FAQ
Q: Who are you?
A: We are Alex, David, and Danbee, three undergraduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Q: What are you doing?
A: Road trip, baby! 19,000 miles. 72 days. 1 van. 0 failure modes (we hope).
Q: Don’t MIT students smell bad and never leave their dorm rooms?
A: Under normal circumstances this is true. Fortunately, we are not your typical research university students. Think of us more like Spanish conquistadors ready to explore this nation (hopefully with less death). We also understand the subtle complexities of personal hygiene.
Q: What do you hope to accomplish?
A: Collect stories, walk through a field of corn, see mountains, eat raw oysters, tour breweries, and talk to people. We want to see what this country has to offer. Gain a deeper understanding for the way people live their lives and interact with their neighbors.
Q: That sounds cool. Can I come?
A: Unfortunately our van is at maximum capacity, but thanks the power of the Internet you can still join us. With the help of wireless broadband, we will be online and hoping to hear from you. We have a forum where you can discuss issues you want us to address or just chew the fat. Our route is posted and flexible so if you know a fun or interesting place, drop us a line and we might take a look. We will be posting video, pictures, journals, GPS data, music playlists, and even our budget information.
Q: I thought the Internet was just for funny pictures of my cat. How can you do all that?
A: Let me break it down for you. We have a Canon Rebel XT digital camera for photos and Canon Vixia HF100 digital camcorder for video. Our editing is done in Final Cut Express HD 3.5. The online services we are using include…
- Wordpress: The blogging software we’re using to run the whole show
- BBPress Forums: A place where you can post questions for us and all our audience members to see
- Blip.tv: The web service that is hosting our webisodes
- Flickr: Where we will have our online photo collection
- Google Maps: With a GPS tracker, we can show you exactly where we’ve been
- Twitter: For the most up to date information on what we are doing
- Last.fm: A playlist of every song we listen to in the van
- Facebook: A way for fans to keep in touch
Q: I think this is really cool. Is their any way I can help?
A: The most important thing you can do is get involved. Watch our webisodes, post on our forum, and send us what you think we should do. If you are feeling generous when we pass by your abode you could invite us in for a snack and a conversation. Got some spare change? We are selling t-shirts and accepting donations (via the widget on right side of this page) to help pay for gas.
