Wednesday, January 9, 2008

From Snow Pond to Puget Sound: A State by State, Beer by Beer Journey Across America

From Snow Pond to Puget Sound: A State by State, Beer by Beer Journey Across America

PREFACE

I have spent the last four months living in my college roommate’s parents’ barn in Concord, NH, at the picturesque location of Snow Pond. I passed the time covering the 2008 New Hampshire Primary for my blog, http://www.threeqblog.com, and the Huffington Post’s Off the Bus Project. For three of those four months I kept low-wage day jobs of substitute teaching and tutoring kids after school in basic math. Despite these day jobs, I was close to broke by the middle of December and with two weeks of vacation-induced work stoppage staring me in the face, I decided the most logical decision for me was to head home to stay with my mom for a few months, work two jobs and refill the bank account that I had slowly drained during two season’s worth of campaign coverage, unemployment, and the social and professional drinking engagements that go along with such a circumstance.

With that in mind, how else should one cross the country but by auto? Especially given the amount of time spent over the past half year intricately watching the movements of the very men and women seeking to lead it’s government. I felt that it would have been a misjudgment bordering on the criminal not to taste the cultures of a broad section of America in person after following it’s would-be leaders. While I was at it, I also deduced that I ought also to taste it’s beers.

THE RULES

Driving from New Hampshire to Washington, I was to consume at least one beer from each state. The beer had to be brewed in that state, and entirely drunk within said state’s borders. A photograph proving this feat was necessary each time, including myself, the beer, and a landmark distinctively specific to each state. Alone, I often chose road signs. With a partner from Illinois to Idaho, I was able to be a bit more creative. Upon leaving, our route was still in limbo. By trip’s end I only knew there would be somewhere between fourteen and seventeen states to hit. The following is a chronicle of that voyage.

1 comment:

DiVo said...

Any chance this trip is going to bring you through Virginia? If memory serves me correctly, your last two visits there were memorable, including drinking High Life and watching Weird Science with Jamie; and eating dinner at Martha's (of which Vince has fond memories...) and watching porn with a bunch of dudes back at the frat after a visit to the Buddhist Biker Bar.