I think I just joined the club

I had a great conversation with Mark Dixon of Yert earlier today. On July 4th 2008, he returned from a year-long eco-expedition through all fifty states. Along with a few friends, Mark traveled the country in a Ford Hybrid and explored the wonderful world of environmental sustainability. They interviewed over 800 people along the way and are currently in post-production for a documentary about their year. Here's a quick intro to the project:



Mark had a lot of great suggestions based on his experience- from how to keep track of video footage to avoiding poor cell reception in West Virginia. His recommendations were really helpful, and it was nice to be able to ask a lot of the questions that had been collecting in my head- How many clothes did you pack? How did you find a last minute place to crash? What kind of microphones did you use?

I feel like I'm suddenly a member of a strange little club- the Association of Weird Road Trippers. In addition to Mark and the Yert folks, there are a number of other people out there doing interesting bike trips or going cross-country in a solar car. I hope we can all meet up for cupcakes sometime and compare notes.

And in Ellen Degeneres news:
I heard back from my contact, (through a mutual pal), at Telepictures, (the company that produces Ellen), who said that she passed on my information to their "Ellen executive." I guess that means I'm one step closer to Ellen. I'm not sure who the "executive" is, but he sounds official and I hope he gets in touch soon.