In honor of the fact that Memorial Weekend is just around the corner and many people are planning their vacations- I decided to make this week unofficial Road Trip Week.  There is nothing better than packing up your car/van/RV/motorcycle hitting up the open road with your best friends/family/lover and making some memories. The best part about road trips is you never know what is going to happen. The joy is in the journey. You can be spontaneous, leave on your time table and best part of all not have to deal with TSA! Pump up the tunes, pack your favorite snacks and don’t forget your map!

Posts to look forward to this week:

10 Best Road Trips in the United States
Road Trip Must Haves and Giveaway!
Road Trip Nightmares: Avoiding Disaster

Thinking back on some of my past road trips- the best were when my friends and I just packed in our car and set off without a distinct plan. One of my particular favorites was a trip we made in the summer of 2004 driving from Rexburg, ID to Las Vegas, NV- just a bunch of college students looking for a good time. What have some of your most memorable favorite road trips been?

I’m looking for people to contribute content to my blog- meaning if you just went on an awesome trip and are looking for an outlet to share your experiences let me know. If you just saw some awesome news about something travel related please bring to my attention. If you took amazing pictures on your vacation and would like to share with the world- contact me. Anything else- would love to hear your ideas!

I just want to say to all the people who are attempting to travel today- I am sorry. I am sure it is a nightmare. Huge storms are killing travel across the Midwest all the way to the northeast and northwest. I must say here in Utah we are getting dumped on. While it brings me much joy to look out the window and know that this snow is just enhancing my snowboarding season- I realize how much misery it is bringing travelers who are facing major delays and cancelled flights. I tip my glass to you because I have been there and totally sympathize. Hopefully you have an iPod or a portable DVD player to keep you company. At least you won’t be stuck in a car for an hour this evening fearing for your life against the bad Utah drivers out there. There are sure to be some fatalities and bad accidents tonight. Drive and fly safe out there!

I’m grateful for this opportunity to blog about poverty along with my fellow bloggers out there in the blogosphere on Blog Action Day.

Poverty is an important topic of discussion as it affects every single person, even if they don’t realize it. Poverty affects people of all ages, races, all around the world. It also can not be easily defined. Although the government believes it can. According to the US Census Bureau 37.3 million people were living below poverty level in 2007.  The government takes into account the number of family members living in the household and gives them a monetary value based on their threshold of need. Then the amount of income for that household is divided by the amount of threshold for need. If the income is greater than the threshold of need then that family is not considered to be in poverty by official definition.

But unfortunately the world does not always work like that. Can living paycheck to paycheck be considered poverty? I mean sure you aren’t going under- but still… your not making anything to better your situation. It’s all quite controversial really, but this isn’t the point of my post. My point is that it’s not only the homeless and hungry who are suffering. Because there are speculations out there that the gap between the upper class and lower class is widening and the middle class is disappearing, this tells me that there are many many more than just 37.3 million people out there who are suffering from poverty.

Read the rest of this entry »

My friend Dan made the long trek to Wyoming over Labor Day Weekend to the Mountain Man Rendezvous and even lived to tell about it. Check out his blog post. I honestly laughed out loud at work while reading it. I’m sure people think I am out of my mind.