day 86
behind the scenes

"I wonder if that fish is still good after two days in the car?" -a.
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Hourly Timesheet:
Driving: 3
Working: 3
Sleeping: 8
Meeting exciting people: 4
Doing exciting things: 4
Doing boring things: 2

Claim to Fame: We are proud to say that the entire Bemidji Chamber of Commerce has written us in response to Day 51.

Patriotic Vehicle of the Day
Scenes From the Spreadsheet:
Just as we're documenting our daily experiences, we're also documenting our costs. Here's a scary look at what we've spent so far:
Camping: $848.60
Mel's Oil: $26.75
Public Transit: $22.90
Junk Food: $160.47
Postcards/Postage: $71.64
Entertainment: $752.08 (Damn Disney)

Behind the Scenes
Nov 20 - We're not sure if many of you realize it, but one day this site will end. Yes. Yes. It's true. One day we'll either run out of money (unless we get a travel sponsor, of course) or Mel the Jeep will pass on (unless Daimler Chrysler is that travel sponsor) and we'll have to stop travelling. If we stop travelling, that means that there's a good chance the site will come to an end. And you know what that will mean? A hell of a lot more spare time for us, that's what!

I mean, have you ever thought about what goes into the making of this site? It doesn't exactly appear magically on your screen in sporadic leaps. In an effort to increase your understanding (and appreciation) of our site, we thought we'd take time today to bring you on a magical behind-the-scenes tour of the making of roadtrip.beimers.com! Buckle up!

Who does what?
Whoever feels like it. Most often, Aimee works while we're driving and Kev works at the campground. Depending on the day, and who feels funny (ha ha funny, not sick-to-your-stomach funny), we could both be writing, doing stats, taking photos or interviewing people. The only exception is that Kevin does all of the cartoons at the top and bottom of each page.

Where do you get the content from?
The backroads of America. And the people of America. There is so much material in the state of Arkansas alone that we could fill volumes. Occasionally, we'll take the content from a brochure we pick up somewhere. You can usually tell those days because you actually learn something useful. Like at Mount Monadnock... you didn't really think we knew anything about Thoreau, did you?

Does all this crazy stuff really happen to you?
Pretty much everything you read about has happened to us on the day we write about it. In some cases, a day overflows with so much good material that we may save a commentary or two for a more boring day. And other days are so boring that we have to make up a contest (or a behind the scenes
Find the toad hiding somewhere on this page!
FAQ page) just to fill the space. But most of the time, the page practically writes itself. Life is weird when you slow down enough to look at it.

Why does the site appear only every week or so?
As you can see from our schematic, we're working with more technology than the stuff they went to the moon with, but that doesn't give us a great upload time in the year 2001. Here's the deal. Our cell phone provider (we won't give out the name, because they sure as hell aren't giving us any perks) gives us nationwide coverage, with about five minutes per weekday and ten hours per weekend. It also only has towers in major populated areas (and sometimes at the top of a very high hill). So, when a weekend coincides with a digital signal, we can upload. So now you know that the best time to check for new pages is always Monday morning.

How do we keep up with each day?
Simple. We don't. We're normally a day or two behind (okay four or five) because we're busy having the time of our lives. It's only when we're rushing to upload or catching up at a home base that we're really up-to-date with the site. Friends hate us when we visit, because we say hi and head straight for their DSL connection. And of course, every day there's another page to do. So even if we catch all the way up to today, we'll still have more to do tomorrow.


Now, don't worry. This site will definitely continue for the next few months while we're in the USA. Yes, months. When we started in August, we thought we'd be done by now. We should have known.

So you've got a while before you have to start the petition to keep the site going. Unless you've already started a petition to get us to end the site. But that's an entirely different matter.

And by the way, we do read your emails. We may not always respond, but that's the cell phone thing again. Time is money. Which reminds us, and we cannot stress this enough...

Please do not send us jokes.

There's nothing worse than trying to download our email on a 14.4 cellular connection and to find that somebody has sent us a giant uncompressed photo of Bin Laden with a target on his head, or worse, an Anne Geddes baby with a kitten and a rose with a poem about how much our friendship means to you. If our friendship really means that much, save us the download time by not forwarding that one on.

But hey, all those other emails? Keep 'em coming! Especially the ones that say "I know a guy you can stay with." Those are our favourites!

So you see, this isn't just a party. This is a pretty rigourous project we've undertaken here. Hope you're enjoying it!


working hard...

Just

Ten

More

Minutes
more photos in the archive...

We've got mail...

Hey there,
Sorry dude and dudess. I forgot about the ol' cell phone thing and the crazy ass price yous guys is payin'. Okay no more forwards. Do I still get a kick ass prize in the mail for being the most creative? Did I get any of them right? I kinda liked the brothel one. It kinda looks whore-ish to me!
Love yas,
- Colin, Thunder Bay ON


Drop us a note!

Current Location
(get out your push pins)

Fort Lauderdale

Next Stop: Catching Up

see the full map...

Today's Weather:
Nice

Daily Stats
Distance:224.9km
Gas: $20.01
Engine: Empty
Oil:$10.78

Average Stats
Distance:207.4km
Gas: $7.69
Campgrounds:$9.53
Daily Spending: $62.38
Photos Taken:90

Sleeping Quarters
The Bruce Gordon Suite

Remember Bruce? Well, we're back.


Bkfast: 
Harriett's
Around Islamorada
K's Order:Western Omelette with Swiss Cheese
A's Order:Biscuits & Gravy, Coffee
Cost:$10.56
Dinner: 
Bruce's
Fort Lauderdale
Kevin:Box of Kraft Dinner
Aimee:Box of Kraft Dinner
Bruce:Box of Macaroni and Cheese

Your email address...

© 2001. Kevin Beimers and Aimee Lingman. Did you find the toad?