I’ve just purchased and printed my bus tickets for the long journey from Toronto to Murfreesboro, TN.  I’m undertaking this road trip to visit some old friends: Fr. John Oliver and his family, whom I met when we were students together at seminary; and James Bailey, whom I met when I was a student of his at college.  Including a four hour layover in Buffalo, it’ll be about 24 hours from the time I leave my home tomorrow morning until I arrive in Murfreesboro.  My Kindle e-reader is fully charged and I’m bringing along Early Christian and Byzantine Art to keep me occupied on the journey.

Unless I find free WiFi along the way, I expect to be more or less offline until Sept 19.  I will, however, be bringing along my SPOT Gen3 GPS tracking device.  (This is what I’ll use on my pilgrimage to Jerusalem to auto-update my progress through Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Holy Land.)  This is not intended to help me find my way.  Rather, I’ll be using it to send automated “check-in” messages to family and friends (and this blog, my Twitter account, and FB) and to generate a map showing my progress.  Starting Tuesday, my Greyhound road trip map will be online here.  (Nothing to see until Sept 9, 2014 at 09:00 EDT.)

Once I return to Canada, I’ll have thirteen days to finish off my preparations and say my good-byes, and then I’m off!  Excited? You bet!  Insane?  Undoubtedly.  😀

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The title of this post is a nod to a song off the debut album by Whitehorse.  I first heard it when they performed it live in Richmond Hill at a Vinyl Cafe show.  I’d had no idea they would be the musical guests, so I was thrilled at the chance to see these great Canadian musicians sorta up-close and sorta personal.