Simplify, Simplify. Less is More. Ah, Screw Plans.

I have been lying about a plethora of things of varying degrees of importance since I was a young lass. I guess I kind of let my inner evil conniving genius get in the way of what really is a simple (yet still barking mad) endeavor. Let me recap our thought process a little here: me and Katie were going make an elaborate plan to trek out to South Dakota and back, stopping in various cities along the way. We were going to lay this plan out and time it down to the minute so that a duplicate plan consisting only of a Chicago itinerary could be planted in my parent's minds, allowing us to go on a whole big trip halfway across the country with my parents being none the wiser. This was shot down immediately after I asked my parents if I could go to Chicago with Katie for a week and a half and they responded, more or less, with "hellz fucking no."

So, scrambling for another cover, we thought up a few closer cities and I pitched those to my mom, but they were instantly deflected and painfully thrown back at me. All seemed lost, and Plan X (see the Plan X blog entry for details) quietly became our main plan even though neither of us really wanted to admit it. And then of course, Mr. Rutsch comes in with his politician way of saying things and made me feel really really really bad about Plan X (though not bad enough to completely abandon the idea).

And then I read Katie's post about not planning any further and perhaps unplanning. And I was like, "of course." What were we thinking?? Chicago plans, booking hotel rooms, budgeting? My parents suggested we go down the shore instead of Chicago. So we "will". "Go down the shore". There are lakes in Chicago. Lake sand and ocean sand look about the same. And who can tell from a camera phone picture anyway?

That's the whole point of a true road trip. To just grab some clothes and some money and just go. Let's see how much ground we can cover in a week and a half. As long as we get somewhere, then mission accomplished. It's a big big world out there, and any step out of New Jersey is a step in the right direction.