THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER is I'm optimistic about nearly everything: The stock market free-falls, so it's a great time to buy; I twist my ankle playing basketball, which clears more time to read; I get shut out of three hotels in a driving snowstorm at 2:30 a.m. and have to sleep in my trunk, so it's a story to tell you all.

Aside from wide open spaces and new faces, I travel because every story — good or bad — ends up as a thread weaving a larger quilt. And I love to spin a good yarn.

Browse this site a little while, and you'll see, you'll hear and you'll feel the spirit of movement. I'll take you across the Midwest and down the Eastern Seaboard, through the Southeast and up against the grain of the Deep South. You'll cruise the ordinary beauty of the North Central plains and arrive safely back in the Midwest — 6,000 miles, all in about 10 minutes.

And so we begin. Click here to learn if a fan belt, a garden hose and a five-gallon gas can keep a Beetle alive. >>