check out the above video on Time.com about the kick-off to my midterm road trip.
This post is part of my Election Road Trip 2010 project. To track my location across the country, and read all my road trip posts, click here.