Grounds-eye view of comics coast-to-coast

So I have enough encouragement and interest in an article or a series of articles that feature a grounds-eye view of comics from coast-to-coast. I’m going to be doing it while on my San Diego road trip, making stops along the way to chat with fans, creators, and retailers to talk to them about how (and if) the comics’ boom is effecting them. Get a feel for how comics’ growth and mainstream acceptance is perceived outside of the East/West coast.

I can’t talk specifics about where this is going to be published, yet, I do have some interest and I need to start casting a wider net to bring folks in so I’m not doing it last minute. So here’re the major cities I’ll be cutting through:

Roanoke, VA
Knoxville, TN (Spending the night – July 15th)
Nashville, TN
Memphis, TN (Spending two nights – July 16th and 17th)
Little Rock, AR
Oklahoma City, OK (Spending the night – July 18th)
(Time Permitting) Tulsa, OK
Albuquerque, NM (Spending the night – July 19th)
Santa Fe, NM (Spending the night – July 20th)
Flagstaff, AZ (Spending the night – July 21st)
Phoenix, AZ (Spending the night – July 22nd)
Yuma, AZ
San Diego, CA (Spending four nights (July 23rd – July 26th)

If you know someone in those cities or situated between those cities, I’d love to see if I can squeeze them in. A little talk, grab a bite to eat with them, have a drink, take a tour of their comic shop, go see Dark Knight Returns (I’ll probably be in OK City the night it comes out), hook me up with some internet access, reading session…I’m open for suggestions. I already have some appointments in some of those cities but, as stated, I’m going to try to squeeze in as much as I can.

Road Trippin’: Santa Fe to Albuquerque

Three weeks from day and I’ll be going from Santa Fe to Albuquerque. I’ll probably be leaving Santa Fe a little on the earlier side. I’ve always wanted to see Albuquerque and along the way the Bonezone, the Tinkertown Museum, Chevy on a Stick and the Atomic Canyon. I think, for the most part, I just want to get down there for dinner, hang around a little while in the AM, and then take the ultra-scenic portion of the drive. Looking forward to it.

Road Trippin’: Memphis to Oklahoma City

Three weeks from today I’ll be driving from Memphis to Oklahoma City, the third-longest leg of my trip at seven hours. Three weeks from today The Dark Knight is released. I’m sure you can see my dilemma.

The way I see it, I have three options. I can catch an IMAX screening in Little Rock. The only problem with that plan is that I planned on grabbing lunch with my friend Elton Pruitt while in Little Rock. That, combined with a movie, would be a hug chunk of my day and there’s some great scenic driving en route to Oklahoma I don’t want to miss.

So the IMAX thing is probably out. Oh, what’s that? See the IMAX screening in Oklahoma City? I would do that but, you see, there apparently isn’t an IMAX theater in the ENTIRE STATE OF OKLAHOMA. Oh well.

There is a pretty cool-looking drive-in, however, that seems to play recent movies. I’m really hoping they have The Dark Knight showing since I’ve never been to a drive-in before. If they’re not showing it, it looks like I’ll be seeing it in some plain-ole Movie Theater. You may call it a wasted night for the road trip but, come on, we’re talking The Dark Fucking Knight here.

So, that dilemma aside, what else do I have to look forward to three weeks from today? The William J. Clinton Library in Little Rock, of course. I still have a soft-spot for that old pervert. A statue of Popeye in Alma. The home of Woodie Guthrie in Okemah. A whole lot of scenic driving. And, of course, some OK City attractions such as Flaming Lips Alley where I have to imagine I’ll be able to pick up some LSD.

Road Trippin’: Memphis

Three weeks from today I’ll be spending my second day in Memphis.

I’m trying not to set-up too much of an agenda for Memphis, honestly. I know I’ll be spending my evening on Beale Street and I know I’ll be going to the Stax Museum and Graceland. I’ll probably spend as much time as needed at the Public Library’s Music Collection and try to dig through articles from the 50s and 60s to help get a feel for the growing soul community down there.

I’m mainly trying to get a backdrop for the Sam Cooke book I’m working on.

And then there’s the barbeque, of course. Every meal will likely be pig slathered in barbeque sauce.

I’m really looking forward to Memphis. I’ll probably find myself going back down there sometime this winter so I’m just getting a little taste for now.

Road Trippin’: DC to Knoxville

In three weeks I’ll be making the trip from Washington DC to Knoxville, Tennessee. According to Google Maps the trip should take a little under eight hours.

I’ll be stopping in Roanoke for lunch – I’d like to have a little picnic at Center In the Square before going over to see Mini-Graceland. I’m kind of psyched to see Mini-Graceland since I’ll be seeing the real one when I get to Memphis. It seems the landmark was in disarray for a while but it’s slowly getting put back together. I’m not sure what state it’ll be in when I get there.

Continuing on there’s the Big Pencil in Wytheville, Virginia. I figure that since this is a writing pilgrimage/research trip stopping off to pick up some new supplies at the Wytheville Office Supply shop that houses the Big Pencil would be a good idea.

A little passed Wytheville is the grave of Dr. Pepper. There’s really not much of a reason to stop there except to say I stopped at Dr. Pepper’s grave. I don’t even really like Dr. Pepper all that much.

That’s really all I have planned as far as the first leg of my trip goes. Time permitting I’d like to stop at some wineries on the way. I’m more excited about the view – it’s a pretty scenic route all the way down. I’ll be staying at a hostel in Knoxville for the night and some point before leaving Knoxville I’ll be sure to check out the Sunsphere because, according to The Simpsons, that’s all Knoxville has. I’ll also be checking out the world’s largest Rubic’s Cube, of course.

Road Trippin’: Hostels

Oh boy…

So everyone that knows me knows that I’m a bit of a, how shall I say it…I’m a prissy. Look, I like nice things. I like expensive foods and four-star hotels and large plasma TVs for my high-def DVDs, X-Box 360, Wii, digital cable, etc. I like nice clothes and comfortable furniture and Old World Wine. It’s just how I am…

So I was thinking about my hotel situation. You see, this trip is going to be expensive. Anyone who’s ever been to Comic-Con knows that I’ll be spending at least a grand over the four days in San Diego alone (including the return flight home, of course). Combine that with the rental car, the gas, the food, entertainment money, and the hotels for the 8 days I’m driving to the convention and, well, even I have my limits.

Even the cheap hotels would be $40-$50 per night and I’ll be staying on some highway away from the city, most likely. Getting bedbugs. So I looked into camping – if I’m going to be away from the cities I might as well have some fresh air and friendly neighbors. But it’s just not worth it – it’s like $25-$30 a night for a campsite and I’d have to actually, you know, buy camping equipment. Oh – forgot to mention – I’ve never been camping before.

So I decided to look into hostels and I was amazed to find that they actually exist in America.

So I booked hostels for my overnights in Knoxville, Memphis, and Flagstaff. Four of the eight nights will cost me $15-$17 and all I need to do is share a room with several dudes.

Ok – there’s the practical thing again. I’m saving some dough. Probably around $40 a night for those four nights. And I get to do it while staying within the city limits. Awesome!

But, again, there’s also the real reason I should be doing this. Why lock myself up in some hotel room where I won’t meet anyone? Isn’t the point of this trip to meet folks, have an adventure, and hear some stories (so I can steal them)? I need to put myself in a position to do that…

I’ll be staying at the Knoxville Hostel, the Pilgrim House Hostel, and the Grand Canyon International Hostel. I looked into hostels for my nights in Albuquerque and Santa Fe but there seems to be only one place available in both of those cities and the reviews are mixed but the bad ones are…well…fucking frightening.

Never stayed at a hostel before. No idea what to expect. The best part is that staying in a hostel for four nights will loosen up my budget a tad for the other four nights. Maybe I’ll stay at a Days Inn!

My hotel in San Diego is gorgeous. There’s always that. I can go back to being my shallow self once the driving is done.

Road Trippin'

I was planning my yearly trip to San Diego Comic-Con. I already had my hotel; I booked it last year. My pro registration was sent in. Random House took care of the Eisner nomination stuff for Postcards; I was getting the groundwork laid out for some new books. The only thing I didn’t do was book my flight.

And I said, “Hey – I should drive to San Diego this year.”

There are practical reasons behind driving out there. My main character in The Know It All takes a cross-country trip, for instance, and seeing the route he would take is probably a bit of a necessity. I can also stop in Memphis and soak in some soul music; it’ll only help with the Sam Cooke book. Those two reasons, combined with the fact that I’m going to San Diego for Comic-Con, makes this trip a nice, fat tax deduction.

So, like I said, practical.

And then there are the real reasons.

For starters, I’ve simply never done anything like this. I went from high school to college working every summer, never really took a spring break excursion, and started working the week after I graduated. I’ve taken vacations, of course, but those were always so structured. Get on the plane, fly somewhere, see the sites, fly home and go back to work. I’ve taken road trips, I guess, but the furthest I’ve ever traveled by car as an adult was 7 hours and that was all on I-95. As a kid I took trips down to Florida with the family.

But this is different. I’m going solo. There’s something about pulling that safety net out from under you. On all my other trips I had the comfort of home by my side at all times – I didn’t have to pay attention to my surroundings if I didn’t want to. On this trip, however, I’m forced to mingle with the locals and other travelers or else I’m going to have a very lonely 8 days on the road. And I like that.

There’s also that romantic idea behind centering yourself. Let’s be honest, this time one year ago I was on top of the world. I recently proposed to Robin and Postcards was turned into the printer – I had the galleys in my hand. One year later and I feel like I’ve taken two steps backwards. Is that a bad thing? Not really – it didn’t turn out the way I wanted the first time so I’ll just have to try it again. But does it still bug me a bit? Of course it does. And centering at a time like this is always a good idea and nothing centers a person like 3,000 miles of road.

So I’ve heard, at least.

So I’m going. I rented a car. I took the time off of work. I plotted a route and have tentative stops:

• Tuesday, July 15th – Knoxville, TN
• Wednesday, July 16th – Memphis, TN
• Thursday, July 17th – Memphis, TN
• Friday, July 18th – Oklahoma City, OK
• Saturday, July 19th – Santa Fe, NM
• Sunday, July 20th – Albuquerque, NM
• Monday, July 21st – Flagstaff, AZ
• Tuesday, July 22nd – La Quinta, CA

I plotted those stops on Google Maps along with road side attractions I should keep my eyes open for:


View Larger Map

I even started making my rules for the trip…

1) Photograph everything
2) Video tape as much as you can
3) Use the voice record constantly
4) Write everything in a journal
5) Talk to someone everywhere you stop

There will be more, I’m sure.

I have a shopping list. I need a good tripod. A cooler that I wouldn’t mind leaving behind in San Diego. Postcard stamps. I need to get some audio books from the library.

I looked up AAA approved hotels along the way, just in case.

I have goals. I’ll update Twitter constantly. I’ll try and update Flickr and this blog every night. I’ll edit a video journal when I get back.

I still have more planning to do. More stuff to buy and more ideas for the road to come up with. But I’m doing this. And I’m very excited.

This just feels right.