The laundry list

BRIGHTON (T - 3 days) -- I apologize in advance for airing out my dirty laundry, but now that we're getting down to the wire, I'm rounding up a check list: things we need; things we will need; and things to prepare for along the way.

1. Food. We are going to Costco before we leave. We need a cooler, drinks, snacks and easy meal stuff so we don't eat out too much. (Grad students are poor)

2. WiFi. An internet connection will be essential if I am going to keep this blog current. A comment on an earlier post mentioned Comfort Inns and Days Inns had free WiFi. We'll be staying with people we know most of the time, however, so I hope our hosts are hooked up. There's always Starbucks, I guess.

3. A tent. One pal o'mine said a tent would be good if we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere one night. Considering the 1,400-mile expanse between Austin, Texas, and Las Vegas, Nev., the likelihood of this is strong to quite strong.

4. What laundry list would be complete without.....well, laundry? I'm going to bring trash bags to put dirty clothes in. And I'm going to keep in mind a place I can wash a load while on the road. Otherwise, I may have to go commando around El Paso.

5. iPhone. I have to admit: the iPhone takes a lot of the guess work out of cross-country excursions. It has a built-in GPS. I will have semipermanent 3G internet access. It's a cell phone. It's my complete music library. And its camera will provide, almost if not, all of the pictures for this blog, including the pic in this post. (This sounds like a great idea for an iPhone commercial..hint...hint)

6. iPhone car adapter. The iPhone does need a little help, however. I had to pick up a car adapter so we can play iTunes on the car radio (and charge the battery while listening).

7. Tow service. We don't have AAA, but I've heard that some car insurance companies include roadside assistance without telling their subscribers. In other words, we may already be paying for it. I'll have to look into that.

8. Did I forget anything?


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